Making Complex Topics Accessible
Zero-knowledge proofs and shielded transactions make most people's eyes glaze over. The solution was baked into the system prompt: two short paragraphs max, 250-400 characters, no academic language, no jargon. The AI had to explain like a smart friend, not a textbook. Short sentences. Direct. If you only have two paragraphs, every word earns its place.
Avoiding Content Fatigue with Rotation
A bot posting the same content type gets boring fast. I built a two-layer rotation: every second post is live news from Google Search, and non-news posts cycle through 10+ types (tips, facts, predictions, hot takes, quotes, shoutouts.

Real-Time News Aggregation
Live news sounds simple until search results return redirect URLs, old content gets recycled, and AI hallucinates sources. We used Gemini's Google Search grounding with strict freshness constraints, resolved redirect URLs to get actual sources, and included real links in every post so readers can verify.

Decrypting Shielded Memos
Reading private Zcash memos isn't plug-and-play. The fast sync protocol strips out memo data to save bandwidth, giving you only a fraction of what you need. The fix was a two-step process: first detect that a payment arrived, then fetch the full transaction to actually read the memo. We built the decryption in pure Node.js so it runs anywhere without installing Zcash tooling. The sender stays anonymous. We only see what topic they requested, never who they are.

Creating a Consistent Character with AI Image Generation
AI image generators produce different styles with every prompt. Early mascot attempts gave us a completely different character each time. The fix was obsessive prompt engineering: defining Zeke with extreme specificity (retro Vault Boy style, black censored bar over eyes, monochromatic olive-green skin and clothes, yellow Z logo shirt). Keeping Zeke monochromatic while letting backgrounds stay vibrant anchors the character visually across hundreds of different scenes.