May 10, 2026
Build, brag, repeat
Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (May 2026)
Hackers Show Off Their Side Hustles, and the Comment Section Turns Into Demo Night
TLDR: An Ask HN thread about side projects turned into a lively showcase of indie games, search engines, puzzle apps, and big startup dreams. The strongest reaction was a mix of admiration and relatable panic: people loved the creativity, but the loudest emotional theme was how hard it is to actually turn ideas into something real.
Hacker News opened the floor with the deceptively simple question: what are you working on? What followed was less a quiet progress check-in and more a chaotic talent show where everyone brought their weirdest, boldest, most lovingly overbuilt side project. One founder rolled out a major update to a video platform and casually dropped plans to ditch pay-per-use cloud bills for their own servers, which is the kind of sentence that makes internet builders either nod in respect or clutch their spreadsheets in fear. Another couple pitched Uruky, a privacy-focused search engine aiming to be simpler and cheaper than the big names, complete with a very Hacker News flex: pay for a year and you get the source code.
But the real juice was the crowd mood. The comments read like a festival of ambition, self-doubt, and beautifully nerdy chaos. One person admitted they’ve spent years chasing “great ideas” that never made money, only to declare they’ve finally found their best shot with an app-assisted real-world puzzle game. That confession hit a nerve: the thread had major “builders support group” energy. Elsewhere, people were proudly showing off narrative games inspired by choice-driven adventures, “vibecoded” role-playing games, and a task manager pitched as basically the gym-bro upgrade to the boring system monitor everyone already has.
The hot take floating over the whole thread? Shipping something at all is the real win. Nobody was pretending these projects were guaranteed unicorns. The vibe was more: launch the strange thing, post the link, and let the internet judge. And honestly, the internet seemed delighted.
Key Points
- •The Hacker News post is an Ask HN thread inviting users to share what they are working on in May 2026.
- •One project update announces new player features, side-by-side playback comparison, and accessibility improvements for Kollaborate.tv.
- •The Kollaborate.tv post says the platform currently uses AWS and Backblaze B2 and is evaluating a move to colocated servers to reduce per-GB costs.
- •Uruky is presented as an EU-based search product with five selectable search providers, personalization options, and more than 50 paying customers entering May.
- •A separate reply describes an app-assisted real-life puzzle game prototype built with a backend and iOS app, with a possible free or MVP launch within weeks.