Ask HN: Has anyone shipped a self-modifying application with LLMs?
In the past the model for software would typically be to ship a fixed application and then if users need some custom functionality, they would need to install a plugin or create their own. For non technical users they would have to find an existing plugin or maybe it doesn't exist so they are stuck. But I can't help but think why wouldn't for example an application just have a prompt box that builds an extension dynamically on the fly (e.g. "make me a UI panel with some buttons that does X") Obviously it would be "use at your own risk" and YMMV Have any companies or applications actually done something like this? I think modifying the real source code would get out of hand but perhaps just generating extensions that have access to a sand boxed set of safer APIs. 4 comments on Hacker News.
In the past the model for software would typically be to ship a fixed application and then if users need some custom functionality, they would need to install a plugin or create their own. For non technical users they would have to find an existing plugin or maybe it doesn't exist so they are stuck. But I can't help but think why wouldn't for example an application just have a prompt box that builds an extension dynamically on the fly (e.g. "make me a UI panel with some buttons that does X") Obviously it would be "use at your own risk" and YMMV Have any companies or applications actually done something like this? I think modifying the real source code would get out of hand but perhaps just generating extensions that have access to a sand boxed set of safer APIs.
In the past the model for software would typically be to ship a fixed application and then if users need some custom functionality, they would need to install a plugin or create their own. For non technical users they would have to find an existing plugin or maybe it doesn't exist so they are stuck. But I can't help but think why wouldn't for example an application just have a prompt box that builds an extension dynamically on the fly (e.g. "make me a UI panel with some buttons that does X") Obviously it would be "use at your own risk" and YMMV Have any companies or applications actually done something like this? I think modifying the real source code would get out of hand but perhaps just generating extensions that have access to a sand boxed set of safer APIs. 4 comments on Hacker News.
In the past the model for software would typically be to ship a fixed application and then if users need some custom functionality, they would need to install a plugin or create their own. For non technical users they would have to find an existing plugin or maybe it doesn't exist so they are stuck. But I can't help but think why wouldn't for example an application just have a prompt box that builds an extension dynamically on the fly (e.g. "make me a UI panel with some buttons that does X") Obviously it would be "use at your own risk" and YMMV Have any companies or applications actually done something like this? I think modifying the real source code would get out of hand but perhaps just generating extensions that have access to a sand boxed set of safer APIs.
Hacker News story: Ask HN: Has anyone shipped a self-modifying application with LLMs?
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Reviewed by Tha Kur
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August 19, 2026
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