diff --git a/docs/content/blog/should-chat-be-the-new-homepage-for-saas.mdx b/docs/content/blog/should-chat-be-the-new-homepage-for-saas.mdx deleted file mode 100644 index dd6d6f961..000000000 --- a/docs/content/blog/should-chat-be-the-new-homepage-for-saas.mdx +++ /dev/null @@ -1,83 +0,0 @@ ---- -title: "Should Chat be the new homepage for SaaS?" -description: "Linear, PostHog, Attio replaced their homepages with chat bars. People hated it. But the frustration is aimed at the delivery mechanism, not the thing being delivered. Here is what comes next." -author: Rabi Guha -date: 2026-04-07 ---- - -A tweet I posted last week hit a nerve. - - - -Linear, PostHog, Attio — three of the most design-forward SaaS products out there — all quietly replaced their homepage with a chat bar. I pointed it out. More than a million people saw it. And the reaction was loud. CEOs had to publicly defend their decisions, stones were hurled every which way. - -While some seemed excited, most were visibly annoyed. Safe to say — people don't love it, **yet**. - -## But this isn't really a design trend - -It's an admission that an agentic loop is more powerful than any predefined endpoint. - -Traditional backends are rigid. Every action maps to a specific API call, every view is a hardcoded query, every workflow is a predefined sequence. You want a new view of your data? Someone has to build it first. - -An agentic loop reasons across all your data, all your APIs, all your context. It chains together what used to take 5 clicks, 3 filters, and a saved view. The ceiling of what a user can do is no longer limited by what a product team shipped — it's only limited by what the agent can figure out. - -## Chat is a compromise - -Until we figure out the ideal UX for an agentic loop, we are left with text-in, text-out chatbars. It's not ideal — you lose visual density, spatial reasoning, direct manipulation — everything that made traditional UI powerful in the first place. It's like replacing Google Maps with a guy giving you turn-by-turn over the phone. - -The frustration is valid. But (I think) it's aimed at the delivery mechanism, not the thing being delivered. - -## Evolution of the Agentic Interface - -### Stage 1: Text - -Plain text responses. Markdown at best. This is where most agentic products live today. You ask a question, you get a wall of text back. - -![Text-only agent chat: terminal-style interface configuring a default model](/docs/blogs/step1-text.jpeg) - -### Stage 2: Inline Generative UI - -Still chat, but the agent responds with real components — forms, charts, tables, interactive elements. - -![Inline generative UI in chat: structured recipe card with images and controls](/docs/blogs/step2-inline-genui.jpeg) - -### Stage 3: Chat as a builder - -The agent doesn't just answer questions, it creates persistent views. "Build me a Q3 pipeline dashboard" and it does. The output outlives the conversation. - -