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Joe Thomas
Joe Thomas

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“WhatToBuy” Describe your situation, get AI-curated shopping carts

Before reading text, please try the app https://www.whattobuy.app (to get great UX feedback)

Shopping research is one of the most challenging tasks and people spend 30-60 min before buying an item. We developed a platform called “WhatToBuy” to save people time. In some cases shoppers are not super aware of what to really order for a trip or occasion. Our app helps them to get a range of products needed for each use-cases hence saving time and money.

App workflow: Describe your situation in plain English. In Fast mode, you get three ready-to-shop carts: Budget, Balanced, and Premium with real products, real prices, and direct buy links. In Deep mode, AI assistant has a conversation with you first and builds a single cart tailored specifically to your answers.

How it works:

  • You type something like "camping weekend with two young kids" or "setting up a home office on a tight budget"
  • AI assistant (powered by Claude) parses the scenario and generates a list of specific product search queries. For example, in the above query for camping, product search will be "tent 4-person easy setup" instead of simply "tent".
  • Those queries hit Shopping API and return real-time results.
  • A scoring layer ranks by price, rating, and review count to pick one winner per product category per tier.

Two modes:

  • Deep (default): AI assistant asks a few follow up questions before building a single personalized cart. We default to this because more context means dramatically better picks. Sign in is required for this mode, but you can always drop back to Fast mode with one click.
  • Fast: Instant three-tier carts, no sign in needed, works right away.

Please take a look: https://www.whattobuy.app
No account needed to try the fast mode. Would love feedback on where the recommendations miss or where the UX feels off.

Stack: Next.js, FastAPI, Supabase, Claude (Anthropic), Serper, Railway, Vercel.

Top comments (8)

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botanica_andina profile image
Botánica Andina

The specific product queries, like going from 'tent' to 'tent 4-person easy setup,' really hit home. I spent ages trying to find the right sleeping bags for a family trip last year, wading through tons of generic results. This could've saved me so much hassle.

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joe_thomas_ed9f6c4a520338 profile image
Joe Thomas

Thank you for your feedback. Please also try “deep” mode if possible where you can get even more curated information as AI assistant will collect more information through follow up questions.

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ann_j profile image
Anna

My teen is going on his first camping trip, and WhatToBuy seems like an incredibly helpful tool for figuring out the essentials. As someone completely new to camping, I’m not sure what to pack or where to start, so having guidance like this makes the whole process much less overwhelming.

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joe_thomas_ed9f6c4a520338 profile image
Joe Thomas • Edited

Thank you for the feedback. Glad that you're finding it useful.

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crzy_builder profile image
Christin

Nice app. Very useful. Recommend adding E2E buying experience.

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joe_thomas_ed9f6c4a520338 profile image
Joe Thomas

Great feedback. Thank you. We are looking for brand partnerships to achieve this.

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crzy_builder profile image
Christin

Thanks for building this. My search for ski trip was spot on. Since i filled in my family details, whattobuy was spot on recommending the correct products for my kids. ♥️

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joe_thomas_ed9f6c4a520338 profile image
Joe Thomas

Glad to hear it.