Spawn: A node-based IDE on an infinite canvas
Most creative tools give you a canvas. Code editors give you tabs. Spawn puts your entire IDE on an infinite canvas. Terminals, editors, file browsers, live previews, all draggable, resizable, and connected as nodes. Open a project. Edit code. Launch a live preview. Spin up as many terminals as you want. Everything visible at once, nothing hidden behind a tab bar.
How I built it
Going native keeps Spawn snappy when the canvas fills up with terminals, editors, and previews, and means each preview behaves like a real browser instead of a stripped-down iframe.
Pan, zoom, and connect dozens of nodes without the canvas dropping frames. Drawing on the GPU instead of the DOM means the workspace stays smooth whether you've got three panels open or thirty.
Every terminal on the canvas is a full interactive shell, the same as the one on your dock. Run anything you'd normally run, including Claude Code, without the sandboxed feel that web-based terminals usually have.
Overlays talk to the DOM directly, the canvas talks to the GPU. Less middleman, fewer surprises, and a build that loads in a blink.
Edits show up on the canvas the moment I save. The tight feedback loop while building matters more on a tool whose whole point is feel.
What I'd change
The node connection system works but the UX for wiring things together needs work. And the file editor is functional but basic compared to what people expect from a code editor now.