In 72 hours, I went from not knowing how to run a command or write a line of code to deploying a custom-built app on my local computer, which I plan to launch as an open-source, public good.

tldr

The app analyzes the NFTs held by a wallet address and summons a list of kindred spirits based on collections associated with that wallet. Collectors of this Mirror post will be granted early access to the app.

The text below has been copied from Farcaster (link below) and edited lightly for Mirror readers.

https://warpcast.com/aronshelton/0x202e80

Hello, (World-)Builders! A friend suggested I share my first-build story with the Farcaster community, so here goes…

72 hours ago, I stumbled onto Sully’s Auto-GPT tweet that grabbed my attention.

https://twitter.com/SullyOmarr/status/1645482778677452805?s=20

Anyways, so I unroll it and stop dead at step one.

Do I know how to run a terminal command? I mean, kind of, I guess. I recently paid someone to set something up for me. I do tip them every time it breaks, and they do have to give me “commands” I can copy and paste to get it working again.

F-it, let’s go for it. I can definitely download stuff, and I’ve been playing with ChatGPT. Hmmm, cloning repo? Where is this file called ".env.template"? What is a ".env" file? Download more stuff (but with commands?). I can open up stuff (but run scripts?).

Thanks for the thread, Sully. But apparently, I can’t follow instructions. This thing isn’t working, and I knew it wouldn’t. I’m an idiot, but wait...

I wonder if The ChatGPT is as much of a dummy as me!? Copy and paste error in ChatGPT. Copy and paste solution. Run script (Ok, I learned how to run a script!). Shoot, it's still not working. Copy and paste for what FEELS like ad infinitum (you get where I’m going).

It’s working! It’s alive! IT’S ALIVE!

“Welcome back!” The message I received from Auto-GPT doubles as a fitting way to continue casting my first-build story.

Just to recap: I heed Sully's call to AI adventure, realize my adventure is ending before it even begins given his instructions, but before giving up, I turn to ChatGPT and cross into the unknown, full of “commands” and “scripts” and “.env” files and “clones” and a multitude of weird text symbols.

Ok, now Auto-GPT is up and running and ready to do my bidding, but on what? Like many others, I’ve been interested in getting my own AI assistant trained on data I supply.

https://twitter.com/rafathebuilder/status/1641018335021113344?s=20

So it seemed appropriate to get started by renaming it: AronGPT, lol.

Prompt time: AronGPT, research Aron Shelton and share 5 interesting facts about him. Goal 1: Use Google to look up Aron Shelton who lives in Fayetteville, AR , Goal 2: Use links to discover interesting facts about him, Goal 3: document 5 interesting facts about him, Goal 4: share them and Goal 5: finish.

This cringe-adjacent AI-assisted affirmation exercise put me on a bit of a high. I felt premium mediocre at this point, and Auto-GPT going to serve up receipts that I was not only mediocre, but I was, in fact, interesting!

https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17/the-premium-mediocre-life-of-maya-millennial/

Auto-GPT: I found several interesting pieces of information about Aron Shelton, who is a music industry veteran who spent decades working in Nashville. He has worked on many significant projects, including producing and engineering tracks for several prominent performers, including Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, and Marty Robbins. Moreover, Shelton has worked on multiple Broadway and film scores.

Interesting fella with the whoa factor, but not me.  The real-deal learning loop was watching Auto-GPT (aka AronGPT) work. I could see what it was trying to do: searching Linkedin, searching my bio on a website, my educational background, etc.

So, A for effort, AronGPT. Let’s load up new tasks that involve etherscan, API calls, smart contracts, NFTs, wallet addresses. If you’re thinking how I think you’re thinking, it could illustrate a concept I’ve been obsessing over for months now called “Ghost Context.”  Spoiler alert, AronGPT helped me complete my first build to surface it. In Part III, I’ll wrap up and share details about the app, my gift to my little corner of web3.

👻👻👻 Boo(yah)!

Ok, the time has come to land this ship. If you’ve been following along, you know this story is about my experience going from never running a command or writing a line of code to shipping an app in a little under 72 hours with the help of Auto-GPT and ChatGPT.

The app I built is designed to surface “Ghost Context”. Wtf is this “Ghost Context”? I coined the term "ghost context" to describe shared context that exists between two or more people who lack awareness of each other and/or the context they share in common.

A few IRL ghost context examples: Visiting a friend’s house and discovering in their bookshelf or vinyl crate that you’ve read a handful of the same books or are fans of common artists.

Striking up a convo with a stranger at an event who is wearing a shirt from an obscure past festival you attended. Come to find out, you’ve both attended a number of the same concerts and share many friends in common. The shared references and lived experiences together form ghost context that pre-existed between you and the stranger-turned-friend.

You’re experiencing weird symptoms that doctors have been unable to diagnose. Your friend mentions knowing someone who had experienced something similar. The connection leads to your identification of an uncommon diagnosis. The ghost context in this instance was the set of rare symptoms experienced by you and your friend’s acquaintance.

Each of these scenarios is an example of a "ghost context," and while we may not know that we share a ghost context with someone, once it surfaces, it can often play a factor in our social lives, unexpectedly deepening existing connections or leading to new friendships,a sense of belonging, or common ground for collaboration.

The key thing to keep in mind is that this context hinges on shared feelings of resonance, generated at the intersection of mutual interests and/or urgency.

So, how did Auto-GPT help me build an app designed to surface ghost context for web3 communities? Well, much to my chagrin, a simple prompt with a few goals was not sufficient for task completion.

In fact, it failed miserably at the tasks I gave it. But again, the key to momentum in this experiment is that it let me watch what it was trying to do. And what it was trying to do was retrieve the data I asked it to go fetch. Data about my wallet address.

It sought to access the etherscan API. It tried webscraping etherscan. It thought it did the job and came back to deliver the results. It didn’t retrieve the correct data. I had the data, so I was able to run comps for accuracy.

The bulbs started to light up again. I’d run a script to get Auto-GPT setup. Could ChatGPT help me design a script to access the API myself? If I am able to retrieve the data, could I write some code to crunch the data and surface this ghost context stuff that had been haunting my brain for months?

If the script works, could I possibly go from a script to a web application?

And since I’m here casting this story, you know the answer is yes to all of the above. It was a WILD 72 hours to Eureka!

If you’ve made it this far, thank you. You might be thinking, “Now, demo already! Show us if what you’ve built is going to do justice to all this time I’ve spent reading about this AI-assisted leapfrogging over a wildly steep learning curve.”

So, here is the deal. I told you this is my gift to my corner of the web3 universe. I’ve conceptualized this web app as an open-source, public good. Hopefully, we now share the understanding that this is about surfacing ghost context for the web3 community.

I’ll go a step farther. This is about heightening your awareness of your corner of the web3 universe, and it’s about summoning (new and old) kindred spirits.

So since there is still a little work to do before I can release it to the web3 universe, e.g. hiring an actual developer to tighten the code up, add a few bells and whistles, etc., for prime time.

Here’s my commitment to accessibility based on the reality of the limitations of the app in its current form: If you collect the post (~$2 + gas), you will be granted early access to the app. My wife and I like to include $2 bills when tipping for good service, and this is just a little nod to that, given the work that’s leading up to this release.

That’s all for now. Keep it kindred, folks! 👻👻👻