I built an AI Indie hacker that can research and make MVPs in minutes

TL;DR Building with AI is fun, but it's more fun when you can solve real problems like creating a clone/MVP of a trending app. In this blog, I will walk you through building your own AI bot that can Find an interesting product on HackerNews Analyse the website Build a clone of it Tech Stack Composio - For integrating the external tools and services with AI Composio is the integration platform with over 250+ application support for building complex agentic flows. It takes care of all the authentication troubles so you can focus on building agents. This blog will use HackerNews, CodeInterpreter, File tool, and shell tool integrations. LangGraph - Agentic framework An agentic framework from LangChain lets you define workflows regarding graphs and nodes. It is ideal for building agents for production with maximum control. OpenAI - Inference provider For LLM inferencing. We'll use the GPT-4o model. You may use other models or providers like Claude, Gemini, Deepseek, etc. You might get even better results for complex use cases. Workflow The flow is effortless and straightforward. Flow: Agent receives user instructions. Automatically decides which tools to use. No manual intervention is needed once they started Follows a straightforward, sequential process Tool Selection: Agent intelligently picks appropriate tools for each task HackerNews tool for research Code Interpreter for implementation Web and Shell tools for execution File tools for handling data HackerNews Research Process: Scans through Show HN feed Identifies interesting projects Evaluate the feasibility of MVP creation Select the most promising idea MVP Creation: Takes the chosen idea Creates a simplified version Implements core functionality Delivers working prototype Executes and demonstrates results Next, Create a .env file and add environment variables for the OpenAI API key. OPENAI_API_KEY=your API key To create an OpneAI API key, go to the official site and create an API key in the dashboard. Set up Composio Next, you need to log in and authenticate with Composio. composio login This will open a tab asking you to log in. You can log in with GitHub, Gmail, or any Email ID. Upon logging in, a screen with a key will appear. Copy it and paste it into the terminal. Now, update apps. composio apps update Setting up Environment Create requirements.txt file composio-langgraph langgraph langchain-groq langchain-openai python-dotenv The next step is to set up your virtual environment. Create a setup.sh account and paste the following code. #!/bin/bash # Create a virtual environment echo "Creating virtual environment..." python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/indie_hacker # Activate the virtual environment echo "Activating virtual environment..." source ~/.venvs/indie_hacker/bin/activate # Install libraries from requirements.txt echo "Installing libraries from requirements.txt..." pip install -r requirements.txt # Copy env backup to .env file if [ -f ".env.example" ]; then echo "Copying .env.example to .env..." cp .env.example .env else echo "No .env.example file found. Creating a new .env file..." touch .env fi # Prompt user to fill the .env file echo "Please fill in the .env file with the necessary environment variables." echo "Setup completed successfully!" Coding the AI agent Start by importing all the necessary libraries and modules. from composio import Composio, ComposioToolSet import os from dotenv import load_dotenv from langchain_groq import ChatGroq from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver from typing import Annotated from langchain_core.messages import BaseMessage from typing_extensions import TypedDict from composio_langgraph import Action, ComposioToolSet, App from langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, END from langgraph.graph.message import add_messages from langgraph.prebuilt import ToolNode, tools_condition load_dotenv() 1. State Management and Initialization pythonCopyclass State(TypedDict): messages: Annotated[list, add_messages] graph_builder = StateGraph(State) This sets up our agent's state management system. Think of it as a structured way to track conversations - it maintains a record of all messages and helps manage the flow of information throughout the system. 2. Tool Integration pythonCopytoolset = ComposioToolSet() tools = toolset.get_tools(apps=[ App.CODEINTERPRETER, App.FILETOOL, App.HACKERNEWS, App.SHELLTOOL, App.WEBTOOL ]) Here, we're setting up our agent's capabilities using Composio's tools: CodeInterpreter: For implementing MVP code HackerNews: For researching ideas WebTool: For web interactions ShellTool: For executing commands FileTool: For file operations 3. LL

Jan 20, 2025 - 15:04

I built an AI Indie hacker that can research and make MVPs in minutes

TL;DR

Building with AI is fun, but it's more fun when you can solve real problems like creating a clone/MVP of a trending app.

In this blog, I will walk you through building your own AI bot that can

Find an interesting product on HackerNews
Analyse the website
Build a clone of it

Tech Stack

Composio - For integrating the external tools and services with AI

Composio is the integration platform with over 250+ application support for building complex agentic flows. It takes care of all the authentication troubles so you can focus on building agents.

This blog will use HackerNews, CodeInterpreter, File tool, and shell tool integrations.

LangGraph - Agentic framework

An agentic framework from LangChain lets you define workflows regarding graphs and nodes. It is ideal for building agents for production with maximum control.

OpenAI - Inference provider

For LLM inferencing. We'll use the GPT-4o model. You may use other models or providers like Claude, Gemini, Deepseek, etc. You might get even better results for complex use cases.

Workflow

The flow is effortless and straightforward.

Flow:

Agent receives user instructions.
Automatically decides which tools to use.
No manual intervention is needed once they started
Follows a straightforward, sequential process

Tool Selection:

Agent intelligently picks appropriate tools for each task
HackerNews tool for research
Code Interpreter for implementation
Web and Shell tools for execution
File tools for handling data

HackerNews Research Process:

Scans through Show HN feed
Identifies interesting projects
Evaluate the feasibility of MVP creation
Select the most promising idea

MVP Creation:

Takes the chosen idea
Creates a simplified version
Implements core functionality
Delivers working prototype
Executes and demonstrates results

Next, Create a .env file and add environment variables for the OpenAI API key.

OPENAI_API_KEY=your API key

To create an OpneAI API key, go to the official site and create an API key in the dashboard.

Set up Composio

Next, you need to log in and authenticate with Composio.

composio login

This will open a tab asking you to log in. You can log in with GitHub, Gmail, or any Email ID.

Upon logging in, a screen with a key will appear.

Copy it and paste it into the terminal.

Now, update apps.

composio apps update

Setting up Environment

Create requirements.txt file

composio-langgraph
langgraph
langchain-groq
langchain-openai
python-dotenv

The next step is to set up your virtual environment.
Create a setup.sh account and paste the following code.

#!/bin/bash

# Create a virtual environment
echo "Creating virtual environment..."
python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/indie_hacker 

# Activate the virtual environment
echo "Activating virtual environment..."
source ~/.venvs/indie_hacker/bin/activate

# Install libraries from requirements.txt 
echo "Installing libraries from requirements.txt..."
pip install -r requirements.txt

# Copy env backup to .env file
if [ -f ".env.example" ]; then
    echo "Copying .env.example to .env..."
    cp .env.example .env
else
    echo "No .env.example file found. Creating a new .env file..."
    touch .env
fi

# Prompt user to fill the .env file
echo "Please fill in the .env file with the necessary environment variables."

echo "Setup completed successfully!"

Coding the AI agent

Start by importing all the necessary libraries and modules.

from composio import Composio, ComposioToolSet
import os
from dotenv import load_dotenv
from langchain_groq import ChatGroq
from langchain_openai import ChatOpenAI
from langgraph.checkpoint.memory import MemorySaver
from typing import Annotated
from langchain_core.messages import BaseMessage
from typing_extensions import TypedDict
from composio_langgraph import Action, ComposioToolSet, App
from langgraph.graph import StateGraph, START, END
from langgraph.graph.message import add_messages
from langgraph.prebuilt import ToolNode, tools_condition
load_dotenv()

1. State Management and Initialization

pythonCopyclass State(TypedDict):
    messages: Annotated[list, add_messages]

graph_builder = StateGraph(State)

This sets up our agent's state management system. Think of it as a structured way to track conversations - it maintains a record of all messages and helps manage the flow of information throughout the system.

2. Tool Integration

pythonCopytoolset = ComposioToolSet()
tools = toolset.get_tools(apps=[
    App.CODEINTERPRETER, 
    App.FILETOOL, 
    App.HACKERNEWS, 
    App.SHELLTOOL, 
    App.WEBTOOL
])

Here, we're setting up our agent's capabilities using Composio's tools:

CodeInterpreter: For implementing MVP code
HackerNews: For researching ideas
WebTool: For web interactions
ShellTool: For executing commands
FileTool: For file operations

3. LLM Configuration

pythonCopyllm = ChatOpenAI(model="gpt-4o")
#llm = ChatGroq(model='llama3.3-70b-versatile')
llm_with_tools = llm.bind_tools(tools)

We configure our LLM (OpenAI or Groq) and bind our tools to it, enabling the model to understand and use the available tools.

4. Chatbot Node Implementation

pythonCopydef chatbot(state: State):
    return {"messages": [llm_with_tools.invoke(state["messages"])]}

graph_builder.add_node("chatbot", chatbot)

This defines our central chatbot node, which processes messages and decides what actions to take. It uses the LLM with bound tools to generate responses and make decisions.

5. Tool Node and Edge Configuration

pythonCopytool_node = ToolNode(tools=tools)
graph_builder.add_node("tools", tool_node)

graph_builder.add_conditional_edges(
    "chatbot",
    tools_condition,
)
graph_builder.add_edge("tools", "chatbot")
graph_builder.add_edge(START, "chatbot")

The above code blocks Create a node for tool execution,
Sets up conditional routing based on whether tools are needed,
Establishes the flow between chatbot and tools
and finally defines the entry point.

6. Memory and Graph Compilation

pythonCopymemory = MemorySaver()
graph = graph_builder.compile(checkpointer=memory)

We add memory capabilities to our agent and compile the graph, preparing it for execution.

7. Execution Configuration

pythonCopyconfig = {"configurable": {"thread_id": "1"}, "recursion_limit": 50}

This sets up execution parameters, including:

Thread identification for tracking conversations
Recursion limits to prevent infinite loops

8. User Interaction

pythonCopyuser_input = """You are an Indie Hacker Agent..."""
events = graph.stream(
    {"messages": [("user", user_input)]}, 
    config, 
    stream_mode="values"
)

This initializes the interaction process. It sets up event streaming and manages the real-time processing of user input and agent responses.

Now, run the main.py file to see the agent in action.

Get the complete code here: AI IndieHacker

Check out how it works.

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