Hey everyone, Kevin here! 👋 Now you know I'm a fan of tools like RepoPrompt and Repomix, but there are a handful of problems I have been experiencing lately and I wasn't able to find a good alternative that had all the exact specifications I needed. In the "before-times" I would have been out of luck, forced to just wait for a better alternative or just deal with a less-than-ideal application. But now with AI, you don't have to make the choice! For simple tasks, it's easy enough to just build your own that matches your exact needs. This is a trend that is going to grow over time so I wanted to share an approach that you can use to create your own micro-apps to solve your own problems. I think this is the future of software, so I wanted to do a quick video to show exactly step-by-step how it can be done in a way that is fast, cheap, and fun!
My weekend project was a streamlined, open-source desktop app called PasteMax. PasteMax is designed for one thing, and one thing only: to quickly load up a project's code, and then paste full or partial code repositories into online tools like ChatGPT to leverage the most powerful models like o1-pro or Deep Research, but also to generate high-level plans and checklists for how to tackle specific problems.
I built PasteMax to address three major pain points I had with other tools:
It's cross-platform: No more being locked into a specific operating system!
It's 100% open-source: You can see exactly how it works, contribute to its development, and customize it to your heart's content.
It's laser-focused: No unnecessary features, just pure code-understanding power.
In this video, I'm not just going to demo PasteMax (though I'll definitely show you how awesome it is! 😉). I'm going to take you behind the scenes and reveal the entire process I used to build it, from initial idea to finished product, in just two hours.
You'll see how I:
Used AI to generate the entire project spec: From business requirements to a detailed development checklist, all driven by clever prompt engineering. I'm sharing the exact prompts I used!
Leveraged AI to write the code: I'll show you my "chaos coding" technique, where I essentially let the AI take the wheel (with some guidance, of course!).
Used a video technique, to make it easy for the AI.
Designed the UI with AI's help: Discover how I used a simple rubric to get a clean, professional look without spending hours on design.
This isn't just about showing off PasteMax (although I am pretty proud of it!). It's about empowering you to build your own tools. I'm a firm believer that AI can revolutionize how we code, and this project is a perfect example of that.
Ready to get started?
Get PasteMax & Resources:
PasteMax GitHub Repo: https://github.com/kleneway/pastemax/
ChatGPT Spec + Checklist Conversation: https://chatgpt.com/share/67c5c832-a72c-800d-ae5e-86f08a44ca92
BRD/PRD/Checklist Prompts: https://chatgpt.com/share/67be0a59-e484-800d-a078-346b2c29d727
I'd love for you to download PasteMax, try it out, and let me know what you think! And if you're feeling adventurous, clone the repo, tinker with the code, and see if you can add your own features.
This is just the beginning of the PasteMax journey, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Don't forget to like this video and subscribe to my channel for more AI-powered coding tips, tricks, and projects. I'm working on a really cool open-source AI coding agent that I'll be sharing soon, so stay tuned!