Working on a Complex Codebase; The Value of AI
Hey everyone,
I recently had the opportunity to do some work on HiveSBI (@steembasicincome), a long-running and important community project. @josephsavage reached out for help in getting the hive-sbi-v2 codebase updated, and I was happy to jump in. The main goal was to replace the old beem dependency with my hive-nectar library, which would resolve some long-standing issues.
Understanding a Complex System
Before I could start ripping out a core dependency, I needed to get a handle on how the whole system worked. HiveSBI is a complex piece of software; it's constantly streaming the blockchain, processing member data, calculating rewards, and managing upvotes.
My first step, before writing a single line of code, was to read the entire repository. Which any dev will tell you, is a chore, but I did it.
But having recently discovered DeepWiki, and to make it easier on anyone else, I was quick to feed it to our AI overlords, I wish I knew about it before...
It gives a pretty solid breakdown of the system architecture, the purpose of the core components, and how the different scripts interact with the database. And while it's not 100% perfect (for instance, it thinks the project uses MySQL when it's actually MariaDB, minor difference, but different enough), the overall guide is incredibly useful. Having this understanding would have made the task of integrating hive-nectar and the new features much, much easier. But it's there for future reference.
The Value of AI in Development
This experience really highlights the practical value of a tool like DeepWiki. It's not about replacing developers; it's about giving them tools to understand complex, unfamiliar codebases quickly. For open-source projects on Hive, this is huge.
HiveSBI is a completely open-source project, and part of that ethos is transparency. By putting it on DeepWiki, we're making it even easier for other developers to explore how it works. I believe that the more Hive projects we can get indexed, the more these AI agents will understand our ecosystem, making it easier for new developers to get involved and start building, even if they are vibe coding, we need more people.
You can check out the project and the DeepWiki yourself at the links below.
- DeepWiki: https://deepwiki.com/josephsavage/hive-sbi-v2
- GitHub: https://github.com/josephsavage/hive-sbi-v2
As always,
Michael Garcia a.k.a. TheCrazyGM