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Hey HN, author here. Kretes is an integrated programming environment for TypeScript & Node.js, built on top of Visual Studio Code. It combines a web framework - similar to Rails/Django - with a UI layer built inside of the VS Code editor.

This project explores the ideas introduced by the Self programming language and aims to bring them to the current age. The ultimate goal is to create a semi-visual tool for building web apps in a more intuitive way using the same programming language (TypeScript) on the client & on the server, and without the accidental complexity. :)

The project started as a way to arrange my knowledge/toolset around JavaScript. Inspired by the past, I decided to (somehow) replicate what Sun Microsystems did in ’95 with Self (a project I find both underrated and ahead of its time), but using modern, popular tools (VS Code, JavaScript/TypeScript, WebAssembly, PostgreSQL, etc).

Happy to answer any questions here or at oh@zaiste.net

> goal is to create a semi-visual tool for building web apps

Interesting! How far with "visual" do you want to go? Do you plan integrating with Figma API or embedding sth like Blocks UI (blocks-ui.com)?

It looks interesting. Node.js still needs a good full-stack web framework that just works out of the box and is extensible, like Rails in Ruby. Would love to see some demo of an app written in it.