Show HN: Ratel, give agents unlimited tools and skills without context bloat

A new Show HN launch is pitching a very relatable promise: stop cramming every possible helper, instruction, and memory into an AI’s brain every single turn, and only show it the few things it actually needs right now. The project, called Ratel, says that means cheaper runs, less confusion, and better performance for AI assistants with giant toolboxes. In plain English: instead of dumping the whole kitchen drawer on the counter, it hands over just the spatula.

But the real action is in the peanut gallery, where the immediate reaction was basically: "Wait, isn’t this just the old thing with a shiny new label?" One commenter cut straight to the chase by asking if this is just "RAG for tools"—meaning, is Ratel really a fresh idea, or just a repackaged way of searching through stuff? They also poked at another sore spot: if MCP already has tool search, why do we need another middleman? That one comment pretty much sets the tone of the thread: intrigued, skeptical, and absolutely unwilling to let startup-style branding slide without a fight.

Then there’s the wonderfully awkward side character energy of the other visible reply, which is literally marked as a stub for offtopicness. That accidental anti-joke gives the whole discussion a classic Hacker News flavor: one person questioning the entire premise, another seemingly wandering in from a completely different conversation. So while Ratel is selling order, efficiency, and fewer wasted tokens, the crowd reaction so far is more like: prove it, explain it simply, and don’t pretend we haven’t seen this movie before.