ChatBuddy

ChatBuddy in CapitalOne
ChatBuddy collapsed in CapitalOne
ChatBuddy in Amazon
ChatBuddy in Frasers

Inspiration

Many of us make decisions when we are not fully informed or don't understand what we are buying, including all the buzzwords that appear on the page. So I created an extension that sits in the bottom right corner and is context-aware of the current page, allowing users to ask whether something is a good deal, what specific terms mean, and other relevant questions.

What it does

A context-aware AI assistant that helps you understand and evaluate financial decisions while browsing banking and shopping websites. It analyzes page content to provide relevant explanations, price comparisons, and personalized advice. A key feature is its context awareness - it analyzes the actual page content rather than relying on pretrained knowledge, which helps prevent hallucination and ensures accurate, page-specific responses.

Just ask:

Is this a good deal here?
What do the terms on this page mean?
Is this reasonable APR%?
How should I spell something
What could be alternatives for this product?

Try it out:

Press on this link to download it: chrome-extension.zip
Unzip it
Enable Developer mode in your browser
Press Load unpacked
Select chat-buddy directory
It should appear on websites like amazon.co.uk, capitalone.co.uk, houseoffraser.co.uk

How I built it

Build a backend with Python and FastAPI
Implemented backend logic with LLMs to make some recommendations based on user's context
Created a bash script to bundle it up and zip it for lambda
Configured CDK for deployment
Bought a domain name,
For extension I started with implementing simple chat with vanilla JS, html and css;
Used chrome.storage.local to store K number of previous chat messages (so they wouldn't be lost if you accidentally close a windows)
Configured SSL certificates with AWS Certificate Manager to use custom domains with API Gateway
Created a bash script to zip it up
Added additional endpoint in API to serve this .zip from lambda

Challenges I ran into

CSS
Serving .zip (At first it was sending it as ASCII instead of binary :D)

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Built a neat looking extension in under 24 hours
Developed context-aware functionality that effectively interprets current window content
Set up a complete deployment pipeline for extension distribution and AWS backend API
Added local storage for chat history so your messages stay saved even if you close your browser