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Posted by david927 13 hours ago

Ask HN: What are you working on? (August 2026)

What are you working on? What have you been curious about lately?
214 points | 752 commentspage 4
jmathai 11 hours ago|
I’m exploring how to use AI for faith oriented experiences and products. There are two specific areas I’m interested in. I’m furthest along with this app in the App Store. https://trysojourn.app

1) grounding LLM scripture references in the actual text and eliminating hallucinations. This is the platform for that. https://withlattice.com

2) how to use AI to get people into scripture more as opposed to being a substitute for it. This is the product I made for it - it uses #1 above. https://trysojourn.app

angoragoats 10 hours ago|
Why would you not instead use your skills to "get people into" reading books that have actual verifiable truth, that advance their knowledge about the world, that educate them about history, mathematics, philosophy, logic, reason, etc?
analog8374 6 hours ago|||
framing accusations as questions is so last millennium.
seanmcdirmid 11 hours ago||
I’m currently on the beach at Google (since mid July), so I’m looking internally and externally for a new role. But I’m exhausted, so I’m playing around with local LLMs and DeepSeek more as well. I’m currently trying to get an agent harness going where orchestration happens via bazel, and agents are completely isolated beyond what context you give them access to as expressed in starlark. Agent executions are organized as a DAG like a build would be, where the output of one agent can serve as context for another (there is also a feedback mechanism which is needed for arbiter nodes).

I’ve mentioned it before, but we can get some pretty good results for developing implementation and tests with this setup. The context isolation makes it easy to separate test and code writing using a specification as a source of truth. Tests are then run by an arbiter that feedback to tests or implementation depending on who it blames for test failures. The tests are then treated as an independent implementation, and through the math of coincident errors, the arbiter feedback loop ensures that both are eventually correct (N-versions and clean room research did this with humans in the 80s). This then allows us to use less reliable LLMs to develop code, like Qwen on a MacBook Pro.

I hope to have something out on GitHub before my beach period ends (well, if I’m unsuccessful in getting a new role, then I’ll have a lot more time to play at least).

SOLAR_FIELDS 11 hours ago||
Lot of people are building agent runtime platforms right now. Look at LiteLLM's play into the space, for example. It's the new hot space for innovation. IMO the main play here is going to be on the self hosted/provenance aspect, because every major provider is now branching into services now to try and entrap you into their hosted platform ecosystem with all of these integrations
seanmcdirmid 10 hours ago||
I actually considered lite LLM to get Qwen to work with codex. It mostly works without lite LLM but MCP servers aren’t available, lite LLM tricks into think Qwen is an OpenAI model.
skybrian 11 hours ago|||
Does it need to be actual Bazel or could it be a similar but simpler, purpose-built system?
seanmcdirmid 10 hours ago||
No, it could be python or a DSL or whatever. Using Bazel and starlark is just a shortcut given a lack of any good ideas yet for a purpose built orchestration language.
Dathuil 11 hours ago|||
Does on the beach mean gardening leave? I'm not familiar with the term.
seanmcdirmid 10 hours ago||
Ya, it means my role at Google is gone and I have to find a new role or be laid off. I think “on the beach” sounds better than gardening leave, the term comes from the American consulting firms.
Toutouxc 9 hours ago||
That’s weird. Isn’t that kind of on the employer to decide whether they have different work for you? Are you expected to be actively doing something during this period?
seanmcdirmid 8 hours ago||
No, it is exactly like gardening leave, except you have a chance of switching to a new role at the company by applying for internal job transfers. I'm abusing the term also, for American consulting firms "on the beach" means they don't have a new client lined up for you and you are in danger of losing your job (vs. needing to do an internal transfer). Gardening leave I think is more of a UK term that they use when they want to lay you off but have to pay your salary for a certain amount of time before then, but its been a while since I heard that term and I don't want to cheat using Gemini.

Edit: ok I cheated using Gemini. Gardening leave is you are leaving or were terminated, and they have to pay your salary but don't want you near company assets. On the Beach is you are waiting for your next assignment and have access to training and such, you aren't consider a security breach.

I'm in both worlds right now: I wasn't technically terminated, so I can look for a new position (like being on the beach), BUT they think I'm a potential security breach so my access to corporate resources is really nerfed (like on gardening leave).

Gemini calls it being a "displaced employee". I like to think I'm just on the beach in Bali working on my own projects.

enos_feedler 11 hours ago||
Wtf is beach period?
utopcell 10 hours ago||
From context, I assume it's the grace period you are given to find another team after you get laid off.
RealityVoid 9 hours ago||
Is... That slang a play on the death stranding beach? Because if yes, it's kind of funny.
andrewjk 3 hours ago||
Multi-language libs with implementations in TypeScript/C#/Swift/Zig so that they can be used directly in web or native apps:

- A Markdown parser/renderer (https://github.com/andrewjk/allmark). The TS version of this was hand written and the other versions are AI translations.

- A Git client (https://github.com/andrewjk/gitologist) and a diffs parser/renderer (https://github.com/andrewjk/differator). These were vibe coded in TS, checked and then AI translated.

I’ve used these libraries to build a native Mac Markdown notes app (https://staunchapps.com/stash) and a JS script launcher (https://staunchapps.com/launch).

nbbaier 3 hours ago|
Are the creator of the `.mdsv` format that's referenced in the stash manual? Never heard of it before. If you are, interested if there's a spec.
andrewjk 3 hours ago||
It's just a text file containing a single Markdown table. Making it a different extension seemed like the best way to force them to open in a different editor view inside Stash (while keeping them editable with any other text editor).
glitchmodo 1 hour ago||
I work full time as a full-stack developer, have a second part-time software development job, and recently started a business named Glitchmodo.

I rebuilt two older projects: AwesomeTools.org, now with more than 200 free browser-based tools, and SuperDadJokes.com, which I originally made for my kids when they were younger. Awesome Tools was recently approved for Google AdSense, so I'm now learning more about SEO, traffic, and monetization.

I'm also building a daily word game for iOS and Android, plus a Roblox game. I'm totally new to game development, so that has been fun and challenging. My kids are excited to be testers for the Roblox game, so that one has me the most motivated.

https://awesometools.org https://superdadjokes.com https://glitchmodo.com

alexjplant 5 hours ago||
I'm going whole hog on LLM-driven development to build out an old school FOSS forum that can run in resource-constrained environments with a minimum of fuss. Think phpBB but written in Rust with modern UI niceties and a SQLite backend. My hope is that interested parties will be able to deploy this on random SBCs or Unikraft and use cloudflared to expose their service to interested parties. Watching old forums that I used to frequent get gobbled up by VerticalScope makes me pine for the days of small self-hosted communities that existed for the hell of it instead of monetized interaction.
conrs 7 hours ago||
I'm figuring out stepping stones in getting closer to user data autonomy. A natural starting place is our professional history.

So, I'm building a compatibility layer; something that works with everything - including your own vibe-coded personal CRM.

It's already helping - even something as simple as correlating calendar events with new connections so that you always know where you met someone.

https://tend2thrive.com if you're curious; It's live, so DM me if you'd like an account rather than just hitting the waitlist.

joelm 5 hours ago||
I got sick of being on Zoom calls and having things lag or glitch, and not knowing if the issue was something I'm responsible for or not. Is it my LAN/Wi-Fi, my ISP path, some broader Internet issue, or Zoom?

So, I built a tool to answer that. Major goals have been to keep low energy/cpu usage (so I can run it 24/7), have it adapt to the apps/traffic I'm using (rather than use static monitoring endpoints), and to deliver both at-a-glance answers in the menubar and in-depth detail in the dropdown.

It's called Breakdown. It's a free (for typical uses). It's Mac-only for now (but if enough people ask for Windows I'll port it).

https://breakdown.live

a_c 11 hours ago||
Climbing gym photogrammetry. My idea is that route and climb recordings is best recorded against a 3D climbing gym model, rather than a plan video, and technology has gotten good enough to do with a regular phone.

As a climber myself, to climb effectively, one has to review their own climb, and with other people. 4D video, body positions across time, is very helpful in improving climbing. I managed to get a reasonable result (far from good) from one video, rather requiring multiple camera angles.

Haven't gotten to monetization yet, but I am enjoying every moment of making it.

A read only preview at https://kmcheung12.github.io/climb-preview/w/ae43c6e5

forsalebypwner 10 hours ago|
That demo is very impressive, nice work
a_c 9 hours ago||
Thank you!
africajam 10 hours ago||
I put my flat in the UK on the market recently and it has given me a lot of insights into how broken the real estate market is! One thing I found particularly annoying is how dominant rightmove is and how much of the traffic for house hunting they control.

As a small way of standing up to them I created https://rigove.co.uk/ (rightmove without htm - the hidden toll machine ;)

If you change rightmove to rigove while browsing a property for sale you get a page which shows where else that property is listed.

It is only a few days old so it is currently more miss than hit but I plan to reach out to estate agents to increase coverage as quick as I can.

RagnarD 10 hours ago|
I suggest considering a different domain name before this gets too popular. Rightmove might call it trademark violation for the name being too close, if they get annoyed at the competition.
africajam 10 hours ago||
I'm genuinely curious - are you saying this because you know quite a bit about trademark violation?
uncletammy 1 hour ago||
I know almost nothing about trademark violation and agree it's likely a risk. I'm in the U.S. though.
beau_g 8 hours ago|
Working on the chainsaw for my centaur form factor robot. Have one part to machine then just need to weld everything up and will be ready to try it out. It uses a motor and controller sourced from an E foil, and has 2DOF position control. https://www.satyress.com/buildprogress

I've also been slowly chipping away at a Jagged Alliance 2-like game in Godot. Nothing to share yet but if anyone else is also frustrated that there hasn't been a good video game since Jagged Alliance 2 and you want to work on it reach out to me through the contact in my profile.

relssiegp 6 hours ago||
I recalled what it was about before even clicking the link, and I've only seen it once. You are really good at making people remember your products. The first time, I thought it was a hoax, or a FNAF variant because of the design of the robot and the tone of the website, but if it happens to become a real product, congrats, I hope you'll find success with it.
sosodev 8 hours ago||
I saw some coverage of your robot on social media. I honestly thought it was a hoax because of the very bold design and AI generated images. Cool concept, have you had any potential customers reach out?
beau_g 8 hours ago||
The images are not AI generated, they are just renders from CAD composited into photos or pure renders. I have received a lot of reach out from all sorts of backgrounds which is cool, though I am a very long ways from being able to sell anything, has definitely lit even more of a fire for me though to keep making progress.
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