whyc v0.1.0 — preview build

while yc hires, we ship

A YC-roast you invoke from the terminal.

Everyone’s racing to build a sleek web dashboard for their agent demo. We disagree. whyc is a curlable HTTP endpoint that streams the agent loop to stdout and emails you the deployed Cloud Run URL when spec-fit converges. No SPA. No login. No spinner. Just a pipeline you can tee into a logfile and forget about until your inbox pings.

surface: cli + email backbone: gemini adk orchestrator: agent builder traces: arize phoenix mcp deploy: cloud run artifact: next.js

sejun@thinkpad ~ zsh 132x40 $ curl -N https://whyc.sh/run \ -d url=https://workatastartup.example/jobs/synthetic-jd-001 \ -d email=sejun@example.dev HTTP/2 200 text/event-stream x-run-id: r-20260506-7f3a2b 12:25:31 [boot] whyc-agent v0.1.0 attached. otel auto-instrument: on. 12:25:31 [plan] gemini-adk : 1 url -> spec graph -> codegen -> deploy -> judge. 12:25:32 [fetch] GET workatastartup.example/jobs/synthetic-jd-001 302 -> 200 (4.1kb) 12:25:33 [extract] spec.title = "async ops copilot for soc2 teams" 12:25:33 [extract] spec.surfaces[] = web.dashboard, slack.webhook 12:25:33 [extract] spec.flows[] = onboard, evidence-upload, control-review, ship 12:25:34 [note] no logo found. using categorical placeholder. good. 12:25:35 [design] tokens : tone=earnest, density=high, palette=stone+lime, type=geist-mono 12:25:38 [gen] next.js app/router scaffolded (37 files, 1 api route, 0 todos) 12:26:02 [build] next build ............................................ ok 21.4s 12:26:11 [deploy] cloud run : whyc-r-20260506-7f3a2b region=us-central1 12:33:48 [live] https://whyc-r-20260506-7f3a2b-uc.a.run.app spec-fit 0.71 12:33:48 [phoenix] attaching mcp. pulling traces from this run... 12:33:51 [judge] flow=onboard 0.88 12:33:51 [judge] flow=evidence-upload 0.54 <-- under spec 12:33:51 [judge] flow=control-review 0.61 <-- under spec 12:33:51 [judge] flow=ship 0.83 12:33:52 [loop] regenerating 2/4 flows. background. detaching stream. 12:33:52 [loop] iteration 1 -> spec-fit 0.71. sse closing. you'll get an email. 12:33:52 [bye] goodbye. tail logs: whyc tail r-20260506-7f3a2b $ _

The visible window is ~10 min and lands on the first live URL with a real spec-fit number. The judging loop keeps running for hours; you don’t babysit it.

[ delivery: plaintext email — no html, no tracking pixel ]

mutt INBOX 1 new From: whyc <ship@whyc.sh> To: sejun@example.dev Subject: [whyc] r-20260506-7f3a2b converged @ 0.96 Date: Wed, 06 May 2026 18:41 -0700 your preview is live. url https://whyc-r-20260506-7f3a2b-uc.a.run.app spec-fit 0.96 (started 0.71, 4 iterations, 5h 53m) flows onboard 0.94 / evidence 0.97 / review 0.95 / ship 0.98 source https://github.com/<you>/whyc-r-20260506-7f3a2b traces https://phoenix.<you>.dev/projects/whyc/r-20260506-7f3a2b what we shipped while they were still posting "hiring junior eng (unpaid intern ok)": - 1 spec graph extracted from a job url - 4 named user flows - 1 next.js app, 0 todos, 0 lorem ipsum - 1 cloud run service - 4 self-improvement iterations, judged against the spec by an llm-as-judge reading our own openinference traces reply STOP to never hear from us again. reply MORE and we'll roast another url. -- whyc(1)

[ what just happened, in 8 lines ]


   url ──┐
         ▼
      ┌─────────┐  gemini adk
      │ extract │  spec graph (title, surfaces, flows)
      └────┬────┘
           ▼
      ┌─────────┐  next.js codegen + design tokens
      │ build   │  cloud run deploy (first url ~10min)
      └────┬────┘
           ▼
      ┌─────────┐  phoenix mcp ── reads OUR traces
      │ judge   │  llm-as-judge scores per flow
      └────┬────┘
           ▼ (only weak flows)
      ┌─────────┐
      │ regen   │ ──┐
      └────┬────┘   │ loop until spec-fit ≥ 0.95
           ▼        │ or 8 iterations
        email ◄─────┘

whyc(1) man page — the only docs we shipped

NAME
       whyc — turn a yc job posting into a working preview while they're
              still interviewing the intern.

SYNOPSIS
       curl -N https://whyc.sh/run -d url=<url> [-d email=<addr>]
       whyc tail <run-id>
       whyc open <run-id>

DESCRIPTION
       Submits a workatastartup-style job url. Streams the agent loop as
       text/event-stream. Emails the deployed cloud run url when spec-fit
       converges. There is no web ui for whyc itself; the artifact is
       a next.js app, that's where the design budget went.

EXIT CODES
       0   converged.
       2   spec-fit ceiling at < 0.80 after 8 iterations (we tell you).
       7   refused: input looked like a real yc company. categorical only.

SEE ALSO
       phoenix(1), gcloud-run(1), shame(7)

[ unfashionable choices, on purpose ]

surface

curl + email, not a SPA

auth

api key in a header. that’s it.

state

run-id is the primary key. no accounts.

delivery

plaintext email. mutt-readable.

docs

a man page. one screen.

analytics

none on whyc. phoenix on the agent.

design

budget spent on the generated preview, not on us.

[ what stays sleek anyway ]

The generated Next.js preview on Cloud Run is finished work — pixel-tight, real flows, real api routes. WhyC’s own surface is text because the joke only lands if the artifact looks shipped and the tool looks cheap to operate. That’s the contrast: their hiring page, our 200-line shell pipe.

spec-fit gauge

0.96

try it. it’s one line.

$ curl -N whyc.sh/run -d url=$URL -d email=$YOU

arize track 2026-06-11 14:00 PT team of 2

whyc is a categorical satire of a shipping pattern, not of any individual company. No yc names or logos appear in the demo video or in this preview. Generated previews use synthetic or anonymized job descriptions only.