That familiar buzz on WhatsApp doesn’t always bring relief. For many professionals, especially in tech, it signals yet another long message from the boss, often long after work hours are over. “Offline” has slowly become a myth. But instead of muting chats or stressing over blue ticks, one Indian developer chose a smarter, more creative way to regain control, and the internet is taking notes.
When Work Messages Become Too Much
My boss spams WhatsApp messages, so I built an LLM-based solution to read them on a tiny screen with tone detection
byu/Several-Virus4840 indevelopersIndia
Professionals who are mentally exhausted by their bosses’ frequent WhatsApp messages have responded favorably to an Indian software developer’s Reddit post. The post, which was shared on r/developersIndia, details a brilliant side project designed to handle lengthy, tiresome messages without causing those anxiety-inducing blue ticks.
The engineer, who uses the moniker Several-Virus4840, clarified that his boss regularly texts him long messages on WhatsApp. Opening the app also indicates that the message has been viewed, but reading them right away feels overwhelming. He opted for a more inventive solution rather than simply ignoring or muting conversations.
The Issue That Many Workers Face
WhatsApp has made it harder for many professionals to distinguish between work and personal time. It can be mentally taxing to deal with lengthy instructions, constant notifications, and the underlying expectation to act fast. The Reddit user claimed that sometimes it was exhausting to even launch the app, particularly when he wasn’t in the appropriate frame of mind to reply.
At that point, he made the decision to construct something in order to recover some control.
Presenting ‘WhatsNot’
The outcome was a small side project that he refers to as “WhatsNot.” Without opening WhatsApp on the phone, the tool silently scans incoming messages, summarizes them, and shows the main elements.
WhatsApp’s read receipts are never activated as the app is never used. It appears to the sender that no one has read the message.
How The System Operates
A Node.js service is at the center of the configuration. Baileys, an open-source framework that enables programmatic interaction with WhatsApp Web, is used to listen for incoming WhatsApp messages. A simple HTTP server is used to record each new message that comes in.
The text is submitted to a free Grok large language model API after the message has been recorded. The AI carries out two crucial tasks.
It determines whether the message sounds urgent, neutral, aggressive, or something else by analyzing the tone. This enables the developer to swiftly determine if the message requires an immediate response or can wait.
A Small Screen That Does The Heavy Lifting
A tiny piece of hardware takes control after the summary is complete. New summaries are periodically retrieved from the server via a NodeMCU microcontroller, which then shows them on a small OLED screen. The user can scroll through lengthy summaries or refresh the display using a touch sensor.
Easy, Low-Cost Hardware Configuration
The hardware is purposefully simple. It is made up of a touch sensor, an OLED display, and a NodeMCU that are soldered together. The gadget is portable and totally phone-free thanks to a small battery that was salvaged from an old selfie stick.
No Pressure, No Blue Ticks
Importantly, neither the WhatsApp chat nor the “seen” signal is sent back to WhatsApp’s servers by the system. The sender never sees blue ticks since read receipts are initiated at the app’s interface level, allowing the user to react at their own leisure.
A Tiny Project With A Bigger Message
WhatsNot is not a commercial product, according to the developer. It’s just a useful and perhaps amusing method of dealing with contemporary professional communication.
Nevertheless, a lot of people have responded to the post. It draws attention to a growing trend in which developers are employing small AI-powered solutions to address issues that are fundamentally human, such as stress, burnout, and the pressure to be accessible at all times.
Conclusion
This isn’t just a clever tech workaround. It’s a quiet protest against the always-on work culture. By combining code, AI, and simple hardware, the developer found a way to reclaim mental space without confrontation or guilt. In a world where boundaries between work and personal life are constantly blurred, projects like WhatsNot remind us that sometimes the smartest solution is the one that lets you breathe before replying.
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