11 ms·

I was annoyed by the default OpenAI ChatGPT slow-typing animation and logging me out every day, so I built a new UI client on top of its API. It's a static web

I was annoyed by the default OpenAI ChatGPT slow-typing animation and logging me out every day, so I built a new UI client on top of its API. It's a static web app, you can host it yourself, data is stored locally on your browser, API requests are made directly to OpenAI API without any middle server. It has some more convenient features that make your that experience way better. Like search chat history, prompt library, integrations, etc. Would love to hear all the feedback!

Loeffelmann 4y ago
Ohh man I wanted to publish my own electron app today :( It's basically doing the same thing. I found that using API keys is also significantly cheaper than using the subscription with moderate usage. Congrats on the release.
- singularity2001 4y ago
  Don't worry there are only about 10,000 people working on similar apps right now ;)
  - itsuka 4y ago
    I'm also building a personal ChatGPT client for a similar reason as the OP, which is to address the issues of buggy and slow UX, among others. As you mentioned, many people are currently working on projects using ChatGPT API. In fact, in the past 24 hours, around 12 new apps that have been showcased on OpenAI Discord channel alone. Some of these apps are open source, which makes them a great source of learning and inspiration for me.
    - behnamoh 4y ago
      > Some of these apps are open source, which makes them a great source of learning and inspiration for me. Do you then reference those open source apps?
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
  - corobo 4y ago
    I whipped up a quick cli script myself haha https://gist.github.com/cohan/7d2abfa56b2dfdaae98bf70e84c62218 https://gist.github.com/cohan/7d2abfa56b2dfdaae98bf70e84c622... All of these UIs when there's a perfectly good command line right there! The CLI is always the best way for text. > ai what is that song with moms spaghetti "Lose Yourself" by Eminem Sorted.
    - singularity2001 4y ago
      yep CLI is the way different flavours: 'fix' acts as `thefuck` replacement in 30 lines of python
    - webjunkie 4y ago
      Nice, I'm curious though, does the API also remember context from earlier conversations or can it be made to?
      - corobo 4y ago
        I don't believe so, but that's not something I wanted/needed for this one. It's just for one off things for me. Something like > ai give me an index match formula to link between sheets New and Current Then I'll tweak the output as needed to match reality. Context would probably get in the way more than it helps in this use case. Don't expect perfection from an AI assistant, just expect it to be a little faster than tabbing to a browser or figuring it out yourself. In Stellaris terms: https://img.imgy.org/D76l.png https://img.imgy.org/D76l.png
    - dragonwriter 4y ago
      CLI is a UI, too.
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
      - corobo 4y ago
        I know mate, haha. I imagine someone can do much better than I did in a few minutes, but yeah use the UI that already exists instead of sprinkling electron on something text based. If anyone fancies a tinker I imagine future editions of a CLI AI having a --context to include former prompts*, --stfu|--concise to make it respond concisely (as I was originally just responding "I know mate, haha" I also need this flag adding), probably a --model= to override that bit too, maybe even a --preamble=./prompt.txt ... it definitely needs a --json flag to prompt and enforce "I only want json and I'll parse it out of the response myself if I need to" * Not just keeping a buffer and re-sending it, I believe context asks GPT to summarise the conversation so far and then uses the output of that for context memory. It'd need some tinkering. I'll get round to it myself eventually, for now being able to ask little things like "is it defence or defense" and "what company owns the coco pops brand" is doing me just fine I did realise I can now potentially pipe things into and out of GPT too, but have yet to come up with a use other than outputting through TTS e.g. > ./ai is it defence or defense | festival --tts
  - Loeffelmann 4y ago
    Haha I felt better after reading this thread. I mean it was a fun weekend project!
pablosr11 4y ago
Agree on both issues, specially the one logging you out daily. Congrats on the quick launch! Can already see the whisper model makings its way through the product :)
- trungdq88 4y ago
  thank you!
jw1224 4y ago
> I was annoyed by the default OpenAI ChatGPT slow-typing animation I’d assumed ChatGPT’s slow-typing was actually the model’s real-time output, streamed to the browser token-by-token. When I’ve made GPT3 API calls it’s worked like this, with streaming switched off I might need to wait ~20 seconds for a long response back. I just tried your UI, and it’s so much faster! Was my assumption about real-time output wrong? Great project, looking forward to using it more :)
- trungdq88 4y ago
  Yep, I was surprised I about the response time too. I'm not sure what's going on under the hood, maybe OpenAI did something with the stream output that causes the slowness.
  - lordnacho 4y ago
    Perhaps it is simply a way to limit the number of queries? If you force people to wait 10s for an answer they aren't writing new questions all the time.
    - TeMPOraL 4y ago
      For me it's been consistently the case that after 2-3 messages, the animation would start to visibly lag, and eventually (on 3rd or 4th reply) slow to a halt, sometimes mid-sentence, completely bricking the session. It's been like this since ChatGPT was first opened to public. I initially assumed it's just the usual case of a bloated SPA, but now I think maybe I'm being throttled on purpose?
  - weird-eye-issue 4y ago
    It uses a different model. ChatGPT Plus is fast too.
- IanCal 4y ago
  ChatGPTs paid version is extremely fast, and this is using the paid API. The paid API feels slower than the paid UI, but this may be the difference between streaming results and getting everything in one payload.
mellosouls 4y ago
It's a static web app, you can host it yourself Note for anybody else wondering, it's not open source, you have to download a binary. More FAQ by clicking the Gift (?) icon at the top and scrolling down.
- seanw444 4y ago
  Moving on...
- Terretta 4y ago
  Entrust your AI key to a closed binary? Bot what could possibly go wrong?
  - kilgnad 4y ago
    Careful with the sarcasm. Only positive vibes are allowed on showHN or the admin goes ballistic. I've seen it happen.
    - screamingninja 4y ago
      > Only positive vibes are allowed on showHN Sarcasm?
      - kilgnad 4y ago
        No. It's real. According to dang, showHN is suppose to be a "safe space". You could make absolute crap, everyone is suppose to be positive about it. Dang will flag people who don't do this. Nothing dang can do though is hundreds of people hate it though. Things with actual security issues for example he'll likely just be quiet about it.
        screamingninja 4y ago
        That is unfortunate. You would think that the intent behind posting ShowHN is to get constructive feedback but based on what you described, it appears that the expectation is to make those creators feel good instead.
birdyrooster 4y ago
But why is it closed source? It makes no sense why you would obfuscate this.

Loeffelmann 4y ago

Ohh man I wanted to publish my own electron app today :( It's basically doing the same thing. I found that using API keys is also significantly cheaper than using the subscription with moderate usage. Congrats on the release.

singularity2001 4y ago
Don't worry there are only about 10,000 people working on similar apps right now ;)
- itsuka 4y ago
  I'm also building a personal ChatGPT client for a similar reason as the OP, which is to address the issues of buggy and slow UX, among others. As you mentioned, many people are currently working on projects using ChatGPT API. In fact, in the past 24 hours, around 12 new apps that have been showcased on OpenAI Discord channel alone. Some of these apps are open source, which makes them a great source of learning and inspiration for me.
  - behnamoh 4y ago
    > Some of these apps are open source, which makes them a great source of learning and inspiration for me. Do you then reference those open source apps?
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
- corobo 4y ago
  I whipped up a quick cli script myself haha https://gist.github.com/cohan/7d2abfa56b2dfdaae98bf70e84c62218 https://gist.github.com/cohan/7d2abfa56b2dfdaae98bf70e84c622... All of these UIs when there's a perfectly good command line right there! The CLI is always the best way for text. > ai what is that song with moms spaghetti "Lose Yourself" by Eminem Sorted.
  - singularity2001 4y ago
    yep CLI is the way different flavours: 'fix' acts as `thefuck` replacement in 30 lines of python
  - webjunkie 4y ago
    Nice, I'm curious though, does the API also remember context from earlier conversations or can it be made to?
    - corobo 4y ago
      I don't believe so, but that's not something I wanted/needed for this one. It's just for one off things for me. Something like > ai give me an index match formula to link between sheets New and Current Then I'll tweak the output as needed to match reality. Context would probably get in the way more than it helps in this use case. Don't expect perfection from an AI assistant, just expect it to be a little faster than tabbing to a browser or figuring it out yourself. In Stellaris terms: https://img.imgy.org/D76l.png https://img.imgy.org/D76l.png
  - dragonwriter 4y ago
    CLI is a UI, too.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
    - corobo 4y ago
      I know mate, haha. I imagine someone can do much better than I did in a few minutes, but yeah use the UI that already exists instead of sprinkling electron on something text based. If anyone fancies a tinker I imagine future editions of a CLI AI having a --context to include former prompts*, --stfu|--concise to make it respond concisely (as I was originally just responding "I know mate, haha" I also need this flag adding), probably a --model= to override that bit too, maybe even a --preamble=./prompt.txt ... it definitely needs a --json flag to prompt and enforce "I only want json and I'll parse it out of the response myself if I need to" * Not just keeping a buffer and re-sending it, I believe context asks GPT to summarise the conversation so far and then uses the output of that for context memory. It'd need some tinkering. I'll get round to it myself eventually, for now being able to ask little things like "is it defence or defense" and "what company owns the coco pops brand" is doing me just fine I did realise I can now potentially pipe things into and out of GPT too, but have yet to come up with a use other than outputting through TTS e.g. > ./ai is it defence or defense | festival --tts
- Loeffelmann 4y ago
  Haha I felt better after reading this thread. I mean it was a fun weekend project!

pablosr11 4y ago

Agree on both issues, specially the one logging you out daily. Congrats on the quick launch! Can already see the whisper model makings its way through the product :)

trungdq88 4y ago
thank you!

jw1224 4y ago

> I was annoyed by the default OpenAI ChatGPT slow-typing animation I’d assumed ChatGPT’s slow-typing was actually the model’s real-time output, streamed to the browser token-by-token. When I’ve made GPT3 API calls it’s worked like this, with streaming switched off I might need to wait ~20 seconds for a long response back. I just tried your UI, and it’s so much faster! Was my assumption about real-time output wrong? Great project, looking forward to using it more :)

trungdq88 4y ago
Yep, I was surprised I about the response time too. I'm not sure what's going on under the hood, maybe OpenAI did something with the stream output that causes the slowness.
- lordnacho 4y ago
  Perhaps it is simply a way to limit the number of queries? If you force people to wait 10s for an answer they aren't writing new questions all the time.
  - TeMPOraL 4y ago
    For me it's been consistently the case that after 2-3 messages, the animation would start to visibly lag, and eventually (on 3rd or 4th reply) slow to a halt, sometimes mid-sentence, completely bricking the session. It's been like this since ChatGPT was first opened to public. I initially assumed it's just the usual case of a bloated SPA, but now I think maybe I'm being throttled on purpose?
- weird-eye-issue 4y ago
  It uses a different model. ChatGPT Plus is fast too.
IanCal 4y ago
ChatGPTs paid version is extremely fast, and this is using the paid API. The paid API feels slower than the paid UI, but this may be the difference between streaming results and getting everything in one payload.

mellosouls 4y ago

It's a static web app, you can host it yourself Note for anybody else wondering, it's not open source, you have to download a binary. More FAQ by clicking the Gift (?) icon at the top and scrolling down.

seanw444 4y ago
Moving on...
Terretta 4y ago
Entrust your AI key to a closed binary? Bot what could possibly go wrong?
- kilgnad 4y ago
  Careful with the sarcasm. Only positive vibes are allowed on showHN or the admin goes ballistic. I've seen it happen.
  - screamingninja 4y ago
    > Only positive vibes are allowed on showHN Sarcasm?
    - kilgnad 4y ago
      No. It's real. According to dang, showHN is suppose to be a "safe space". You could make absolute crap, everyone is suppose to be positive about it. Dang will flag people who don't do this. Nothing dang can do though is hundreds of people hate it though. Things with actual security issues for example he'll likely just be quiet about it.
      - screamingninja 4y ago
        That is unfortunate. You would think that the intent behind posting ShowHN is to get constructive feedback but based on what you described, it appears that the expectation is to make those creators feel good instead.

birdyrooster 4y ago

But why is it closed source? It makes no sense why you would obfuscate this.