GPT and rediscovering Bookmarklets
I’ve always been a fan of userscripts. User Scripts, Bookmarklets, tampermonkey, you may know them by many names. Basically a short snippet of code to inject a functionality into an existing web page. They were my gateway into programming. Short snippets of code that could transform a website’s functionality, rearrange elements, or even automate quirky tasks like looping a friend’s Orkut account into a testimonial bomb. It was empowering to take control of how things worked on the web. I was the “Hackerman” of my friends.
For me, this fascination boils down to reverse engineering. I’ve always been intrigued by how things work and, more importantly, how I can make them work the way I want. That’s why I fell in love with programming—it’s the ultimate tool for customization and creativity, allowing me to shape tools and workflows to fit my vision.
With GPT, I’ve rediscovered that same joy of reverse engineering on a whole new level. GPT has become my go-to assistant for generating bookmarklets and scripts that enhance my daily online experience. Need data exported in a particular format? No problem. GPT allows me to generate a script or bookmarklet in minutes, perfectly tailored to my needs.
Here are a few scripts I’ve created recently:
- Exporting audio transcripts from Fireflies.ai in Markdown format.
- Posting an existing page to the Internet Archive with a single click.
- Retrieving YouTube transcripts, generating video summaries using ChatGPT, and saving them directly to my Obsidian vault.
- Creating a #to/read task for the current page in my daily Obsidian note, complete with specific tags.
These small scripts may not seem revolutionary on the surface, but they represent the freedom and power to customize the web exactly as I want. GPT has been an incredible tool, especially for seasoned developers who can quickly articulate an idea and have GPT generate a functional starting point. It might not always be 100% accurate on the first try, but it’s a fantastic launchpad for experimentation and refinement.
Reverse engineering with GPT feels like having a co-pilot who’s always ready to assist. It can generate the foundational script I need, and from there, I can tweak it to perfection. The combination of automation, creativity, and control is endlessly satisfying.
Whether you’re automating workflows, enhancing productivity, or just indulging in creative tinkering, tools like GPT are opening up exciting possibilities for taking control of the digital world. For me, it’s a way of making the web truly mine, one userscript at a time.