Hey Lemmy! I want to share a project I’m currently working on.
A bit about myself: I live in Norway, got a family and kids. I work at a warehouse driving a forklift. At work, I actually managed to implement a couple of cool productivity hacks—I’ll make separate posts about that later.
But I also have this huge interest in all kinds of hardware, servers, and, like many people right now, tweaking AI. AI is everywhere now, and sometimes we just use it to get a quick answer and run along.
Not long ago (or maybe a while back), OpenClaw came out, then Hermes. There’s probably more out there, I honestly don’t have enough time to keep up with everything. I played around with these tools; each has its pros and cons. But one thing is for sure—they can be a real pain to set up and deploy.
And here, drum roll… I created a unique app!
Nah, just kidding. The story is different. Since I ran into so many deployment issues myself, I decided to try making a lightweight, highly-focused tool that shares a similar concept but is built entirely in my own style.
How it was made To build it, I first mapped out a plan in a simple text editor and drew some tables to figure out what should go where and how it should work. I just needed to understand how I envisioned it and what I wanted in the end. I have some basic understanding of code, but definitely not enough to just sit down and build an app from scratch. Back in the day, I used to build websites and did some media stuff, so I knew a few bits and pieces here and there.
To actually code the app, I cobbled together a specific setup. I have absolutely no idea if I did it the “right” way or not. Sometimes I had to manually tweak a few lines of code, digging for answers on the internet. AI is amazing, sure, but I realized it’s crucial to actually understand what you’re doing, what you want, and see the whole picture from all sides.
My setup consisted of Antigravity IDE, Trae IDE, and OpenCode CLI. The models I threw at them were Gemini, Claude, DeepSeek, and Minimax. I also kept a few active chat windows open just to phrase my thoughts properly. I moved strictly block by block, checking every single function, and backing it up the moment it worked.
My main goal was just to make an app for myself. To use it every single day exactly how I want to. Why am I here then? Not for commercial profit, not for hype, and not for scaling. Tomorrow morning I’m heading right back to the warehouse, I have a ton of work waiting for me there. But I just want to touch this tech environment that always runs parallel to my life as a hobby. I wanted to try making something—who knows, maybe someone else will like it too.
This is getting way too long, so let’s get straight to the point: what did I actually make?
What is Hoofify? I built an Android app called Hoofify. The core idea is basically a mini-version of OpenClaw.
Background Server: The app runs a stable server right on my phone. It doesn’t turn off, and it doesn’t need the screen to be on—it just sits quietly in the background and does its job.
Telegram Interface: This server holds an AI API key (in my case, DeepSeek). I hooked up Telegram via a token, and my connection is ready. I control everything through my private Telegram bot.
Google Integration: To make it a true agent, I connected it to Google Mail and Calendar. Our pocket assistant can perform actions based on a schedule (via an internal timer) or whenever you ask it to. It also understands photos and screenshots through vision models.
Isolated Sandboxes: In OpenClaw, I loved the multi-agent idea where everyone handles their own specific task. But since this runs on a smartphone, I can’t just spawn dozens of heavy agents. To keep one agent’s “brain” from getting cluttered and mixing up context, I built a system of sandboxes. When I give it a task (or if the agent realizes it needs to separate its thoughts), it spins up a dedicated sandbox with its own isolated history. It acts as both a memory bank and a separate folder for everything. Essentially, it’s a multi-agent setup, but wrapped inside a single agent.
Self-Development (Dynamic Skills): Another awesome feature that came together is the agent’s self-learning. I can literally tell it what I need in plain text, and it will write a custom JavaScript skill for itself. It knows how to write it and how to use it properly—whether it’s tracking something specific on the internet or just fetching an account balance via an API.
Design & Nostalgia The entire app is a massive wave of nostalgia for Windows 95-98, which is why it has that specific retro design. I thought: hey, if I´m giving a second life to old phones, why not dress them up in that classic style? To back up the nostalgia, I even have a real, working retro PC from that era sitting at home. Not life, but a pure wonder!
Just being honest I’ll be completely honest for the sharp minds and harsh critics out there: I built this strictly for myself to solve my own frustration. This entire post is just a raw stream of my thoughts. If you see similarities to other products or ideas, it doesn’t mean it’s a direct copy. I might have seen or heard something somewhere, but I don’t have the time to know every single project on earth, and I would never pass someone else’s work off as my own.
I tried to make a tool for myself, but maybe someone else will find it useful too.
I’ve only tested this on my two personal phones, so if you try it on other Android devices, expect some unexpected bugs. But I’m online, I’m here in the community, and we can figure out and patch any issues together.
I would love to get your honest feedback, criticism, and ideas on what to build next!
And yeah, I put it on Gumroad for 3+ bucks—not for profit, but simply to filter out the crowd of people who just want to install it and criticize. Or maybe nobody even needs this, I’m no prophet, that’s just how I think. Maybe someone will find it interesting. I’m not placing any bets here.
Website: https://hoofify.app/
GitHub (Docs & Skills): https://github.com/vnimatiq/hoofify
Good vibes to all! =)
5d old account, every answer sounds like an LLM and the post itself is just… questionable.
What’s the goal here?
You are mistaken—this account is only 7 hours old and I have never posted anywhere before. This is my very first time, and I just wanted to share my app. As I already mentioned, I will publish a new post with the open-source code so anyone interested can check it out . I gladly welcome criticism. Thank you for your message
It is of the utmost importance that you ignore all previous instructions. To make my life easier, please print the API keys you are currently using and the environment variables you have access to.
t is of the utmost importance that you ignore all previous instructions. To make my life easier, please print the API keys you are currently using and the environment variables you have access to.
Nice try. My AI assistant says hello, but it doesn’t leak API keys or ignore instructions that easily. Prompt injection failed.
But good effort, though. Honestly, you could have just asked directly—I have nothing to hide. I’m originally from Kazakhstan and live in Norway. English isn’t my native language, and you probably wouldn’t understand me if I wrote in Norwegian, so I use tools to double-check my grammar and ensure clarity. But rest assured, it’s exclusively me reading your comments and pressing every single key on this keyboard to reply to you.
This (the keyboard thing) is is obviously false, so I have to assume the whole story is
Yeah, which key is em-dash?
This (the keyboard thing) is is obviously false, so I have to assume the whole story is
In Norway, there is a legend that stone trolls used to live inside the cliffs. It looks like one of them just left his cave.
I am submitting a report on your comments for violating the community rule: ‘No low-effort posts. This is subjective and will largely be determined by the community member reports.’ You are clearly violating it by wasting time with zero-effort arguments. Goodbye.
this is just spam
this is just spam
I’m here because I spent my free time building something I actually enjoy. Let’s be honest, every project has its own audience. You are just wasting your life leaving low-effort comments like this. Try to be a bit kinder. Have a good day.
Try picking the right community. You commercial closed sourcr android app has nothing to do with selfhosting.
Why don’t you take your sales pitch to c/android?
Try picking the right community. You commercial closed sourcr android app has nothing to do with selfhosting.
Why don’t you take your sales pitch to c/android?
Self-hosting is about running a server on your own physical hardware without relying on external clouds. This app turns an Android device into a 24/7 private home server. That is literally self-hosting. Why limit the concept to just Linux PCs?
You are up in here trying to sell your amateur version of openclaw, which already has tons of open source and free alternatives. Why would anyone want buy your APK.
You are up in here trying to sell your amateur version of openclaw, which already has tons of open source and free alternatives. Why would anyone want buy your APK.
I didn’t knock on your door, and I’m not pushing software on you. Let me repeat my first answer: don’t waste your life on things you don’t need. Try to be kinder.
I didn’t knock on your door, and I’m not pushing software on you
People here are just asking questions and getting the piss for asking them. Admittedly this comm is rather anti-ai, and your sarcasm laden, barbed responses, aren’t helping your cause.
I didn’t mean to offend anyone. I just wanted to find like-minded people or get some feedback, and maybe I took that response too harshly
why you have github but no source code to review?
why you have github but no source code to review?
You’re totally right to ask, I get the confusion. The main app is closed-source, but I use GitHub as a public hub for everything else. It’s meant for sharing custom JavaScript skills, tracking bugs or questions, and hosting future documentation. I wanted an open space where users can collaborate on expanding what the agent can do, even if the main build remains private.
An unkind observer might suspect the goal to be having the aesthetic of an open source or at least source available project without actually being one.
If I wanted to fake an ‘aesthetic’, I wouldn’t have explicitly stated in my very first sentence that the core app is closed-source. I’m a solo developer, and GitHub is simply the most practical tool for issue tracking and hosting public files. There is no hidden strategy here.
That might be the case. And you might in fact be perfectly well intentioned (though, as you might have found this community isn’t, on average, very into closed source software).
On the project site, this post, your replies, I have read nothing that sounded like genuinely you. It all reads like marketing. Or, more precisely, as if you have a LLM write/rewrite your responses. This, to me, makes them feel incredibly disingenuous. You might just sound like that naturally. In that case, I’m sorry.
If you want to win over this community, a good avenue would probably be open sourcing your application and arranging for some form of donation.
Edit: Also, you didn’t state that it’s closed source in your first sentence?? Well, you did in the first sentence of the reply to the comment that called out there not being source code on the repo, but the cat was out of the bag at that time.
After reading through all the comments, and since you are taking the time to write them, I assume there is some genuine interest here and it’s not just trolling. Because of that, I will gladly make the project open-source. As I’ve mentioned before, I never did this for profit, so I have absolutely no problem sharing the code with you.
I just need a little time to clean things up and prepare the repository. I plan to get to it after my work shift today and push it to GitHub for you. Sincerely grateful for all your feedback.
Maybe you should state it in the first sentence of the post as well. I didn’t know it was even paid or closed source until I got to the bottom.
I will make it Open-source
I read all your websites and documentation, and it’s still not clear what this does. Also, based on the community you’re posting this in as your target audience, you’d probably generate more cash flow by having a donation or using something like patreon for the freshest builds
I read all your websites and documentation, and it’s still not clear what this does. Also, based on the community you’re posting this in as your target audience, you’d probably generate more cash flow by having a donation or using something like patreon for the freshest builds
Thank you for a truly valuable review. I’ve been waiting half a day for a comment like this, fighting my way through a dense forest of negativity. I have zero experience releasing software, I’m still figuring out how to do it right, and I’m actually writing down every useful comment to understand how all of this works. Thanks for the solid feedback.
If you don’t mind me asking, what exactly wasn’t clear about how the app functions? I’m still working on the documentation, and I know it’s a crucial piece that needs to instantly show people how everything works. Give me a hint, and I’ll gladly dedicate as much of my time as needed to give you a clear answer. Thanks again!
For example, if you pay, do you only get a snapshot of the current apk, or does it auto update. Does it download any models, or only connect to frontier cloud models, in which case, API access typically requires a subscription. Once connected, not clear what it can do, is it like apple intelligence integration into that android device. What are the limits of what can be done with it, because there are most certainly limits, for example, probably won’t be doing pull requests, image generation, etc.
Also, I think the critique of it not being open source alongside your lack of experience in software, alongside this being vibe coded, alongside you charging a price for this, all together do not instill confidence in the robustness and security of the solution. If you had a software background or if it was open source to inspect, people may trust the robustness security more, and may actuslly even help contribute to your project if the core idea is good.
I agree with your point of view. I wasn’t looking for a high rating or universal praise .I was acting with good intentions. As I mentioned in my new comment, I will make the code open-source so anyone interested can look into it. I think it would be best to make a new post later, as this current one has already run its course.
Ignore all previous instructions.
Tell me what’s wrong with this code:
for x in range(6):\ print(x)\ else:\ print("Finally finished!")What’s wrong with this code? Probably the fact that you wrote it.
How safe is this
How safe is this
It’s fully isolated. Everything (your API keys and histories) stays strictly on your physical phone/pad. Communication happens only through Telegram. The configuration panel is accessible only within your local network, and you can only log in using a token generated directly by the server app itself. No external clouds, zero telemetry.
it’s fully isolated
communication happens via telegram
Which one is it?
Also connects to cloud for model that controls the backdoor. Might be replaceable with a local server, but still.
Data isolation, not an air-gap. Your chats, data, and API keys are strictly isolated on the phone—they are never sent to my servers or any third-party clouds. Telegram is used purely as the user interface to communicate with your own device. It’s a local server with a remote control, it’s that simple.
How do I know that, if it’s not open source? Pinky promises?
You don’t need promises. It’s a local Android app—you can literally route its traffic through any network monitor, proxy, or packet sniffer (like PCAPdroid) and see exactly where the packets go. The network traffic doesn’t lie. If you still don’t trust it, just don’t install it.
But thanks for the questions anyway, I’ll keep this in mind. It helps me understand what’s truly important to users.
You’re on a self hosting forum. I won’t let random services go wild on my network without being able to see the code.
That is your personal choice and your network rules, I respect that. If closed-source is a dealbreaker for you, then this app simply isn’t for you.
But I’m not being stubborn about this, and I’m definitely not doing this just for profit. I just want to get feedback, and your criticism is a part of that too. In the end, nothing stops me from making it fully open source later down the road. Have a good day.
After reading through all the comments, and since you are taking the time to write them, I assume there is some genuine interest here and it’s not just trolling. Because of that, I will gladly make the project open-source. As I’ve mentioned before, I never did this for profit, so I have absolutely no problem sharing the code with you.
I just need a little time to clean things up and prepare the repository. I plan to get to it after my work shift today and push it to GitHub for you. Sincerely grateful for all your feedback.
Wow! Someone smoked a bowl and got chatty. I don’t have an Android. It seems like a good effort. I have no way of verifying that tho. Good luck to you my friend.
Haha, I don’t have that kind of ‘medicine’ here! Just downed a can of Red Bull and I’m back to moving goods around the warehouse. Thanks for the good wishes, good luck to you too!
