Overview
Simon Willison released two new tools to help coding agents demonstrate their work: Showboat creates Markdown documentation of what code can do, while Rodney automates browser interactions. The key insight is that agents need ways to prove their code works beyond just automated tests - they need to show, not just tell.
Changes by Version
Initial Release
- Added Showboat CLI tool - agents can now build Markdown documents that demonstrate their code capabilities with embedded command outputs and screenshots
- Added Rodney browser automation - agents can now capture screenshots and interact with web applications programmatically to document their work
- Added exec command in Showboat - automatically captures and embeds command output in documentation
- Added image command in Showboat - embeds screenshots and images directly into demo documents
- Added note command in Showboat - allows agents to add explanatory text between code demonstrations
- Added integration between tools - Rodney screenshots can be automatically embedded in Showboat documents
- Added Go binary with Python wrapper - easy installation while maintaining performance