Launch HN: ASim (YC S21) – Mobile app that generates mobile apps
Tools like bolt.new and v0 have made it easier to build websites by just chatting with an LLM, but things have been lagging on the mobile side. We’ve always been suckers for well-made mobile apps, but today, it is still extremely difficult to build mobile apps with LLMs on your computer, and nearly impossible to do it from your phone.
We built aSim to make it easy to build prototypes, “trinket” apps, or just random fun things all async from your phone. You can check our landing page (https://asim.sh/) for some ideas of different types of apps. Hopefully we can bring some life to your side project graveyard, or at least make the graveyard even more numerous.
Here’s a demo video of the generation process: https://youtu.be/_3VCl13oMGc
And here are the actual one-shotted apps I made in that video:
- https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157003/make-an-app-where-i-can-upload...
- https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157014/make-me-an-app-that-is-a-clone...
- https://asim.sh/@dli/s/157006/make-me-a-chess-timer-app-for-...
All of our app generations also get access to a set of APIs that help get the ball rolling on some basic functionality. These APIs range from LLM usage and image generation to having shared state with your friends, and globally among all users. We’re always on the lookout for new API integrations (i.e. Spotify and Maps) so please let us know if you need any!
We’ve had a small cohort of beta users that have been making what we think are some pretty cool apps. Here’s some of our favorites:
- Pokemon-style Gacha Game - https://asim.sh/@evan/s/126948/elves-vs-monsters
- OpenStreetMap stats: https://asim.sh/@lake/s/104102/osm-stats
- Star wars idle game: https://asim.sh/@jojaspero/s/29102
- Find your Meyers Briggs - https://asim.sh/@typewhisperer/s/135964/jung-mirror (<-- just for fun, you don’t have to believe in MB :))
- AI Tic Tac Toe - https://asim.sh/@hashmelons/s/105561/ai-tic-tac
Behind the scenes, we’re generating a modified version of Typescript React Native that can be parsed and compiled into simpler instructions that can be sent to mobile devices on the fly. We’ve ripped out some parts of the TSC library, as well as lean heavily on AcornJS to massage the (mostly usable) LLM code into something that can actually be run. We have a bunch of static analyzers, as well as leaning on web runtimes to catch runtime errors (as well as take screenshots), though at the very end of the day, we lean the most on our users to play around with their creations and remix them into something great.
It’s currently completely free to use, so we hope you check out aSim at https://asim.sh/ and enjoy it as much as we have while building it! Let us know what features you’d like to see and any problems you have with your generations.