Ask HN: What are you working on? (February 2026)
New projects, refactors, experiments, startups, or late-night hacks — tell us what you’re building or exploring this month and why. I'm working on https://laboratory.love Laboratory.love lets you fund independent plastic chemical lab testing of the specific foods you actually buy. Think Consumer Reports meets Kickstarter, but focused on detecting endocrine disruptors in your yogurt, your kid’s snacks, or whatever you’re curious about. Find a product (or suggest one), contribute to its testing fund, and get full lab results when testing completes. If a product doesn’t reach its goal within 365 days, you’re automatically refunded. All results are published publicly. This project was inspired by Nat Friedman's PlasticList.org and we use the same ISO 17025-accredited methodology they did, testing three separate production lots per product (when possible) and detecting down to parts-per-billion. The entire protocol is open. I just published new results today! Turns out Muir Glen's caned Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes are incredibly low in plastic chemicals. Yay! Browse funded tests, propose your own, or just follow along: https://laboratory.love Wow, that is pretty cool! Do you run lab tests yourself, or have to engage a certified lab instead? How does that all work ? The testing is surprisingly complex! I partner with Light Labs to handle the testing → https://www.lightlabs.com/ I've been working with my wife on Uruky [1] for a couple of months, now. It's a EU-based (early) Kagi [2] alternative (privacy-focused and ad-free search with domain boosting/exclusion rules). We've been using it with friends and family semi-successfully (hashbangs always work if the results aren't satisfactory). It's really difficult to get bigger indexes other than Mojeek and Marginalia to want to work with us and improve the results further, so that's something I've been researching more, lately. If you're interested in trying it for a few days and are a human, reach out with your account number and I'll give you a couple of weeks for free. We're pushing improvements daily. [2] https://kagi.com So you build your own Internet-scale search engine, that's what you're saying?! What stack do you use? How much data is in your indexes ? Oops, sorry if that wasn't clear, we're not building a search engine index (yet). We'll definitely do it if we get enough people interested in paying for such a product, though. Right now we're using APIs for other search indexes, like Mojeek and Marginalia, then sprinkling some basic local algorithms to tweak the results and apply the preferences to boost/downrank/exclude domains and TLDs (which is everyone's favorite "feature"). Stack-wise, it's very "boring" (as in, it generates and serves the HTML + bits of JS to enhance settings and such), using Deno in the backend and PostgreSQL for the DB. Oh, got it, thanks for clarifying! II built a free USCIS form-filling tool (no Adobe required) USCIS forms still use XFA PDFs, which don’t let you edit in most browsers. Even with Adobe, fields break, and getting the signature is hard.
So I converted the PDF form into modern, browser-friendly web forms - and kept every field 1:1 with the original. You fill the form, submit it, and get the official USCIS PDF filled. What Fillvisa does: - Fill USCIS forms directly in your browser - no Adobe needed - 100% free - No login/account required - Autosave as you type - Local-only storage (your data never leaves the browser) - Clean, mobile-friendly UI - Generates the official USCIS PDF, ready to submit - Built-in signature pad I just wanted a fast, modern, free way to complete the actual USCIS form itself without the PDF headaches. This is a beta version Sounds useful! How do you handle data privacy concerns? thanks. All the data stays on your browser-only. I'm playing with repeatable development environment with incus. So, it's like in Docker, but naturally more things should be possible (eg. snap package manager is the ultimate test), but still more disposable than VMs (eg. it won't finish your laptop battery and annoy your ears with fan). https://github.com/predkambrij/incus-container-desktop
https://github.com/predkambrij/devcontainer What are advantages compared to Docker/Apple containers/VMs like Virtual Box? I'm a Linux user (I don't know Apple much). I use devcontainers (the repo I listed) for almost everything, because almost everything is possible to do with about zero overhead. Eg, it won't do memory fragmantation that VMs do, processes are just the same, as on host. GUI apps work just the same as the ones on host, which is really cool. Storage can be an issue if images multiply too much, but not a real issue.
Incus is a bit different, I still evaluate it, so can't comment much. By description is just the very thing I was looking for (a VM, but without VM's overhead). It's amazing, that Debian12 desktop will start in about 2 seconds. Performance is again just the same as on host's machine.
VMs are still cool, I still use them, where I want to be really sure that I won't have a bug that containers would cause them (weird networking and such). I'm building a newsletter called Tech Talks Weekly[1] where my readers get one email per week with all the latest Software Engineering conference talks and podcasts[1] published that week. In January, I've released a paid tier[2] where my subscribers additionally get: 1. Access to my internal database of all the talks and podcasts since 2020 (+48,000 in total) where they can search, filter, sort, and group by title, conference/podcast, view count, date, and duration. 2. See the list of the most-watched talks over the last 7, 30, 90 days, 6 months, and 12 months based on number of views. 3. Get category-based view of new talks & podcasts by tech stack, language, and domain (Software Architecture, Backend, Frontend, Full Stack, Data, ML, DevOps, Security, Leadership and every major language & ecosystem) [1] https://www.techtalksweekly.io/p/what-is-tech-talks-weekly Useful! Subscribed! Thanks! :) I'm working on https://storymotion.video/ a tool for creating hand-drawn animated diagrams for educational creators or technical writer. - You can export it as video (4k, 60fps)
- Do some presentation.
- or embed as iframe on to the blog posts or technical docs. It's combined the experiences of Keynote and Excalidraw, both software I was enjoy using! Wow, I always wanted such tool! What is your technical stack? Do you build editor from scratch or do you use something as a baseline ? A tiny web app for busy weeknight cooking. You tap in what ingredients you’ve got, add a time limit + a couple of preferences, and it gives you 3 genuinely doable dinner ideas with step-by-step recipes (no “manage your pantry”, no endless scrolling). It’s early, but people seem to like the “use up what you’ve got” angle. Feedback very welcome. I've tried it, looks fun! P.S. You don't have "green onion" in the ingredients database =)) I've been working on an iOS app to help my mom keep track of major awards and film festivals: https://awardedapp.com I had this project for a while in the back burner, and like many of you over the holiday I went back to it with the help of Claude Code... it's been a lot of fun. Did you have iOS development experience before ? So, after building this app with Claude - what is your feedback on that? What can be improved/done differently? Could you please share any tips/hints on how to make development of iOS app with Claude easier/better? Working on https://dataraven.io/ - a low-cost cloud native data movement platform, focusing on object storage initially RClone is doing the heavy lifting (amazing project). I'm adding some bells and whistles clients have asked me for over the years Do you have any customers already? No, I've had a few signups and interest, slowly ramping up marketing/partner channel outreach. I'm working to fully open-source the website I've been living from since 2020. I'm not as worried about copycat websites anymore since big tech has stolen all of my work already, so I'm losing my audience either way. I'm also working on a bilingual lease termination letter generator. The good thing with such tools is that they can be verified by lawyers and guarantee that the letter is legally compliant. The hard work only needs to be done once, then it benefits all. I wish I had more time to make useful stuff, but the loss in traffic to LLMs is wrecking my plans for the future. I don't know how much more of a drop I can sustain. Sorry to hear that! I’m continuing to work on AllZonefiles.io — a domain-data hub that aggregates and serves large-scale zone files. Right now it covers ~354M domains across 1,575 zones, including ~114M domains from 317 ccTLDs, which turned out to be the hardest part operationally. The next step is an extended dataset parsed from WHOIS: create/expire/update timestamps, NS records, and IANA registrar info. Stack is fairly boring on purpose: Go, bare-metal Linux, PostgreSQL, Bootstrap 5. The motivation is to make downloading and keeping the most complete domain lists possible automated and predictable, without manual registry workflows or fragmented sources. A daily, async version of the dictionary game. Each day, players try to spot the real definition of an obscure word among the fakes submitted by other players the day before. Fake definitions rank on a daily leaderboard. I love the traditional version of the game, but it's not so easy to get a session going. An asynchronous, global format is my attempt to make it more casual and accessible. It's live for about a month now: ~100 daily players, 5000 total, some 20 people on 10-day streaks. Pretty! What tech is behind it ? Thanks! Frontend is Nextjs. Flask, Postgres and Redis in the backend. Hosted on a cheap VPS. I spent way too much time trying to automate moderation (grouping related submissions, judging similarity, removing offensive submissions) using sentence-transformers and w2v. Finally gave up and settled on using deepseek to moderate for 0.002€ a day. One thing I'm currently working on is improving the exploration vs exploitation balance in matchmaking (selecting the fakes to present to a player). I want sessions to contain good fakes, but every fake must be played a few times to judge its quality. As a first step, I'm replacing the ELO system for definitions with one that accounts for uncertainty (like Trueskill) Voiden : A offline API client based on Markdown.
Github : https://github.com/VoidenHQ/voiden What are some use cases for this tool? Can it be used in integration tests as a part of CI/CD pipeline? Voiden can be used for API development, testing and documenting.You can even extend to your own liking with your own custom plugin. I am working on a https://humanityjobs.com. It is a job board that helps find jobs across humanitarian areas—helping people, helping address poverty, traveling in the world, and traveling in developing countries. I would like to create a comprehensive list of jobs with organizations that are internationally verified. So if you are working on anything like that, please feel welcome. Do you rely on "Post a job" button on the website or gather jobs for the site yourself? I search for jobs myself and maybe somebody will post as well https://github.com/ScivizLabVienna/HandsomeTello An open source iot drone based on the handsomemod dongle. i am working on https://www.usesatori.sh/ -- a persistent memory layer for AI that connects to your business apps it's been a lot of fun to work on and seeing real usage! I have been working on a minimalist and calm work/task tracking app called Dodolr (doo-doo-lr) which supports tasks (dodos), notes and follow-up since last few months. I deliberately didn't build notification or reminders and leave it to the user to be fully accountable for completing their work (moving tasks to terminal stages). I'm building it for 3 local customers. Would be happy to give Early Access to any solo founder and power user who prefer non intrusive tools to keep a tab at their work. The app works well form small 1-3 person team very well. The landing page is at:
https://www.dodolr.com Please submit the Early Access form if you want an access. Happy to answer questions here as well. "Login" and "start free now" links do not work on the website! It's on closed testing, not live for public yet. Could you please drop your email on the Request Early Access form which is above the footer of the landing page? I'd be happy to send you access details.
- Team workspaces with role-based access control
- Notifications – Alerts on transfer failure or resource changes via Slack, Teams, Discord, etc.
- Centralized log storage
- Vault integrations – Connect 1Password, Doppler, or Infisical for zero-knowledge credential handling (no more plain text files with credentials)
- 10 Gbps connected infrastructure (Pro tier) – High-throughput Linux systems for large transfers