Heavybit Podcasts Ep. #16, Building Tools That Spark Joy with Mitchell Hashimoto
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Jun 19, 2025 
Mitchell Hashimoto, founder of HashiCorp and creator of Terraform, shares insights from his latest venture, Ghosty, an open-source terminal emulator. He discusses the accidental origins of Ghosty and how community expectations influence open-source development. The conversation touches on the challenges in funding open-source projects, the impact of AI on coding, and how integration of AI tools like Copilot is reshaping programming. Hashimoto also critiques current open-source AI definitions and the complexities surrounding copyright laws.
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Accidental Start of Ghosty
- Mitchell Hashimoto accidentally started building Ghosty as an educational project after leaving HashiCorp.
- He wanted to create a terminal emulator that filled a unique trade-off gap that didn't exist yet.
Consumer-Grade DevOps Tools
- Mitchell aimed to build consumer-grade DevOps tools to simplify complex infrastructure tasks.
- He wanted non-experts to use tools like Terraform without needing an assistant.
Open Source Funding Challenge
- Venture-backed open source businesses face justified community skepticism.
- It's unclear how to fund successful open source projects sustainably without corporate investment.