Bob Ps: later I realized Atomo123 is based on a port of Sum-it.
Let’s start with Sum-It 🙂 The creation of Atomo123 began with a chat in the Haiku Telegram group, followed by a major brainstorming session with Claude that lasted a few hours. I asked it to analyze the original project and explore the possibility of extending it, as well as look into the current library and alternative MIT-licensed options available on GitHub. By the end of that session, the most interesting solution emerged: take the core of Sum-It and build a new GUI around it, along with translators for Excel and OpenOffice.
I’m not a programmer—I’d describe myself as a huge fan of BeOS and Haiku—so I think there are YouTube tutorials far better than me at explaining how to build applications in and for Haiku. I use Claude Code to build my projects, which does require at least the base paid plan, as Claude Code isn’t available on the free tier. What I can share is my workflow: have long "chats" with Claude, try to pinpoint the existing starting libraries or software, and then have it generate an initial prompt to paste into Claude Code. I also place a strong emphasis on having Claude generate a testing suite to ensure that the initial rules and standards are adhered to throughout development.
When working with Claude Code, I find it extremely effective to feed compiler logs and Haiku Debugger output straight back into the conversation whenever an issue pops up. Breaking the task down into small, modular steps rather than asking for everything at once makes a huge difference.
Also, a massive thanks to the Haiku Telegram community for the initial spark! If anyone wants to give Atomo123 a spin or test the Excel/OpenOffice translators, feedback and contributions are always welcome.
