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Y Combinator
Conductor CEO Charlie Holtz Walks Us Through His AI Coding Setup
Conductor CEO Charlie Holtz Walks Us Through His AI Coding Setup
Y Combinator
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16:35 · Jun 4, 2026
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Hello,
I
am
Charlie,
the
co-founder
of
Conductor,
Translating…
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0:00
Hello, I am Charlie, the co-founder of Conductor,
0:03
which is an app
0:03
that lets you orchestrate a bunch of coding agents on your Mac.
0:07
And we were YC Summer 24.
0:10
Uh, and I'd love to show you my setup.
0:22
So, a recent thing that I can't live without is this uh gooseneck microphone,
0:26
$20 on Amazon.
0:28
We are all trying to talk to our computers more.
0:31
Um, one issue with having like an open floor plan office is
0:34
that can be pretty distracting.
0:36
So, one advantage of these is you can like lean over
0:38
and whisper into Claude
0:40
and be like,
0:40
"Please merge PR 3475."
0:44
And it's a a little bit less disruptive.
0:46
I think we we all got these in an attempt to encourage more talking
0:49
to computers.
0:50
I spend most of my day in Conductor.
0:52
We're using Conductor to build Conductor.
0:54
One thing that I do is I'm constantly kicking off new tasks.
0:57
So, I'm constantly um going command N.
1:00
Uh, that was actually a sneak a sneak peek of something we are working
1:03
on,
1:04
which is Claude Workspaces.
1:05
But I'll I'll do command N
1:06
and then I'll speak into my computer
1:09
and say,
1:10
"Um, can you take a look at the latest linear issue
1:13
and give me uh a rough pass at how you'd solve it?"
1:17
Stuff like that.
1:18
And then press enter
1:19
and then I can see
1:20
that it's running in the sidebar.
1:21
Claude is working, I'll go to another chat.
1:24
I'm very into keyboard shortcuts.
1:25
So, I try to make everything have a keyboard shortcut.
1:27
So, in this case I'll do command shift Y.
1:30
I can see here that this workspace is ready to merge.
1:32
So, I'll take a look at it, give Claude a quick review.
1:36
Um, in this case it's a pretty small PR.
1:38
And so, it looks good to me,
1:39
but quite often Claude won't get things exactly right.
1:43
And I'll give things uh a comment like a GitHub-style comment, say,
1:48
uh "This looks a little bit weird to me.
1:50
Why do we need this?"
1:51
Press enter, get Claude running, and then go back to a different workspace.
1:55
A big part of um how I use Conductor is like experimentation.
1:59
Like I'm always kicking off workspaces to try different ideas.
2:03
Most of them don't make it in.
2:05
So, like you can see we have like four PRs here
2:07
that are in review,
2:08
but like there's a bunch of random ideas
2:11
that I've tried here
2:12
that are in progress
2:13
that you know,
2:14
may never see the light of day.
2:16
If I like it,
2:16
then it might get promoted to like an internal setting
2:18
and then an experimental setting.
2:20
Okay, so something I'm very excited about is on the go.
2:23
Uh I'm going to just speak into my phone and it's say,
2:25
"Let's add a new feature where I can change the theme to hacker mode."
2:32
And then I'm going to click conduct.
2:35
And then my computer starts working on it
2:37
and I can uh conduct on the go.
2:40
>> Do you still write code today?
2:42
>> No.
2:43
Yeah, no.
2:43
Very occasionally I will like edit Tailwind classes
2:46
or like open up an IDE to change like a.env file.
2:51
We actually added a mode that we call caveman mode,
2:55
which is uh you click this
2:57
and you can actually type with your keyboard
3:01
and like make changes in a file.
3:03
Once in a while you do need to like make a change to a
3:06
file by hand,
3:07
but it's like it's called caveman mode for a reason.
3:09
Most of the time if I want small edits,
3:11
I'll like highlight and
3:12
then uh tell the AI um about my comments
3:15
or I'll just like speak into my computer
3:17
and say,
3:18
"That button looks a little too wide.
3:19
Like, can you uh can you make it smaller?"
3:22
By the way, this thing is now ready to merge.
3:24
Um so, I just wanted to show you I can now click archive
3:28
and it's gone from my side panel
3:30
and like merge into the code base
3:31
and uh this one I can see
3:33
that there are checks running
3:34
and once it's finished,
3:35
I can just like click merge and and get it in.
3:37
We recently added this thing called status in the left.
3:41
So, when something like is kicked off,
3:43
it's in progress and then once there's a PR created,
3:45
it's in review and then once it's merged, it goes into the done folder.
3:48
We have this new concept of a dashboard page where uh from like one
3:53
place you can see what all your agents are working on
3:56
and then like take them to the next action.
3:59
But we're still messing around with like what the what the interface should look
4:03
and feel like.
4:04
But the ideal is like you should feel like the CEO of a little
4:07
company and you can see all your agents working for you
4:09
and they'll bring you up like digestible reports
4:12
and then you can put them in the right direction
4:13
if they like need some correction
4:15
or just merging in
4:16
if it looks good.
4:17
>> What are your other main applications, main software that you use?
4:22
>> I use Telegram a decent amount to talk to my open claw.
4:24
That's that's been a recent addition for me.
4:27
I use spokenly for text to speech.
4:29
That's what comes out when I press control space.
4:32
It's actually running a local model.
4:33
It's running parakeet.
4:35
I have a really beefed up computer.
4:37
So it's like 128 gigabytes of RAM.
4:39
Partly so I can like run local models like parakeet.
4:42
But as a side note, I have just recently ordered the MacBook Neo,
4:46
like the the bottom of the line lowest RAM, lowest memory.
4:50
I I got it basically to like force myself to like use the lowest
4:53
spec option.
4:53
>> Are there any tweaks
4:54
that you do still stand by
4:56
that are the customizations
4:57
that actually do matter?
4:58
>> A couple of things like we put a lot of time into our
5:01
skills files and our like Claude MD.
5:04
If I like open it up like you can see you can see like
5:07
this is probably a few hundred lines.
5:10
There's like some interesting things in here like it's we say engineering practices.
5:14
We're a startup.
5:15
You're probably used to writing enterprise code,
5:17
but that's not how we do things around here.
5:19
We have like a lot of things like
5:20
that that we've like put into our Claude MD
5:22
and our skills files over time.
5:24
What else do I do?
5:25
I always use fast mode.
5:26
That's not a default.
5:27
If you're trying to token max like you have to be in fast mode.
5:30
I do use a context 7 MCP.
5:32
I think that's pretty helpful to get documentation.
5:34
But other than that like you use most of the most of the things
5:38
out of the box.
5:38
One core thing is that we always run Claude in dangerously accept all permissions.
5:44
Like that is not the default
5:45
and that is the default way to run a cloud
5:47
and conductor.
5:48
I think something that's really important to us is having like clear boundaries between
5:54
what we call them slot free zones,
5:56
and having like parts of the code base
5:57
or like parts of the documentation
5:59
that we like know is written by a human.
6:02
It's possible like that the AI the AI can contribute to the the slot
6:05
free zones,
6:05
but like it has to be like every line has to be read by
6:08
a human.
6:09
I think this actually like served us pretty well,
6:13
because if if you're not careful like the AI can like get in a
6:17
a vicious a vicious cycle where like it sees bad code,
6:20
and then it writes more bad code as a result.
6:22
And the same thing can happen in like the positive positive direction.
6:26
We have like some lines in our code base
6:27
that are like do not touch
6:29
if you are an AI.
6:30
Like this is for human eyes only.
6:32
>> What's the connector text stack?
6:34
>> It's a Tauri app.
6:35
So, it's using the native Safari web renderer,
6:38
and the back end is technically Rust, but we write almost everything in TypeScript.
6:43
So, it's like probably 90 95% TypeScript on the like the desktop app.
6:47
The web app is Elixir.
6:50
It's a it's a Phoenix app.
6:51
It's a very small app,
6:53
because literally all you can do in it right now is just like log
6:55
in,
6:56
but I am I'm a huge Elixir fan,
6:59
and I am always like pushing for more Elixir in our code base
7:01
when we can,
7:02
but um most of what we're doing is in TypeScript.
7:06
Another thing we talk about is like don't let the AI be your architect.
7:09
Even the concept of like a workspace here in the sidebar,
7:13
which in some ways is just like an abstraction around a work tree,
7:17
at least for right now.
7:18
Like that's actually going to change soon.
7:20
But even that like concept of a workspace,
7:22
like we as a human had to like think that through.
7:25
The other thing is like like design and like interface decisions.
7:30
This concept of having like all your chats here on the left,
7:33
and then the chat in the middle,
7:34
and then the right sidebar where you can like review code changes
7:38
or run your app.
7:39
Like we put a lot of thought into into those decisions,
7:42
and I think if you let the AI make your like UI choices for
7:46
you,
7:46
you can end up with something that like it just doesn't feel like crafted.
7:49
It's like really important to us that it feels crafted.
7:52
Like even this decision,
7:53
so like we we thought for a long time about how this open in
7:57
button should work,
7:57
which is kind of funny
7:58
because now there's like
7:59
so many apps have like have the same pattern.
8:01
The thing that we were really thinking about is whether we should show the
8:04
icons in the top.
8:05
I was pretty against showing icons here at first
8:10
because it just feels like okay,
8:12
in the top bar of our app like we're like advertising a different app,
8:16
but now I I really like it
8:17
and it's like a clear visual of like what's going to happen um
8:20
when you click it.
8:21
I think something we would do a bit differently is building the core of
8:24
the app um around like human written APIs
8:27
and like contracts that the AI wouldn't contribute to
8:30
as much and then I think
8:31
that like it's important to have a big chunks of your code base be
8:34
like have like free reign for the AI where you can just like throw
8:37
a ton of different ideas at it
8:39
and know that it's like not going to affect the core infrastructure.
8:42
And I think right now the the boundaries are a little murky
8:45
and like um that's the thing we're we're working on improving.
8:48
I think it's really important to us
8:49
that we stay like a little ahead of the frontier.
8:53
Like push push people's comfort zones a little bit more than they'd expect.
8:59
When we first launched conductor,
9:01
uh most of the feedback we got was like this is crazy.
9:04
Like I barely can manage like one cloud code or like one code X.
9:07
Like how am I going to manage like three or like even five?
9:11
We also purposely made it so like you can't edit files directly.
9:14
Like we like made it
9:16
so that like anytime a workspace like has to be a work tree
9:19
and it has to
9:20
then create a PR
9:21
and then you have to merge it.
9:22
So we really like enforce our workflow.
9:24
I think like what's what's exciting
9:27
but also hard about where we're at is like we have to constantly adapt
9:30
to where like the models are going.
9:32
So that's one reason like we are putting
9:34
so much work into like cloud right now is right now like you shut
9:38
your laptop and the agents are going to stop running.
9:40
But like feels like we're very quickly moving to a world where the agents
9:44
are going to run for 10 times longer
9:45
and they're going to be 10 times smarter
9:46
and they're going to need to run in an environment
9:48
that like isn't constrained by like your Mac's like CPU.
9:52
>> It seems like you're building conductor in a very opinionated way.
9:55
How do you build the conviction behind your decisions?
9:57
>> Okay, that's a great that's a great question cuz yeah,
9:59
like it especially for like our audience, they want a lot of like configuration.
10:03
And I do think it is important for the tool to like be flexible
10:07
and to like feel like yours.
10:08
But the way we build conviction is we force ourselves to use it
10:12
because actually we don't even force it like we we just use it every
10:16
day.
10:16
And so if it doesn't feel right, like we like quickly can can decide.
10:21
But we we don't we're not big on analytics
10:23
or like looking at like our AB testing
10:26
or like it's very much a like gut feel,
10:29
this feels right.
10:30
Like when I click this,
10:31
it feels right that it opens in the center
10:33
and that way like I don't need a separate composer
10:36
and I can type messages here
10:38
and it all feels unified.
10:40
>> You sound like you default to cloud code in a lot of places,
10:42
but conductor supports Codex too.
10:43
When do you reach for Codex?
10:45
>> Oh yeah, I've recently actually been using Codex more.
10:47
Codex is like the workhorse.
10:49
It will power through like a specific problem
10:51
or like uh it's not afraid to do a ton of tool calls
10:55
and like debug something with me for a long time.
10:57
Cloud I'll reach for when I want a little more like back and forth.
11:01
I feel like Opus is just like a little more creative,
11:03
like a little more of a partner.
11:06
And so I would say like
11:07
when I'm building out a new a new feature,
11:09
like I I probably would like instinctively reach for Opus.
11:13
And then when I'm like, "Okay,
11:14
now we just want to get stuff done." like I'll go to Codex.
11:17
>> Why isn't just a terminal good enough?
11:20
>> There's a reason uh we moved from terminal interfaces to like GUI interfaces
11:26
in the '80s.
11:27
Like I think humans are spatial,
11:29
visual creatures and like having a a command line interface just like feels like
11:33
it's feels very like restrictive
11:35
and I think it maybe works for the AI brains better than the human
11:38
brains,
11:39
but I think just like I want to know that okay,
11:41
my chats are over here and my like review panel's here.
11:44
I can talk to the AI in the middle.
11:45
I just think like yeah, bottom line like humans are like visual visual creatures.
11:50
I also think like like out of like a like zooming in a little
11:54
bit like there's a lot
11:55
that you can't do in a terminal um like
11:57
that you can do with a uh user interface.
12:01
>> Let's talk about token maxing.
12:03
>> Yeah.
12:03
>> What's your high water mark on lines of code in a day
12:06
or spend in a month?
12:07
>> I think the highest spend was
12:09
when we were starting out Conductor like in July 2025.
12:14
I spent $22,000 on tokens that month.
12:17
Granted that was with like previous generation of models.
12:21
Um and the lines of code was must have been like tens of thousands
12:25
that month.
12:26
I'm very big on spending like on token maxing, like using fast mode,
12:30
like think extra hard all like high effort all the time,
12:33
but we're not big on lines of code.
12:35
We we try and keep the lines of code minimal actually.
12:38
There's a bunch of reasons for this,
12:39
but I think like you can quickly spiral your code base can spiral out
12:43
of control if you're like not careful about the lines of code added.
12:46
But I I I think about it very differently
12:48
if I'm like starting up an app versus like working in established code base
12:52
like Conductor.
12:53
>> What's different about your workflows today from say 6 months ago?
12:57
>> On a lot of like hard PRs,
13:00
I would open an IDE
13:01
and make changes by hand
13:03
and I also use GitHub like the web app a lot a lot less
13:07
now because I can just like review the code changes here in Conductor
13:11
and like add comments here
13:12
if I need to.
13:13
We do have like a lot of PR checks
13:15
that run um and uh
13:18
so that's why we recently added this like uh this checks tab
13:21
which lets us just like add comments from GitHub like into Conductor.
13:24
>> What's the most surprising thing you've seen someone else do with Conductor?
13:28
>> One was like someone built like a mobile version of Conductor by like
13:32
hacking together a bunch of our I don't actually even really know how it
13:35
works,
13:35
but I know it's like spoofing like IPC calls to our desktop app,
13:39
which is pretty interesting.
13:41
I think honestly Gary has shown us a lot of what you can do
13:45
with Conductor.
13:47
He is really putting it to the test.
13:49
I think I've learned from him a bit about like how hard you can
13:52
go on skills.
13:53
Like skills are very much like a first-class thing in in G stack
13:56
and it's like it's there's some like interesting ideas there,
13:59
I think.
14:00
Like especially around like onboarding.
14:02
Then we've added uh actually a specific mode for him called Gary mode,
14:06
which by default does not collapse any of the tool calls.
14:09
So, you can see all the tool calls are default on collapse
14:13
and uh you can even actually see uh Gary's face here
14:16
if you're in Gary's mode.
14:17
>> What feels obvious to you
14:18
and your team that the rest of the world doesn't fully understand yet?
14:22
>> Like I think there's like a lot of cool stuff to explore with
14:24
like collaboration between humans
14:26
and the AIs.
14:27
Should you be able to communicate with sub-agents.
14:29
Should you be able to have like multiplayer chats where like multiple people are
14:32
working on the same thing with the AIs.
14:34
And then of course like the a metaphor we'll we'll often talk about is
14:38
like feeling like the conductor of an orchestra.
14:40
You like uh wave the baton
14:42
and like the instruments are playing in unison
14:45
and then once in a
14:45
while you want to go to like the the trumpet player
14:48
and be like,
14:49
"Okay, you're out of tune."
14:50
And then you want to like zoom out to like the string section
14:52
and like uh you should play a bit faster.
14:55
But then most of the time you're like conducting at the the orchestra level.
14:58
Code is almost like uh sawdust now in
15:02
that like it used to be
15:03
that code was the thing you were building.
15:05
It was like the structure.
15:07
You were putting time into like in in into like crafting the code.
15:11
And now you're putting time into describing what you want
15:14
and how you want it to be built
15:16
and the code is almost just like sawdust
15:18
that comes out of
15:19
that process.
15:20
And like that leads to like a lot of like interesting conclusions.
15:22
Like one of them is like really what matters is your prompts.
15:26
And like when the next generation of models come out,
15:28
you can just like rerun your prompts again
15:30
and then you'll get new code
15:31
and the old code didn't really matter.
15:33
I think that's one thing that like the world is slowly waking up to.
15:37
I think like the submit a prompt like the prompt request feature is sort
15:40
of like an early experiment with malleable software.
15:44
I the metaphor that I always think of
15:46
when I think of malleable software is like video games
15:49
and how like when you play like Call of Duty,
15:52
like the structure of the game is the same for everyone
15:54
and like the skeleton is the same,
15:55
but each person can like I don't know like use custom skins
15:59
or like faster like reload speeds
16:01
or whatever.
16:02
And like same way you can like mod a video game,
16:04
I want you to be able to mod conductor and like yeah,
16:08
building your own workflows a little bit.
16:09
It's important that like the structure feels the same
16:12
and like people want software that's like been crafted
16:14
and been like really thought through,
16:16
but I also, you know,
16:18
like video game mods make make the game feel more like your own
16:22
and um I think that's going to happen with software
16:24
as well.
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