HumanLayer Joins Factory to Advance Autonomous Software Development

Factory brings HumanLayer into its platform

Factory said on November 4, 2026, that HumanLayer is joining the company following discussions between the two teams. Factory said it had long admired HumanLayer founders Dex Horthy and Kyle Mistele, who have used coding agents since early 2025 and helped develop ideas including agent swarms and the Research/Plan/Implement framework.

According to Factory, HumanLayer has been ahead of common practices for working with coding agents and software factories, particularly for larger organizations with hundreds or thousands of engineers. The company said HumanLayer’s writing and speaking have attracted millions of views, while its product has built a loyal following.

Factory described the transaction as an alignment around mission, mutual respect and a shared vision for developing software faster. It said both teams are already building together for Factory’s developers and enterprise users.

HumanLayer will be open sourced

Factory said it will open source HumanLayer and invite all HumanLayer users to Factory. The existing HumanLayer platform will remain available during a transition period, with support for users who want to export their data, migrate to Factory or self-host the open source version.

Factory said HumanLayer has hundreds of daily active users and that it wants to support the developer community during the change. The company did not give a specific end date for the current platform’s transition period.

The move gives users several paths forward rather than requiring an immediate migration. They can continue using the current service while deciding whether to move to Factory, manage the open source software themselves or export their data.

Collaboration features are planned for Factory

As part of the acquisition, Factory plans to bring some of HumanLayer’s features to its own product. Dex Horthy, Kyle Mistele and the HumanLayer team are working on multiplayer tasks and workstreams, along with in-app collaboration on agent-written plans, product specifications and design documents.

Factory said this work is expected in the next few weeks and that it plans to gather early feedback from the HumanLayer community. The features could extend Factory’s support for teams coordinating software work with coding agents, while the open source plan gives HumanLayer users a self-hosting option.

Factory describes its product as a governed, model-independent system for enterprises. Its Droids plan, build, validate and improve work within each company’s infrastructure, policies and approved models. Founded in 2023 by Matan Grinberg and Eno Reyes, Factory is headquartered in San Francisco.