Show HN: Panel – A research workspace where the agent can build its own panes

Researchers can now use a new tool called Panel, which offers a research workspace where an agent can work alongside them. This workspace combines chat, files, PDFs, and notebooks in a single dock. The agent is capable of creating custom viewers and apps when needed.

To access Panel, simply open http://localhost:4173 after running pnpm start. However, please note that the first start takes a minute. Ctrl-C can be used to stop everything that has been started.

Before starting, make sure to copy apps/server/.env.example to apps/server/.env and set the OPENAI_API_KEY. This will add the OpenAI API to the agent picker, enabling chat and tools. The picker will display "OpenAI as not set up" if no key is provided, as expected.

Panel features multiple configurable windows, known as Panes. These Panes can display various types of content, including image files, data files, code, and chat sessions. This is particularly useful for researchers who frequently need to switch between different types of files. Panel comes with default Panes for common use cases, but users can also create custom Panes using humans or agents. Examples of custom Panes include a PDB viewer or SQLite visualizer.

In addition to Panes, Panel has Modules, which are similar to Skills but with added definitions to support inter-module workflows and integration with the workspace. Modules have typed definitions for Inputs, Outputs, and Intermediates. Inputs and Outputs are straightforward, while Intermediates refer to objects that provide observability.

These intermediates are crucial for processes that require transparency or long-running jobs that need progress tracking. Typed definitions for intermediates make runtime validation easier and allow humans and agents to develop custom Modules for downstream tasks and custom Panes for visualizations.

A data abstraction layer (DAL) is used to bridge in-memory and filesystem objects. The DAL helps map a URI to either an in-memory store or a local file, allowing Modules to focus solely on manipulating the objects without worrying about the underlying storage details.