8 ms·

Show HN: A website that auctions itself daily

43 points by nsomani 8mo ago

Hi HN, I built this side project earlier this week. It executes an English auction on Solana with a reserve price of 0.1 SOL. Auction winner gets control of a Codex editor. Auction losers get refunded (minus a <$0.01 processing fee). The Codex agent operates in a sandbox and can only output HTML/JS/CSS. The project is open-source: https://github.com/neelsomani/the-daily-auction https://github.com/neelsomani/the-daily-auction

deleted 8mo ago
[deleted]
x______________ 8mo ago
Assuming the codex editor is the editor for the area below the auction counter, isn't that a security vulnerability that can put the site audience at risk?
- nsomani 8mo ago
  The Codex agent is only given tools to edit the single HTML file that displays on the homepage. The page is on a separate domain, so there's no cookie sharing, and the iFrame is in a sandbox. That said, the biggest risk is social engineering attacks.
  - hsbauauvhabzb 8mo ago
    What’s to stop someone rewriting the iframe wrapper to hide the real iframe and display a fake one?
    - nsomani 8mo ago
      They cannot edit the iFrame itself. The user is allowed to edit the contents within the iFrame.
TZubiri 8mo ago
Fuck, another brilliant idea that was easy to make, but I didn't do. It reminds me of the million dollar website where each pixel was sold as advertisement.
- ge96 8mo ago
  I also think that's one of those lucky/momentum deals, wasn't it each pixel was $1 or were they worth more? There are a million companies out there (to ask)?.
  - BizarroLand 8mo ago
    From what I remember, some people bought sections so their company icon was visible on the page.
  - duskwuff 8mo ago
    They only sold in 10x10 increments (for $100).
- lapetitejort 8mo ago
  Since then a million other "million _____" websites popped up. I saw a site selling one million text lines for $1 apiece. Last I saw they sold one line, now the site is gone [edit: INCORRECT]. Found the site: https://www.themillionlines.com/ https://www.themillionlines.com/
  - Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago
    They sold around 632 for what its worth no?
  - Incipient 8mo ago
    Why would anyone go to that site however? I mean novelty, once...but didn't advertising figure out ages ago that number of eyes on something matters?
  - lolzenom 8mo ago
    That's the one. :)
A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 8mo ago
I am sure that there will be detractors, who will tell you that it has been done before ( and in a sense, it is true; nihil novi and all that ). That said, this is done in a way that moves a little closer to that fascinating reality present in 'transmetropolitan' graphic novels, where things online are in near constant flux. Kudos.
- nsomani 8mo ago
  Appreciate that. I didn't realize how derivative this was when I built it! I was just trying to build something cool with the Codex SDK.
thirdthing 8mo ago
So cool! And the timing is funny, we just launched a very similar (albeit much simpler) experiment, sans crypto (https://www.the-last-word.com/ https://www.the-last-word.com/). Micro-marketplace experiments must be in the zeitgeist, excited to see what else emerges.

43 points by nsomani 8mo ago

deleted 8mo ago

[deleted]

x______________ 8mo ago

Assuming the codex editor is the editor for the area below the auction counter, isn't that a security vulnerability that can put the site audience at risk?

nsomani 8mo ago
The Codex agent is only given tools to edit the single HTML file that displays on the homepage. The page is on a separate domain, so there's no cookie sharing, and the iFrame is in a sandbox. That said, the biggest risk is social engineering attacks.
- hsbauauvhabzb 8mo ago
  What’s to stop someone rewriting the iframe wrapper to hide the real iframe and display a fake one?
  - nsomani 8mo ago
    They cannot edit the iFrame itself. The user is allowed to edit the contents within the iFrame.

TZubiri 8mo ago

Fuck, another brilliant idea that was easy to make, but I didn't do. It reminds me of the million dollar website where each pixel was sold as advertisement.

ge96 8mo ago
I also think that's one of those lucky/momentum deals, wasn't it each pixel was $1 or were they worth more? There are a million companies out there (to ask)?.
- BizarroLand 8mo ago
  From what I remember, some people bought sections so their company icon was visible on the page.
- duskwuff 8mo ago
  They only sold in 10x10 increments (for $100).
lapetitejort 8mo ago
Since then a million other "million _____" websites popped up. I saw a site selling one million text lines for $1 apiece. Last I saw they sold one line, now the site is gone [edit: INCORRECT]. Found the site: https://www.themillionlines.com/ https://www.themillionlines.com/
- Imustaskforhelp 8mo ago
  They sold around 632 for what its worth no?
- Incipient 8mo ago
  Why would anyone go to that site however? I mean novelty, once...but didn't advertising figure out ages ago that number of eyes on something matters?
- lolzenom 8mo ago
  That's the one. :)

A4ET8a8uTh0_v2 8mo ago

I am sure that there will be detractors, who will tell you that it has been done before ( and in a sense, it is true; nihil novi and all that ). That said, this is done in a way that moves a little closer to that fascinating reality present in 'transmetropolitan' graphic novels, where things online are in near constant flux. Kudos.

nsomani 8mo ago
Appreciate that. I didn't realize how derivative this was when I built it! I was just trying to build something cool with the Codex SDK.

thirdthing 8mo ago

So cool! And the timing is funny, we just launched a very similar (albeit much simpler) experiment, sans crypto (https://www.the-last-word.com/ https://www.the-last-word.com/). Micro-marketplace experiments must be in the zeitgeist, excited to see what else emerges.