Founder: ChatGPT Astra replicated 3 years of framing-solver work in SketchUp in 10 minutes
natesiggard · x · 2026-09-25
Software founder Jeff Hopfenbeck says his team spent 3 years and tens of thousands of engineering hours building a framing solver, yet ChatGPT's Astra with computer use did most of it in under 10 minutes. He gave Astra a residential plan set plus the team's framing logic and had it build the house in SketchUp via the Ruby console. The first pass was 90–95% correct: stud spacing, window ROs, kings/trimmers/headers, floor framing, most roof framing—even splitting walls into panels and tagging members with attributes. "Now I just provide rules and computer use, and it builds the model."
More from coding & agent
- KAIST's WikiTrace: evidence-linked memory fixes agent "memory-induced degradation" — dair_ai · 2026-11-11
- Why inference speed will be AI products' biggest competitive edge in 1–2 years — itsOmSarraf_ · 2026-11-11
- What happened when I moved vector retrieval into Snowflake SQL instead of orchestrating RAG outside — dima806_dima · 2026-11-11
- OpenAI engineer runs Codex for 26 days straight hunting Atlantis, spawning "vibe archaeology" — Polymarket · 2026-11-11
- He replaced a $5,000/month ghostwriter with 11 Claude Skills and earned $47,000 from one post — aryanXmahajan · 2026-11-11
- Refero Styles ships 2,000+ DESIGN.md files to give Claude Code real design taste — bbssppllvv · 2026-11-11