Show HN: Things to Do API

thingstodoapi.com

27 points by invalidmonk a day ago

I built an api/mcp for local events: pop-ups, one-off events, concerts, etc. currently covering the SF bay area.

I've been building a bunch of consumer apps lately around personalization and recommendation and have had a hard time finding this data in one spot. agents can find useful stuff through tool calls / web search, but slow.

you can scrape on demand too, but i wanted a faster data set and couldn't find an existing provider for the mix of event types I was searching for.

the methodology for it is to find influential accounts/posters/etc. and do a fan out across things that they co-post with.

mcp: `claude mcp add --transport http thingstodo https://api.thingstodoapi.com/mcp`

I'm considering adding other cities. If you're building something that needs local event data, would something like this be useful and where would you want coverage?

tokioyoyo - 33 minutes ago

Which sources does it support? Discoverability is a huge problem for smaller events, as most get posted on IG, and it’s hard to even find them through IG.

I started relying on a mix of Muse/ChatGPT/Gemini depended on which data sources I want to combine, as they all seem to have special deals with different sources.

shrinks99 - an hour ago

This is pretty cool, does it scrape Instagram? A lot of events where I live (Toronto) are posted there and not many other places. It's a real problem if you don't want to spend time on that app.

egonschiele - 20 hours ago

This feels hard to maintain and keep up-to-date, but I would definitely use it! Great idea.

aleksiy123 - an hour ago

Cool idea and I really like the design of the landing page.

fellowniusmonk - 3 hours ago

Solving this issue a core problem for humanity, and it goes hand in hand with the need for a public service.

I'm actually working to do this at ultra low cost as a public service like Wikipedia or musicbrainz.

I'll be publishing global costs to serve and letting people donate to support.

lap248 - 21 hours ago

super slick! got results quickly and am getting more interesting and in the know kind of events than other tools

Klovy - 7 hours ago

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