Show HN: Toolbase – Build reliable AI teammates by example, not instruction

2 points

a year ago

Hey HN, we’re David and Ethan, co-founders of Toolbase.

Toolbase is an AI agent and workflow builder that helps you quickly create production-grade AI automations — batteries included.

Try it without registering here: https://gettoolbase.com/

------- The dev cycle in Toolbase -------

1. Define a rough goal.

2. Connect any API or MCP server (we have thousands, or bring your own).

3. Teach the AI what valid input and output examples look like (these later become your unit tests!).

4. Let Toolbase generate the perfect prompt, code, workflow, or agent.

5. Deploy your project as an API, MCP server, or chat interface!

Coding optional. Sharing encouraged.

Note: If you’re familiar with Cursor/Windsurf and the core concepts behind frameworks like Mastra (which Toolbase runs on), you already know how to use Toolbase. You retain the flexibility of coding but avoid boilerplate and plumbing tasks (integration, validation, context mapping, testing, etc.) unless you explicitly choose to do them.

------- Demo -------

https://www.loom.com/share/540c61b2c5634996b088ebbb16989cf0?...

This simple agent validates company billing addresses in our CRM (Pipedrive) by researching them through Tavily search. If there’s an address mismatch, it asks a human to pick the right one via email (watch on 2x speed):

Output email for the example shown in the demo: https://gettoolbase.com/assets/demo-screenshot.png

Producing code and more deterministic workflows follows a similar process.

------- Why another agent/workflow builder? -------

We started building Toolbase out of frustration with existing frameworks, especially for production use, and the lack of IDE support for MLOps artifacts, such as prompts, golden data, workflows, and evaluations. Since much of the code for agentic systems can be dynamically generated and validated using these artifacts, they often become even more important than the code itself.

After speaking with other builders, we also realized that manually coding workflows, experimenting with prompts through trial-and-error, and setting up infrastructure/integrations all took far more time than they should. Tools like Cursor and Windsurf help, but extracting meaning from AI-generated code is slow. Chatbots whipping up arcane code potions in tinted chat windows, which is the other end of the spectrum, demos really well but isn’t maintainable at all (sorry, vibe-coding). So we went with something in the middle: an AI-assiststed visual builder with full code fallback.