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Google open-sources experimental agent orchestration testbed Scion infoq.com

https://googlecloudplatform.github.io/scion/overview/


kvanbeek2 minutes ago

This seems to be in the direction of Gas Town but missing some of the core features. Having formulas has been game changing.

armanj3 minutes ago

> This project is early and experimental. Core concepts are settled, but expect rough edges. Local mode: relatively stable - Hub-based workflows: ~80% verified - Kubernetes runtime: early with known rough edges

i guess gastown is a better choice for now? idk i don't feel good about "relatively stable"

hackerman700002 hours ago

Six months from now half of these abstractions will have been renamed or removed once real users push back on the cognitive overhead. Google has a pattern of releasing infrastructure that's perfectly shaped for Googles problems and awkward for everyone else's

repelsteeltjean hour ago

Like Kubernetes?

otabdeveloper4an hour ago

Yes, and unironically.

conceptionan hour ago

And angular.

hhh33 minutes ago

kubernetes isnt difficult

Mond_31 minutes ago

really?

popalchemistan hour ago

100%. Great assessment.

sowbug19 minutes ago

I'm looking forward to trying this. I've had a positive but high-variance experience with Gastown[1], which is in the same genre. I hope that Scion does better.

My main complaints with Gastown are that (1) it's expensive, partly because (2) it refuses to use anything but Claude models, in spite of my configuration attempts, (3) I can't figure out how to back up or add a remote to its beads/dolt bug database, which makes me afraid to touch the installation, and (4) upgrading it often causes yak shaving and lost context. These might all be my own skill issues, but I do RTFM.

But wow, Gastown gets results. There's something magic about the dialogue and coordination between the mayor and the polecats that leads to an even better experience than Claude Code alone.

1. https://github.com/gastownhall/gastown/

tornikeoan hour ago

I swore to not be burned by google ever again after TensorFlow. This looks cool, and I will give this to my Codex to chew on and explain if it fits (or could fit what I am building right now -- the msx.dev) and then move on. I don't trust Google with maintaining the tools I rely on.

forsalebypwner28 minutes ago

nice plug

simple10an hour ago

They kinda buried the code deep in their docs:

https://github.com/GoogleCloudPlatform/scion

aleph_minus_one23 minutes ago

Reading this headline, I rather thought of a different SCION:

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCION_(Internet_architecture)

cedws36 minutes ago

I want to experiment more with agents but my employer only pays for Claude Code, and TOS disallows using the subscription API for other purposes. Anyone else in the same boat? Token based pricing also gets expensive fast.

Sattyamjjain2 minutes ago

[dead]

kumardeepanshu27 minutes ago

[dead]

aplomb102630 minutes ago

[dead]

verdverm2 hours ago

Their agent tooling is shaping up to be the well known issue of product cancellation. They have how many different takes on this now? (gemini-cli, antigravity, AI studio, this, Gemini app)

I've not been impressed with any of them. I do use their ADK in my custom agent stack for the core runtime. That one I think is good and has legs for longevity.

The main enterprise problem here is getting the various agent frameworks to play nice. How should one have shared runtimes, session clones, sandboxes, memory, etc between the tooling and/or employees?

otabdeveloper4an hour ago

It's all just system prompts under the hood and nothing more.

verdverm5 minutes ago

Not if you go custom, you have unlimited latitude, examples...

I modified file_read/write/edit to put the contents in the system prompt. This saves context space, i.e. when it rereads a file after failed edit, even though it has the most recent contents. It also does not need to infer modified content from read+edits. It still sees the edits as messages, but the current actual contents are always there.

My AGENTS.md loader. The agent does not decide, it's deterministic based on what other files/dirs it has interacted with. It can still ask to read them, but it rarely does this now.

I've also backed the agents environment or sandbox with Dagger, which brings a number of capabilities like being able to drop into a shell in the same environment, make changes, and have those propagate back to the session. Time travel, clone/fork, and a VS Code virtual FS are some others. I can go into a shell at any point in the session history.

IncreasePosts24 minutes ago

Don't forget a while loop and a TODO.md

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