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I’m working on a proxy MCP server that lazy loads tools to save tokens https://github.com/mquan/nimble. It includes a dashboard for connecting and configuring MCP servers.


Reminds me of this old clip https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lyex2tSUyA


During the holiday season in December, I got my 9yr old son into programming by making games with LLM. We made a few browser games, and by the end of it he could write the prompt himself, copy the code to the right places, understand what a function does and add objects to the game by modifying an array.

What I learned is llm gives you the activation energy, you just type a few sentences to get the momentum going. To get the reward feedback cycle going you’ll want to add graphics as early as possible.

The most difficult part is to be by his side and ready to jump in whenever a missing coma breaks the entire game. You’ll also need to keep scope under control, I’d alway steer him away from doing any complicated animation. There’re plenty of opportunity to teach but be realistic that it’s not real programming

Here’s an example that I put online so he can share with friends: https://mquan.github.io/k.ai/coin-collector/


I open sourced this tool that takes OpenAPI spec and let you control API using natural language https://github.com/mquan/api2ai

Let me know if you have any questions or feature request


How is this different from what LangChain already offers with their OpenAPI chain?

https://python.langchain.com/docs/use_cases/apis


afaik, the langchain solution loads entire openAPI spec which consumes a lot of token and won't work for many large API. For efficient token usage, api2ai divides the task into two steps: api planning and params parsing. First step takes a summarization of all the endpoints. Once the endpoint is known, we parse params using the schema of the selected endpoint.


I created api2ai (https://github.com/mquan/api2ai) to solve this. You provide an OpenAPI spec and auth data to spin up an agent for your API. It’s still low level and requires dev work. But I’m working on building tools to bring it to end users


That’s neat!

I took a different approach to openapi specs https://github.com/ShelbyJenkins/LLM-OpenAPI-minifier


This looks really cool, thx. How good it performs in practice? What are current bottlenecks, if any?


I created api2ai, I agree that we want to get consistent result, but that can be solved by looking up cached AI results. If the input is user driven then you’ll need AI to decipher the natural language.


It’s done in two steps: 1. Create an array of every endpoint’s summary text and ask AI to select one based on the user prompt 2. Use function calling with parameters of the selected operation in step 1


Same as your dad, five of my uncles fought in the war on the U.S. side, my grandfather and granduncle served in the South Vietnamese government in high positions. My family was persecuted after the war, many fled, the ones that stayed spent time in prison and fled after.

In college, I read a lot on the Vietnam war and learned about the Tet Offensive with the Hue massacre by the Vietcong, the Land Reform prior to that. But I don't see how the photos at My Lai is "pure propaganda." If you spend some time to learn about the tragic event you will find that there were a big cover up and for over 500 human lives lost, only one man was charged and subsequently pardoned.

The U.S. committed to a war when it didn't understand the people or history of Vietnam. Vietnam has a long history of fighting foreign invaders, and most people perceive the U.S. as such as they are just replacing the French when they withdrew after Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Till this day, most Vietnamese people consider China to be their biggest enemy even though the two countries share the same political ideology.


What happened to pg, is he still involved in YC day to day operation or the application process?


(edited for tone) PG and Jessica are currently on sabbatical in the UK - after running YC for 10+ years they are taking a little break spend more time with their kids


> after running YC for 10+ years they deserve a little break no?

With all due respect what is so special about running YC that means you deserve a sabbatical?

They are taking a sabbatical not because they deserve it but because they can afford to do so financially and have left their organization in what they feel are very capable hands.

It is actually atypical in most professions in the US (at least outside of teaching or academics) to be able to step away other than for a somewhat short vacation. And business? It moves to fast and the competition is most likely hard at work step away and someone else is there to take your place.

Hats off to them for creating an organization where they can do this but most people who are in either traditional businesses or professions (medicine, law as only two examples) can't do something like this.

Edit: Predictable downvotes. Everyone looks at this through a lens that says the commenter surely is showing disrespect or lack of knowledge for how special YC is.

Edit2: Noting that it has been edited for tone so...


With Graham, taking a break (or 'hammock time' as Hickey might phrase it) appears to be a pattern if one can draw a pattern from two data points. After selling Viaweb and working a Yahoo for a bit, Graham wrote and painted and created a new dialect of Lisp for several years before the experiment that led to YCombinator (there may have been consulting and investing in there too, it wouldn't surprise me but since I've never seen anything directly stating there was, it would not surprise me if there wasn't)...and Graham's descriptions of why he did a startup includes not having to get 'a real job' so to speak.

When Graham turned over the public face of YC to Altman, I was like, huh? Since then, I've come to think that 'I'm going to take my money and learn to paint' is one diffs between Altman's and Graham's personalities...though in fairness Graham was well into his thirties when he made his first millions and Altman was just 29 when he became president of YC.


It takes 3 points to confirm a pattern. :) Otherwise, it is nice and fortunate to be able to take time off (if you choose) to raise your kids, especially as a family. Especially when they are young and before school starts.


> but most people

PG isn't "most people". He's a super successful guy, so I don't see why you are comparing him to everyone else.

And about him taking a sabbatical: he can do whatever the hell he wants because he can afford to. It's true that many of us can't, but that's just how life is my friend.


>Edit: Predictable downvotes. Everyone looks at this through a lens that says the commenter surely is showing disrespect or lack of knowledge for how special YC is.

What makes you think they don't deserve a sabbatical?

More people in general should have longer vacations/sabbaticals in the US. The US is behind on this, and it is detrimental. The sabbatical itself has shrunk from historically being a year or more to just three weeks in some places here.


> More people in general should have longer vacations/sabbaticals in the US. The US is behind on this, and it is detrimental. The sabbatical itself has shrunk from historically being a year or more to just three weeks in some places here.

Perhaps for those that are employees of a larger type organization where there are fill in alternatives this could be a good thing. But for people that are not employees (they own the business or the success of the business has a direct impact on their financial benefits) this is not as easy as it sounds. Or for key employees of a business that have direct relationships to the customers or the product quality of the company.

Why?

Competition. And other alternatives that a customer or a client could use.

Let's say you are an attorney or a consultant. You have clients that give you business. They deal with you because a) they like your work and b) you are there when they need you. c) you have developed a rapport with them.

So now a new problem arises. They contact you but you are away on sabbatical. So what do they do? They try someone else. And maybe they never return. Really.

Or take even the person who cuts your hair. You've been going to them loyally for 10 years. Now they go away for 6 months. During that 6 months you find another person and keep using them.

I was told once that (and don't know if it's true) by a starbucks manager that when they renovate a store they never close it down entirely which would make the renov work much easier. Why? They have found that if you interrupt peoples morning patterns the store will lose business people either brake the habit or they find alternatives.


>what is so special about running YC that means you deserve a sabbatical?

I missed where this was claimed to be "deserved"?

>It is actually atypical in most professions in the US (at least outside of teaching or academics) to be able to step away other than for a somewhat short vacations[...]but most people can't do something like this.

I'm trying to figure out how this is relevant? Would you elaborate? I don't care about disrespect, but ignorance (i.e. lack of of knowledge) and illogical claims are problematic for me. "Special"?

I missed the parent comment before it was "edited for tone," but your comment comes across with a bit of undue animosity.


> I'm trying to figure out how this is relevant? Would you elaborate?

Well to restate my original comment was based on the use of the word "deserve" not the re-edited version. Apparently it was thought that that wasn't well put. And it's unclear to me why I was jumped on other than the obvious reason of this being HN. To your question the relevance of stating what is typical in other professions is because the vast majority of people can't simply take a sabbatical even if they have the money to do so. It's not unusual to make a comparison and the comparison once again had to use of the word 'deserve'. So many people 'deserve' was my point. However by the nature of what they do they simply can't just go away and come back and have everything be the same. Once again this has little to do with whether they can afford to do that or not. You don't want what you have created and worked for to be damaged and often by leaving it in the hands of others (w/o your oversight) that can happen. If you were an architect that was wealthy but had a various projects in play you are not going to go away like this. If you are an attorney with multiple cases in play you are not going to go away like this. If you own a small bodega you are not going to go away like this. If you are Tim Cook you are probably not either or Marissa Mayer (a few years ago). If you are a family practice doctor ditto. That's in addition to (in some businesses or professions) losing important clients that you have worked hard for many years. Or in a small business (or even medium business) where you have clients and customers that could easily leave for a competitor if you are not there personally to clean up and address any problems.


Ok, now I see. I am a mediocre programmer at best, and I live in a rural area. I often take 5 weeks off because I know how to save money (no gf or kids), and I've operated in the capacity of a contractor for 6 yrs. I do have Denver-based, fellow contractors that I can hand stuff off to, but I was always fearful of starting a family I could not support. I see this as a matter of choices.


Surely he just means a break from YC. And running YC was a job that required always being "on-call" in the early days.


"on call"? Plenty of businesses require the entrepreneur to be 'on call'.


Plenty of businesses require non-entrepreneurs to be on call too.


you jelly?


Yes absolutely, I'm only curious because his essays inspire me to think differently about work and attracted me to this community. Thanks for your answer


Same here - thanks for the question :)


If you google "nine-dash line", which violates UNCLOS, you'll understand why the ASEAN countries are upset and rightly so. China has visibly flexed their muscle in the region in recent years with building military bases, adding land to underwater islands so they can claim sea territory around them, and attacking fishing boats in disputed region. Some of this happen to dispute with Japan as well. With the economy not going well, I'm afraid this may be the Communist Party's strategy to diffuse tensions at home in order to hold on to power.


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