Toad: Your AI Coding Agent Deserves a Better User Interface • Will McGugan & Olimpiu Pop

This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted.https://gotopia.techWill McGugan - Creator of Toad & the Python Packages, Rich, Textual & PyFilesystemOlimpiu Pop - Technologist & Tech JournalistORIGINAL TALK TITLEThe Python Dev Who Built Rich, Textual & now Toad Just Redesigned How You Talk to AICheck out more here:https://gotopia.tech/articles/437RESOURCESWillhttps://mastodon.social/@willmcguganhttps://x.com/willmcguganhttps://bsky.app/profile/willmcgugan.bsky.socialhttps://github.com/willmcguganhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/willmcguganhttps://willmcgugan.github.ioOlimpiuhttps://x.com/olimpiupophttps://github.com/zrollhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/olimpiupopLinkshttps://www.textualize.iohttps://www.batrachian.aihttps://github.com/textualize/richhttps://github.com/Textualize/textualhttps://zed.devhttps://willmcgugan.github.io/toad-releasedhttps://willmcgugan.github.io/announcing-toadDESCRIPTIONIn this GOTO Unscripted episode, Olimpiu Pop sits down with Will McGugan — Python PSF Fellow and creator of Rich (4+ billion downloads) and Textual — to demo his sabbatical project: Toad, a slick terminal-based universal frontend for AI coding agents.Will's frustration was simple and justified: every major AI coding tool (Claude Code, Gemini, Codex) was built on top-tier models but wrapped in a UI that looked like it was designed in 2004. Toad fixes that by using the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) as a standardized plug-in layer, giving users elegant prompt editing, proper streaming markdown rendering, beautiful tables, syntax highlighting, and a hybrid shell-plus-AI interface — all in the terminal, where developers already live.The conversation gets sharply honest when the topic turns to AI and developer craft. Will — a 30-year coding veteran who admits it's not instinctive for him to reach for AI — shares a clear-eyed view of its strengths and limits: AI is extraordinarily fast at anything well-defined and unambiguous, but still struggles with genuinely novel problems.His conclusion?Most of what software developers do day-to-day isn't actually novel — it's pattern assembly — and that's precisely where AI shines. The future of coding isn't replacement; it's liberation from the mechanical grind. Oh, and the podcast host literally reading out "music intro here" because stage directions ended up in the transcript? That one's a cautionary tale for the ages.RECOMMENDED BOOKSWill McGugan • Beginning Python Games Development 2nd ed. • https://amzn.to/4ebBfxuWill McGugan • Beginning Game Development with Python and Pygame • https://amzn.to/4cyVdB3Sam Keen • Clean Architecture with Python • https://amzn.to/4pBT5g0Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design • https://amzn.to/3tnGhwmNaomi Ceder • The Quick Python Book • https://amzn.to/3zwdDOaBlueskyInstagramLinkedInFacebookCHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUSJoin this channel to get early access to videos & other perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/joinLooking for a unique learning experience?Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket: gotopia.techSUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL - new videos posted daily!