GitHub - NiveditJain/WhatPeopleWant: Agent to help builders find what to build (build on exosphere.host)

3 min read Original article ↗

🚀 Discover What People Actually Want

Follow on X License Made with Python Docker Compose Built on Exosphere

An AI-powered agent that scours Hacker News discussions to uncover real problems people are begging to have solved. Every 2 hours, we identify high-impact opportunities and share them on X (Twitter) to help builders, makers, and entrepreneurs find their next big thing.

Built with ❤️ by builders, for builders - Powered by exosphere.host

How It Works

We scrape and analyze discussions from Hacker News to identify what people are asking for, what is missing, or what is underserved by current tools in the market. Using this data, a large language model (LLM) generates actionable problem statements for builders. The agent surfaces real needs and opportunities based on what the community is talking about right now.

This project depends upon the Hacker News API exposed by Y Combinator, which provides near real-time access to public Hacker News data through Firebase.

Getting Started

Option 1: Docker Compose (Recommended)

The easiest way to run WhatPeopleWant is using Docker Compose, which sets up all required services including MongoDB, Exosphere State Manager, and the application runners.

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/NiveditJain/WhatPeopleWant.git
cd WhatPeopleWant

  2. Set up environment variables:

    Create a .env file in the project root with the following variables:

    # OpenAI Configuration
# Get your API key from https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
OPENAI_KEY=your_openai_key_here
# For Azure OpenAI, use your Azure endpoint URL
# For OpenAI, use https://api.openai.com/v1
OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://api.openai.com/v1

# AWS SES Configuration (for email notifications)
# Get your AWS credentials from AWS IAM Console
AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_ses_access_key_here
AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY=your_aws_ses_secret_key_here
# AWS region for SES (e.g., us-east-1, us-west-2, eu-west-1)
AWS_SES_REGION=us-east-1
# SES endpoint for your region (e.g., https://email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com)
AWS_SES_REGION_ENDPOINT=https://email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
# Email address to send notifications from (must be verified in SES)
AWS_SES_EMAIL=from@yourdomain.com
# Comma-separated list of email addresses to receive notifications
TO_EMAILS=to1@yourdomain.com,to2@yourdomain.com

    Note: The following variables are automatically configured by Docker Compose:

    • MONGO_URI: Set to connect to the MongoDB container
    • EXOSPHERE_STATE_MANAGER_URI: Set to connect to the state manager container
    • EXOSPHERE_API_KEY: Set to the default API key for the state manager

  3. Start the application:

    This will start:

    • MongoDB database
    • Exosphere State Manager
    • Exosphere Dashboard (accessible at http://localhost:3000)
    • 4 runner instances for processing
    • Registration and scheduler services

  4. Monitor the application:

  5. Access the dashboard: Open your browser and navigate to http://localhost:3000

Option 2: Local Development

For local development, you can run the application directly on your machine.

  1. Clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/NiveditJain/WhatPeopleWant.git
cd WhatPeopleWant

  2. Install dependencies using uv:

  3. Set environment variables:

    Create a .env file in the project root (or set these variables in your environment) with the following keys:

    # MongoDB Configuration
MONGO_URI=your_mongo_connection_string

# Exosphere Configuration
EXOSPHERE_STATE_MANAGER_URI=your_state_manager_uri
EXOSPHERE_API_KEY=your_api_key

# OpenAI Configuration
# Get your API key from https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
OPENAI_KEY=your_openai_key_here
# For Azure OpenAI, use your Azure endpoint URL
# For OpenAI, use https://api.openai.com/v1
OPENAI_ENDPOINT=https://api.openai.com/v1

# AWS SES Configuration (for email notifications)
# Get your AWS credentials from AWS IAM Console
AWS_SES_ACCESS_KEY=your_aws_ses_access_key_here
AWS_SES_SECRET_KEY=your_aws_ses_secret_key_here
# AWS region for SES (e.g., us-east-1, us-west-2, eu-west-1)
AWS_SES_REGION=us-east-1
# SES endpoint for your region (e.g., https://email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com)
AWS_SES_REGION_ENDPOINT=https://email.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
# Email address to send notifications from (must be verified in SES)
AWS_SES_EMAIL=from@yourdomain.com
# Comma-separated list of email addresses to receive notifications
TO_EMAILS=to1@yourdomain.com,to2@yourdomain.com

    Replace the placeholder values with your actual credentials.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

License

MIT License

Acknowledgements

Built, hosted, and sponsored by exosphere.host

Made with ❤️ by builders for builders