…or, Finding Hope in the Code
If you’ve ever wondered how AI can amplify human effort, this is a story for you.
I’ve been working on a web application to help non-profit food pantries automate their inventory and serve a diverse community, including non-English speakers. If you’ve followed my career journey, you’ll know I’ve only done basic Arduino tinkering and simple Python scripts before—nothing like a full-blown web app! Yet here I am, building something with database migrations, multilingual support, and real-time updates. And it’s all thanks to AI tools like Claude Desktop App, GPT, and MCP Tools. They’ve turned coding into a more approachable, almost poetic experience—it feels a lot like what Steve Jobs famously called a “bicycle for the mind” in describing the personal computer experience.
The Bigger Picture: Food Insecurity and Language Barriers
Let’s be real: 2024 has been a rough year. The genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has been nauseating and horrific. Israel’s preemptive strikes against Hezbollah and retaliatory actions involving Iran have further escalated tensions in the Middle East and could potentially spark a much larger conflict. North Korean troops are fighting alongside the Russians in Ukraine. 2024 was recorded as the hottest year to date (and will probably be the coldest summer you’ll experience for the rest of your life). In the US, we had an election outcome that will bring with it decades of unforeseen consequences and will ensure that 2025 is a year of instability and chaos.
Simply put, we are living in a world tangled with a permanent state of crises. Feeling overwhelmed by all of these large scale problems is a natural and sane reaction to this situation. I wish that things were better locally, but we have problems down to the individual and community level as well.
Here in Portland, food insecurity is widespread, and local pantries struggle with overwhelmed volunteers and limited resources. Clients come from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds, so providing accurate, respectful translations is crucial. The Food Pantry Management System I’m building addresses these problems by automating inventory and handling over 60+ languages with AI translation. At its core, it’s about reducing friction—less time guessing or wrestling with outdated systems, more time focusing on getting food to people who need it.
Balancing Existential Dread with Purpose
Some days, it feels like everything is falling apart: the climate, the political extremism, and the unraveling of our social fabric. Despite all that, pouring my energy into this project helps. It’s a simple yet profound way to channel fear and anxiety into something hopeful. If we can save volunteers an hour a day, or make it easier for a Spanish-speaking family to find the right dietary options, that’s a tangible victory. The present and future we face calls for greater resilience, and that’s what I’m working toward in the nonprofit space, while also balancing my own anxiety and burnout.
The Tech Behind It: A Quick Overview
• Backend (packages/backend): Using SQLite and Prisma for the database, plus an Express.js REST API in TypeScript.
• Frontend (packages/backend/public): Currently a test UI in JavaScript with real-time updates and input validation. Planned React version is on the roadmap.
• Key Features:
• Automated inventory tracking
• Category-based item limits
• Allergen and dietary flags
• AI translations (via OpenAI API and get-mini-4o model)
• Input constraints (3-36 chars, case normalization, duplicate checks)
What’s especially cool is that MCP Tools connects directly with Claude Desktop App, letting me manipulate code and project files in real time. Instead of copy-pasting snippets, I can just say, “Hey, Claude, rewrite sortableTable.js to add sorting for these columns,” and it does it—no placeholders, no missing pieces. I keep everything organized in VS Code with Git branches, so if something breaks, I can roll back easily.
My Workflow: Combining AI with Human Intuition
1. Planning: I start with a “project knowledge base” that includes key files (like project-structure.md and codebase.md). Using Repomix I can automatically build a single codebase file in markdown format to share with Claude.
2. Prompting: Using ChatGPT, I refine my requests to be as precise as possible—spelling out constraints, desired outcomes, and coding style preferences.
3. Implementation: In Claude Desktop App, I load the knowledge base, provide the refined prompt made with GPT, and let Claude generate entire files.
4. Testing: I run npm test or npm run dev in the VS Code Terminal to check everything in real time. Mistakes happen, but that’s part of the fun (and sometimes, mild panic).
5. Version Control: Each new feature or fix goes on its own branch, and I push changes to GitHub. Doing it this way keeps me sane and the project organized.
A Bicycle for the Mind
Steve Jobs used that phrase to describe how computers amplify our abilities. Watching AI code on my behalf is a surreal experience—it’s like going from crawling to flying. Sure, the code’s not always perfect, but it’s a powerful jumpstart. We’re rapidly moving into an era where anyone with a problem to solve can spin up a custom tool, even if they’re not a coding wizard. And that’s exhilarating—especially when it might help a nonprofit serve more families or break down language barriers.
Final Thoughts
Yes, the world can feel like a chaos factory right now. As 2024 rolls to an end, I’m looking ahead to another year of permanent crisis and shocking news headlines. We’re still in the liminal space between two Presidential Administrations, and the “Before Time” of whatever fresh new hell comes after the inauguration. But building something that tackles real issues—like distributing food to people in my neighborhood who are hungry—grounds me. It’s my way of finding a bit of purpose in the storm. If you’re considering working with AI tools, my advice is: embrace them as collaborators. Explain your ideas clearly, be ready to iterate, and keep an open mind. Because if a near-novice like me can orchestrate an entire web app with automated translations and real-time inventory, just imagine what you can do.
Remember:
"You are responsible for what you put into the world. And you are responsible for the effects those things have upon the world."
— Mike Monteiro
