Beyond AI Slop: Why Professionals Need to build Custom AI Tools and why i built aihoneycomb.com šŸ

Dash Python
1

:artist_palette: Introducing AI Whiteboard: Your Infinite Canvas Powered by Claude

Hey everyone! :waving_hand:

Iā€™m excited to share a project Iā€™ve been working on: AI Whiteboard - an infinite canvas application that turns your ideas into interactive components using natural language and Anthropicā€™s Claude API.

:thinking: The Problem

Ever found yourself juggling multiple tabs, files, and notes while trying to organize research, analyze data, or brainstorm ideas? Traditional tools force you into rigid structures, and switching between applications breaks your flow.

:light_bulb: The Solution

AI Whiteboard gives you an infinite canvas where you can:

  • Talk to Claude to create any component you need
  • Drag and drop files to instantly visualize them
  • Select multiple items and ask Claude to analyze them together
  • Pan, zoom, and organize everything spatially

Think of it as a visual thinking space where Claude is your assistant.

:sparkles: Key Features

:robot: AI-Powered Content Creation

Simply describe what you need:

  • ā€œAdd https://plotly.com and create a note about data visualizationā€
  • ā€œShow me this CSV file as an interactive chartā€
  • ā€œCreate a code snippet for a Python decoratorā€

Claude generates the perfect component and places it on your canvas.

:bar_chart: Smart Canvas Visualization

Type Description Data Source
iframe Embedded websites URLs
code Syntax-highlighted code Files or AI
text Text notes AI generation
image Single image File upload
image_gallery Multiple images (3+) Multiple files
image_with_note Image + annotation AI combination
pdf PDF viewer PDF files
video Video player Video files
markdown Rendered markdown MD files
grid Interactive data table CSV/Excel
area_chart Area chart Data files
bar_chart Bar chart Data files
line_chart Line chart Data files
donut_chart Donut chart Data files
scatter_chart Scatter plot Data files

Drag and Drop, No configuration needed - it just works!

:bullseye: Batch Processing

The coolest feature: select multiple components (using the lasso tool or tree view) and ask Claude questions like:

  • ā€œSummarize these documentsā€
  • ā€œWhat are the common themes?ā€
  • ā€œCompare these code snippetsā€

Claude reads all selected content and gives you a comprehensive answer.

:framed_picture: Rich Component Library

Supports everything you need:

  • Media: Images, galleries, videos, PDFs
  • Code: Syntax-highlighted with copy button
  • Data: Interactive tables and charts
  • Web: Embedded websites (iframes)
  • Text: Markdown, rich text notes

:artist_palette: Beautiful UX

  • Dark mode with elevation shadows (following the design.txt principles!)
  • Resizable panels with DashDock
  • Activity console tracking all operations
  • Component tree for easy navigation
  • Smooth pan/zoom with mouse or trackpad

:clapper_board: Demo

:hammer_and_wrench: Technical Stack

Built with:

  • Backend: Python, Dash, Flask
  • UI: Dash Mantine Components (beautiful dark theme!)
  • AI: Anthropic Claude API (streaming responses)
  • Charts: DMC Charts, Plotly
  • Data: pandas, dash-ag-grid
  • Canvas: Custom JavaScript

Key architectural decisions:

  • Streaming SSE for real-time AI responses
  • Component-based architecture for extensibility
  • Client-side rendering for performance
  • Modular ai handlers for clean separation

:bullseye: Current Status & Roadmap

:white_check_mark: What works now:

  • AI component generation with streaming
  • File uploads (images, videos, PDFs, code, data files)
  • Batch processing of selected components
  • Interactive charts from CSV/Excel
  • Full canvas manipulation (drag, resize, zoom, layer)
  • Activity logging and component tree

:construction: Coming soon:

  • User accounts & canvas persistence (currently session-only)
  • Real-time collaboration (multi-user)
  • Export to PDF/PNG
  • Gemini and GPT-4 support
  • Mobile app
  • Component templates library

:person_raising_hand: Questions Iā€™d Love Feedback On

  1. What use cases would you try this for?
  2. What component types would you want to add?
  3. What AI models should I prioritize outside claude? (Gemini, GPT-4)?
  4. Canvas persistence: Local file, cloud storage, or database?
  5. Collaboration features: What would be most valuable?

:tada: Final Thoughts

I built this because I wanted a visual thinking space that understands natural language. No more juggling tools - just describe what you need and Claude makes it happen.

The best part? Everything stays on one canvas. Pan left to see your research papers, pan right to see your data visualizations, zoom out to see the big picture.

Try it out and let me know what you think!

Iā€™m especially curious to hear:

  • What features would make this indispensable for your workflow?
  • What types of content would you want to create?
  • How would you use the batch processing feature?

Thanks for reading! Questions and feedback are super welcome. :raising_hands:

2 Likes
2

build-dashboard

Now also supporting drag and drop for .pdfs, .excel, .csv & video files

The canvas will automatically take data dropped into the canvas and create dash-mantine-components charts from it. :robot: :bar_chart:

1 Like
3

@PipInstallPython that a nice demo video recording. Got a lot of views in just 2 days :flexed_biceps:

4

Thanks Adam! The development is moving extremely fast and its a lot of fun to explore and dig into.

Latest update on the project is an organized batcher ai, which orchestrates outputs of Text, markdown code, svg pdf and excel.

Just got the code output workin as I wanted, so if drop a .csv file into the canvas and prompt it to build me a dash application for example it would create the code needed to do just that.

1 Like