Create and Maintain LaTex Resume Using Notion

All you need:
1. This Notion Template: https://nerdymomocat.notion.site/MEOW-Latex-Resume-6c7297bbccae4a2195e3caaebd8eecb8
2. This Replit: https://replit.com/@nerdymomocat/Generate-Latex-Resume-From-Notion#main.py (github link for local run: https://github.com/nerdymomocat/Generate-Latex-Resume-From-Notion)

Example Generated Resume Image Below

How does it work?

Well, the notion template comes with a stylized file for latex. You can use it in your own system, or upload the zip to overleaf.

It is based off a very popular template by Deedy: https://www.overleaf.com/latex/templates/deedy-cv/bjryvfsjdyxz modified to be rendered as a single column resume.

See that `resume_generated.tex` file?

That is the one we would be generating anytime we need to update our resume.

Oops! I got ahead of myself. Let's first talk about the template itself.

It consists of 2 databases:

The resume information (MEOW| Resume Database)

And the resume structure (MEOW| Resume Database Formatting)

What do they do?

MEOW| Resume Database Formatting Database tells you which sections there are.

It has just 7 properties:
1. Name (name of the section)
2. Sort By (time end or start)
3. Sort Direction (ascending or descending)
4. Rank (Order in which you want sections)

5. Item Format (Individual item formats)
6. Section Format (Start and end of section formatting)
7. MEOW| Resume Database (Related resume items/entries)

Items are placed inside section format using NP:Items
Item Properties inside the format are referred by NP:Property_Name

MEOW| Resume Database includes each item. It only has 9 properties.

1. Name
2. URL
3. People
4. Organization
5. Time (Can be date, year, range)
6. Comments
7. Status
8. Geographic Location
9. MEOW| Resume Database Formatting (Section the item belongs to)

Any of the text properties in the free text can have linked urls, bold or italics and it is rendered equivalently in LaTeX.

Adding information is super-duper easy.

The template comes with buttons for one time addition of basics.

It also has an add new information callout with pre-added buttons that you can just add as a synced block to your dashboard that you open everyday.

The buttons come with a ton of pre-filled information and pointers of things you need to add/replace to make it easy.

The template also includes a modification block.

A submitted paper got accepted? A submitted grant got accepted? A student graduated?

Handle it through the modify callout. Remember to add this as a synced block to your workspace too.

Then you go to the repl.

Fill in the value for these secrets. (Remember to share your template page in your workspace with the notion integration key)

And click run!

And voila. It generates the resume_generated.tex

It automatically takes care of a few things
1. Adds inline annotations to match notion
2. Adds href when there are links in notion
3. Does not add empty sections
4. Sorts entries in a section.


Create a LaTex resume using Notion+Python

Self-Organizing Bookmarks in Notion using Shortcuts+AI (iOS/MacOS)

I hate having to tag everything in any Bookmark Manager, and an extra step of processing is just too much for my ADHD mind to get to.

That leads to inbox with 200+ entries.

And hence, this automation.

What does it do?
1. Extracts content of the page
1b. Checks if the content loading is not hindered due to javascript

2. Takes screenshot of the page using https://www.screenia.best/ by @s_badaoui
2b. If it could not get the content of the page before, then uses ocr on image

3. Call OpenAI API to receive a JSON consisting of summary, tags and categories (chooses from a pre-selected list).

4. Add screenshot to dropbox and get URL.

5. Parses the information and adds everything to notion.

If you want to run this on your own, you need:
1. iOS/MacOS (because this is dependent on shortcuts app)
2. Notion Integration Key (https://www.notion.so/help/create-integrations-with-the-notion-api)
3. Bookmarks Database duplicated from the link below, shared with integration and then get its database ID

4. Open AI API Key (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/4936850-where-do-i-find-my-secret-api-key)
5. Free Actions app by @sindresorhus (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/actions/id1586435171) [On both MacOS and iOS]
6. Connect your dropbox account in shortcuts (should hopefully prompt itself)

Issues:
1. It takes time to run this (and so you will see a spinner if you run this on ios, macos is in background, just don't add 2 bookmarks in under a minute)
2. Screenia has a rate limit and you can run into it.
3. iOS will ask god-awful permissions each damn time.

Template: https://nerdymomocat.notion.site/2248b22b55c04f4cbeb72e0f84a3bfb5?v=3a3168fa66494fc591b16909fa42deee
Shortcut: https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/45fe737ab22a48759252723479d80bed

If you do end up using this, I would really appreciate if you could contribute to my wishlist or buy me a coffee here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nerdymomocat/wishlist

You might have noticed how those are direct links instead of lemonsqueezy store links.

This thread also marks me telling that I am giving up on selling templates/automations for the near future.

Why?

I've always said that generic templates/automations should be free.

And if I were to make "sellable" ones that I did try to:

1. I need to market them, and I do not want to
2. They need to cover edge cases, be as low maintenance as possible, not require effort on user's end and be customizable.

And frankly, the amount of effort needed to make these automations upto the level where I would feel comfortable selling them is huge.

That, & the fact that I've had no sales on anything else I have offered, has informed my decision to not make products for a long while.

Also, making tutorials and ensuring that everything was comprehensive was time I did not like spending.

So, there are going to be more "rough around the edges", works only on Android or on MacOS/iOS automations/templates from my end, all free, all solving real problems.

Self-Organizing Bookmarks with Shortcuts and AI

So, apparently, I ain't the only one who absolutely hates clicking 500 times to create a database in @NotionHQ.

An "explicit" database structure is something you can create in Notion with no clicks, without using LLMs/GPT.

See the magic in the video.

Wanna know how?

https://twitter.com/MFreihaendig/status/1651866983242113025

I will do a walkthrough of my setup (but through a new copy to not reveal any personal information).

I have 2 databases in notion for this creation:

1. Databases
2. Properties

I use the notional library to create a new database (example here: https://github.com/jheddings/notional/blob/main/examples/schema.py)

Let's create a task database in the demo page.

And then we can add properties just using our keyboard.

My setup also allows to add:
1. number type
2. relation (single, dual) (limit: none, 1)
3. rollup (relation, rollup property, function)
4. options for select, multi-select

Why do I do this in a structured database rather than using a text block?

Because this is the place where inclusion of LLMs can help (which I did not find worth the cost for personal use).

Structure helps me make sure things are correct, options are written correctly etc.

For an free form text option, check out this new release by @aNotioneer and @MFreihaendig.

It is awesome!

https://twitter.com/aNotioneer/status/1651911548233740288

Okay, back to my process.

Now I just run the shortcut.

What does it do?

(1) Gets all entries marked with Add new? checked that are not already added
(2) Get all properties and relations and creates a new database in the mentioned page

And voila! We have a new database structure. No clicks needed!

If I am satisfied, I just mark it as added.

I hope you this gave you some insight into setting up your own structure.

I unfortunately won't be polishing up any of this to be shareable as a link/download unless it is worth my time.

If you do want to buy my version, you can request here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nerdymomocat/commissions

Simplify Database Creation in Notion with Explicit Structures

At this point everyone has their voice to notion system. So, here is mine.

Why you should read this thread?

(1) On device whisper
(2) Uploads the recording to notion too
(3) Does some cool processing to add to database

Which gives me the Transcribed Dump Database.

How do I do it? Well, a combination of stuff.

1) Shortcuts from Apple
2) Shortery for recurring shortcut runs on MacOS
3) Aiko for on device transcription (it is slow at the moment)
4) Terminal
5) Python packages: notional, openai [gpt3.5-turbo API], notion

I record stuff using "Say something". That shortcut works everywhere (watch, iphone, macos).

The process shortcut only works on macos. It runs every 20 minutes using Shortery because I never need immediate processing.

Why not process on both iphone and macos?

Because while I can run any python program on iphone using a-shell mini, I am using a unofficial notion api v3 library that is git dependent.

Why? Because I need it to upload recording to notion.

Why are you running a python script instead of calling everything through shortcuts?

Because shortcuts is buggy af and I want to move back to Android soon.

Why not use pipedrive, zapier etc?

Because I am broke, and cannot afford that or consider them worth the cost.

Alright, what does the Say Something shortcut do?

Oh, it just
1. Records stuff
2. Save the recording and
3. Adds the path to a text file.

It overwrites the audio file if all paths are processed, otherwise just adds a new one.

And what does the Process shortcut do?

1. Gets all paths to process from the text file
2. Transcribe it (Hides apps that show up because of transcription process)
3. Runs the python script
4. Update the text file to remove the path that was processed

Why not delete the file here?

Because I can do it through the python script (but cannot later port it to iphone/android).

Or I can use the shortcuts delete file and every single time it runs, it asks me permission. FTW.

So, I just overwrite them.

Alright, what does that python script do?

1. It queries the Transcript Dump Settings Database for all settings.

The settings database has the prompt, database id, token v2, API key for OpenAI, list of rich text properties, and list of multi-select properties.

Why?

Because I want it to be both:

(a) Portable across devices later, if I do want to process in mobile as a background process, so do not want to store this information in shortcuts

(b) Easily shareable, so do not want to store that information in python script.

2. It then calls OpenAI API with the given prompt. it returns a particularly formatted json.

I get a "title", "summary", "emotions", "health", "habit", "medicine", "entities", "people mentions", "date or time mentions", "topics", "food", "categories", "tags"

Based on the prompt, tags for example are free ended, while categories are selected from a pre-existing pool.

3. Then, I just parse the json, process it by keys and check whether it is a rich text or a multi select property, and create a new page with relevant properties.

Andddd...we are done.

Use it from iphone lock screen, or menu bar or watch screen, processes when I am on mac and online, and...

It creates this useful information database with transcript and audio in page.

This is my voice notes setup.

Automating Voice Memos in Notion

Introducing Prompt Explainer.
https://prompt-explanation-designer.vercel.app/

1. Annotate to explain text w/ highlights & strikethroughs.
2. Pre-Population explanation categories.
3. Download as indexed explanation or canvas visualization
4. Generate GPT3.5/GPT4 responses and explain those too.

20 days later. I am back to tweeting on my NEWLY created schedule after being sick for 2 weeks.

I know today is Sunday, but we are gonna do a bit of personal build today instead of know this work.

This is the full implementation of text explainer I showed 10 days ago.

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1641020111229444096

I will go through each part of the app one by one. There are 3 components to any browser based app I guess?

A. UI
B. UX
C. Function

(In exactly the order I hated things to do, from worst to least worse?)

P.S. I am a scripting/model training/eval person, I do not do apps.

C. Function (Yes, we go in the reverse order)

1. Annotate text with highlight or strikethrough, or collapse text if you don't need to show it.
2. Categories, multi-line free form text & grouping for explanations

3. Compare two texts & paste with pre-added annotations.

4. Generate one or two GPT responses (useful for comparison/difference explanation). Choose the model (3.5 or 4), and the temperature and press generate. Now, annotate those responses too.

Remember, you can also collapse all the "As an AI language model" text thankfully.

5. Download any indexed explanation set as an image.

6. Generate canvas visualization from the paired set of text and explanations in a tab (and yes, I finally got it to work with multi-line @CyrusZhang99, unfortunately had to tell it how to do it, it did not fix that all on its own 😭)

B. UX

Which brings me to UX.

The biggest UX thing in here is for canvas. You can drag both ends of the line to fit the explanation exactly where you want.

Has small details like the line snaps to the nearest center of the edges.

Note: Canvas is what took me 2 weeks to do. So many edge cases, none of which GPT4 helped with even if I told it the exact edge case.

I think, the first week of dev (putting out an MVP is way faster). Doing anything more takes as much or more amount of time for me.

There is an option to delete annotation from the sidebar. Removing annotated text in input removes it from sidebar too.

And you can reorder stuff inside a sidebar, move it across groupings etc.

Of course, everything is reflected when you download the indexed explanation.

Clicking on the collapsed dots brings the content back it is not gone forever! Things like those matter to me personally. That is one of the biggest reasons why I can never stick with "alpha/beta" apps.

Of course this has loads of stuff missing, but it has what I need.

These are the resulting indexed explanation images and svg images.

The generated pngs have no background so that you can have a background of your choice later.

Tell me if you think I should default them to having a white background?

Of course given it is open source just fork it and create what you want if you need to.

A. UI

I wanted the accordion nature because I liked it. I also added a hamburger menu for mobile screens because I often work on my mobile.

Tbf, @aliszu would roast the hell out of this UI and I still won't be able to fix it 😂

Colors are now consistent thanks to variables in CSS.

And hey remember my design thread?

Because I knew which colors to choose, it was so much easier to not fret over it.

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1632130285751136258

5000 thousand modals needed.

Compare to paste with annotations, API key, temperature slider, explanation category options, download image are ALL modals or popups.

Little pops of color changes on hover, Placement of svg download buttons where I would want them to be, placeholders in sidebar and textboxes make me happy. ❤️

I tried doing a few small things (like the Generated boxes say to add API key only if it does not exist).

SVG canvas resizes when window is resized. It also is flexible to any screen size (laptop or mobile). Color popup appears on both laptop and mobile.

These are the things I would not have tried to do had I been coding them myself. These are the things that are easy w/ AI.

The main aim of the app was to build something using just GPT3.5/GPT, no googling, no using brain to edit code.

And while, it kinda remained on that track (i.e., I never fed it a smaller unit than a function), it got frustrating FAST!

The app is completely open source (if you are worried about your keys or want to modify it to your own needs).

For people, who want to check out how the app was built with prompts, here is 75% of the raw dump.
https://github.com/nerdymomocat/prompt-explanation-designer/tree/final-user-facing-all-content/prompt_dump

Cost:

I used POE, @raycastapp AI (where I was subsequently removed from their approved list of users to use GPT-4, fair enough, I really hope this app can help someone on your team 🙈) and nat.dev.

Total cost would be in the ballpark of 200$ for GPT4

This includes around 20$ (in Raycast AI) the rabbit hole of class based components it sent me down into but was never able to get them right. Ever. Not even the class definitions. See here:

https://github.com/nerdymomocat/prompt-explanation-designer/tree/class_based_components/prompts_dumps
and here
https://github.com/nerdymomocat/prompt-explanation-designer/blob/final-user-facing-all-content/prompt_dump/all_other_prompts.txt

I of course used 7 day free trial of POE, which would have costed around 150$ if I was using API. I have been spending my own money on nat.dev which is why if you do use this app, I would appreciate a coffee please?

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nerdymomocat

Human hour calculation:

MVP: Around 18 hours
Class Based Rabbit Hole: Around 25 hours
Everything else that actually went into the final version of the app: Around 80-90 hours.

I actually think the last part would have been shorter without AI, but that was not the aim.

For people who are gonna ask, I have tried using Copilot for this, and no it does not work for me.

If you can get it to work to generate code from scratch while taking care of everything else, show me how (remove the module_vix file and try to generate its functionality).

I will update my thoughts and write a blog about it here: https://nerdymomocat.notion.site/Coding-a-Prompt-Explainer-Designer-using-GPT-4-0072eb2993254c569d0482df389d5281

But in short:
1. It is good at the start and gets frustrating real fast
2. You have to be very very specific the larger your codebase is. Ideally, you basically are writing pseudo code.

Should I tag some people who may be interested? Hey @thatroblennon, since you're working on a prompt-based course, everything you need is in the thread above.

(P.S: This post is not a recommendation. I still stand by my belief that no GPT course is worth paying for.)

https://twitter.com/thatroblennon/status/1641893636718710795

@nickfloats, @storybyphil, @LinusEkenstam, @icreatelife
you might want to use this to generate detailed prompt explanations (very similarish it to the UI concept you all liked) 😊

It allows you to pre-set categories for explaining parts of a prompt too.

https://twitter.com/mrncst/status/1641162815036686336

@TomFrankly, you might want to check it out if you want to add graphic explanations to the AI tutorial you are making.

This is not the ideal interface for iterative prompting though.

@deliprao, @srush_nlp you might wanna check it out in case you plan to do more comparison based tweet threads or such. Looks better and easier to explain that screen-shotting chat GPT and explaining in the tweet text 😊

And @thesephist, @geoffreylitt, you might want to check it out for the mess of the code it is because I had pre-decided to not feed smaller unit than a function to create the code.

Iterative building is almost as involved as building it myself. 🤦🏽‍♀️

https://github.com/nerdymomocat/prompt-explanation-designer/tree/final-user-facing-all-content/prompt_dump

Alright everyone, now I am back to my regular scheduled threads, the schedule I decided on A DAY before I fell sick 3 weeks ago.

If you end up using this application, please buy me a coffee so that I can pay for my @typefully subscription!
https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nerdymomocat

Introducing Prompt Explainer: A tool for text annotation and GPT response generation

New in #PAWS: A fresh series on Note-Taking!

In 1 year, account name changed from Note Fun Here to Opines Notes Apps to Nerdy Momo Cat, but the passion for notetaking remains.

Join me as I talk about one of the lesser-known app @saga_HQ's saga.so.

To be honest, I discovered Saga in late 2021, when I was more willing to try new note-taking apps.

I even have an old review of Saga saved in my @typefully account, so ancient that it had an invalid date until I recently copied and pasted it into a new draft.

I was loving saga.so, but lately, I've stopped using it.

So, why the shift?

To understand, let me tell you about Saga and its features. It follows a generic structure and offers essential content blocks like headings, bullets, and text, along with templates.

Saga offers more than just the essentials.

Included in its main features are collections, aliased mentions, side panel, tasks, @googledrive workspace and @linear integration, and keyboard-first navigation.

I'll cover each one in thorough detail.

A. Collections. Collections are the basic organizational structure in saga beyond workspaces. Saga only does workspace based permissions though (not collection level). Collections are basically tags that are inheritable.

These tags aren't supertags as they lack assigned properties, but they are nestable.

Pages can belong to multiple collections.

Adding properties and applying them at a block level would turn them into supertags, similar to those in @tana_inc.

And I know you can do it @saga_HQ because I started using the app back in 2021.

Fun fact, @saga_HQ used to have user-defined page properties, akin to @NotionHQ, in collections, basically a version of supertags but no longer does in an attempt to be more user friendly.

B. Mentions are first class citizens in Saga, just like relations are first class citizens in Notion. To know what is a first class citizen in an app, see where there current releases lie.

Eg, in @NotionHQ , peek view, properties as page sections, all focus on page relations.

So, what does this mean for you?

Well, in Saga, you can create page aliases (like Cat or Dumbo or 🐈) that all link to the same place.

This is particularly useful when building a people CRM.

Any name you mention in a journal entry will appear on the corresponding linked page.

Autolink for page mentions can be toggled as needed, with a hover and click feature for a mention.

Editing the popup is a breeze with an editable popup that appears when the mention is hovered over.

Notion-like workspace-independent page mentioning is not currently supported.

C. By holding down the shift key and clicking on a mention, you can open it as a side panel.

The default side panel is an excellent feature.

Additionally, Saga displays unlinked mentions, which refer to instances where a page or heading was named, but without using [[ or @.

The side panel gives you a convenient table of contents, wordcount, and speedy search function.

The significance cannot be dismissed - even @NotionHQ lacks it, while @craftdocsapp just recently announced the feature as a major update.

D. Tasks. Tasks are another set of first class citizens in Saga.

Notion does not like integrating tasks into their workflow while it seems like every other major note-taking app on the planet does.

In Saga, you can create tasks with date, assignment and mentions anywhere.

Tasks are special pages, similar to how @CapacitiesHQ uses internal content types. You can assign tasks, set dates, assign them to people, and view all mentions.

Just a suggestion to @CapacitiesHQ -  consider having tasks as a content type instead of a different structure?

E. Google workspace Integrations.

As much as all of us enjoy the memes of why this google doc should have been a notion doc, that is not how life works (or at least not how mine does).

You can link to an open and work on any google doc from a saga doc.

Saga's Dec release features an integration into their search function, allowing you to search through both your Google and Saga docs at once.

This is particularly beneficial for spreadsheet calculations, as you can write about it in Saga and run the calculation in Sheets.

F. Keyboard first navigation. Saga comes with a command palette (yes like every other note taking app these days). You can utilize the command palette to search for Tasks, Linear & Google Drive w/ filters.

Plus, then easily access search results in a non-distracting side-pane.

In summary, Saga’s power lies in inbuilt task management and google workspace integration.

That combined with aliasing, unlinked mentions, auto-linking and the very powerful split/side-panel view is why you should consider Saga.

Saga didn't meet my needs due to the absence of essential features like page-based permissions, columns, and toggles (recently added).

And, its incompatibility with external software was due to its "newness" and the API's unavailability.

Personally for me, while I enjoyed using Saga, I do not consider it stable enough to use on an everyday basis. @saga_HQ and @cloverappco are amazing concepts but have been dormant in development for months now.

I get that dev takes time, what holds me back from jumping on the latest tech is longevity. I only require a decade of relevance.

I won't go for @obsdmd or anything local-first.

I know @googledocs would be here 10 years down the line. And for me, that is enough.

That's all.

I just launched a MTG template yesterday for @NotionHQ and @wizards_magic lovers.

Use code MAGICWAND to get it here for FREE: https://tinyurl.com/nmc-mtg-lmz-full

I also started a 30x series on everything I know about in CS. This week was Apple Shortcuts 300. Check that out.

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1635899665953730560

I share weird notion tips that work every weekend. Megathread here: https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1634569897446608896

Megathread of academic workflows shared on weekdays here: https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1632321456968437760

Get NOMs & MEOWs, automations for Notion & other productivity software here: https://nerdymomocat.lemonsqueezy.com/

Exploring Saga: A Note-Taking App

So, @TomFrankly posted this tweet yesterday, & I started a quest to make a @NotionHQ database for #MagicTheGathering (@wizards_magic).

Code w/ @Replit env & Template w/ empty AND filled in DBs: https://tinyurl.com/nmc-mtg-lmz-full

Use code MAGICWAND to get it for FREE!

https://twitter.com/TomFrankly/status/1635326820081074177

Alright, let's start.

Why am I doing this in the first place?

Primary reason: Introducing the ease of using python modules over javascript.

Biggest problem: I do not know or care about the game at all.

Spoiler: I will say, inserting 28k entries, polishing up took >24 hours.

But I do know how @NotionHQ works and how APIs work.

That has to count for something, right? Right?

Yeah, unfortunately I am not the gaming nerd (THE only game I have played is Among Us). And I do not plan to be one.

This is a real-time account of the process.

Incoming: 🧵

Step 1: Creating a @Replit

That is the simplest thing you would do here.

i. Sign up for a repl account.
ii. Create a python repl.
iii. Create a notion integration and get the API key
iv. Create a secret variable in repl named `notion_api_key`

Step 2: Finding python libraries

I know I am going to use notional (https://github.com/jheddings/notional) by @jheddings.

I have used it in over 50 personal projects now (and this is what NOMs are made on | shameless plug, follow to be notified when released: https://www.producthunt.com/products/noms-2)

Finding Magic The Gathering library.

Let's go to point 1.

I have no idea what this thing is, but I like playing around with APIs and Notion.

If I were an MTG enthusiast, I'd first create a @NotionHQ DB. But I have no idea what it would entail.

So, we look at libraries first.

I found two of them:

1. MTG SDK (https://github.com/MagicTheGathering/mtg-sdk-python)

2. Scryfall (https://scryfall.com/docs/api/images)

Now, one thing you always need to remember is, if something is nerdy enough, someone will create a python wrapper for it.

And voila, Scrython: https://github.com/NandaScott/Scrython

Now you might ask, what prompted me to look for a non-official library in the first place?

That would be the useless `image_url` property sent through the official one.

Why is it useless? Because Notion API does not allow you to upload files, and, MTG provides .ashx urls.

Now Cat, why don't you just use the `multiverse_id` provided by the official API and use it to retrieve image from `scrython`.

You wish. But scrython has its own card imagery URIs that are NOT DIRECTLY RELATED to the `multiverse_id`.

Whatever. We are going to add all of them and figure it out as we go.

So, go to the repl we created and add 3 packages in the Shell tab:

`poetry add notional
poetry add scrython
poetry add mtgsdk`

This would end up with your `pyproject.toml` looking like this.

Step 2: One thing that MTG API Docs (https://docs.magicthegathering.io/) does do, is provide the properties I need to add to the Notion Database.

I have two Notion databases based on the return types in the API docs.

We also create 2 new repl secrets: `cards_db_id` and `sets_db_id`.

Why 2 databases?

Well,

i. What you are building here is a lot more complex than Pokedex, not because of size but because I decided to have a relation to sets database.

ii. You can make this all one database if you want to, but then, that ain't the point of @NotionHQ, is it?

Step 3: Getting the damn image URL because it seems like the card image is the most important part

15 minutes later, I have figured out the image process that I would likely use.

Combine card set code and number from the official API to get the image https://scryfall.com/docs/api/cards/collector

You didn't think this mess was solved, did ya?

Nothing is solved this easily, if it were, we wouldn't be needing rubber ducks to solve out problems (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging)

So, apparently MTG has multi-faced cards, and we need to handle them.
https://scryfall.com/docs/api/cards#card-face-objects

Step 4: Putting the basic python code together

i. In this step, we will try to insert every card information, AS RECEIVED, into the notion database.

We do not care about images or sets at the moment.

ii. Yes, we would debug it later, but this is how you should go about it too.

💡 Tips:

Remember to share your database with the integration you created.

If you get error 503 with official MTG API, just try again.

If you want to know the properties of an object in python (because MTG official API returns a card obejct), use `dir(obj)`.

Suddenly, I am no longer liking the idea of using MTG API. Why? Because it keeps throwing service unavailable errors.

Now, I am going to give it 25 more minutes, while I figure out image URLs to see if it is up or not.

If it isn't, I am probably just going to shift to scrython.

Oh hey, we have hit a block again. This time, we find out that scrython does not support /cards/:code/:number(/:lang) and we need to find another way to get the image URLs.

Pros: More time for the MTG API to NOT BE unavailable
Cons: Everything else

Alright, here is to hoping that MTG and Scryfall have the same naming conventions for their cards. Because, now we are retrieving cards using `scrython.cards.Named(fuzzy=card.name)`

Why not use scrython in the first place?

This is called code debt.

40 minutes later and the MTG SDK is still not up.

I guess we are now tackling the code debt & using scrython. Goddamnit.

Hey at least now we do not need to figure out image URIs separately?

Now, here is to hoping we do not need to change the properties in @NotionHQ DB.

For rate limiting, we will be using `time.sleep(0.1)`.

Everyone, remember, no complicated systems for 3 hour builds.

Now onto to the basic question for which I was initially using MTG SDK, how do I get all the cards without using the bulk data endpoint in scryfall?

I give up on trying to retrieve fresh data.

Why was I doing so in the first place? I don't know. I will be using the bulk data here: https://scryfall.com/docs/api/bulk-data

Now, I know @TomFrankly says 22630 cards but uh, the closest match was "Oracle Cards" of 28173.

We will roll with that!

See, now that we have this, the easiest thing to do would obviously be to:
(i) convert this json to csv
(ii) upload csv to notion
(iii) fix image file imports somehow

But that doesn't teach you about API, does it?

And, I do not want to be fixing csv imports in @NotionHQ.

So, we go back to the Step 2 and figure out if there are different properties in scryfall API as compared to MTG API.

And I bet you 50$ there are.

We specifically add keywords, oracle text and oracle id.

I am making sure all the existing properties I mapped in the code exist.

Well, multiple deleted properties (15 for the cards database, 9 for the sets database) and added properties (5 for the cards database, 4 for the sets database) later, we are getting something done!

YAY!

I would have used set's `icon_svg_uri` but it says the URI might change.

Given this is a "fun" project, I am not looking at edge cases.

What if the bulk data does not return oracle cards at index 0? Yeah, we cross our fingers and hope it does 🤣

I think the sets insertion is now working (sped up 5x in the gif)

Now to hoping that the cards work!

Oh well 30 minutes later: `repl process died unexpectedly: signal: killed`

This time we are pickling the damn set dictionary so that we do not delete & add the same set multiple times when debugging the card addition code.

Some array based error bashing later, we see the END 🤯

NOPE. Not yet.

The bulk API json does not come with power, toughness, life modifiers etc for all cards. It is not just the data that might be missing.

IT IS THE WHOLE DAMN KEY! AWESOME!

I tried setting it to `types.TYPE[None]` if the info is missing, but that doesn't work! 😠

Hello everyone.

It works! Some finicking with the file object, set relations and it seems like everything is on track.

We are almost 6 hours into this project at this time. I think it is final run time while I go and sleep (it is almost 5 am)

Oh well, we keep running into this pesky Notion 502 error issue. The best part?

This error is completely absent from their developer page: https://developers.notion.com/reference/status-codes

I need to add some form of already added persistence for sets and cards.

SIGH. 😅

Doing that right now.

⚠️ I also changed 'Released At' type to Date.

If you do not ADHD, you do not get this. I cannot do anything else because this small thing keeps nagging me 7 hours later.

Of course you can fill in the db & change it later to date and it will work. But I cannot let it be 😔


I have downloaded this onto my computer to run it through night.

A very naive parallelized version (break the list into 2500 cards and run it 10 times) along with `set_dict` pickle dumped from replit.

This will be the end of the process if it ends up running without errors.

It is 6:30am and I should sleep.

No, you will not learn about exponential backoff because this is not a tutorial.

Especially because I have 2 paper submissions, 4 meetings and 3 reading groups today! YAY!

Does it work though? 😉

(Spoiler: YES, it works, MANY Error 502 later).

8 HOURS LATER!

Code w/ @Replit env & Template w/ empty AND filled in DBs: https://tinyurl.com/nmc-mtg-lmz-full

Use code MAGICWAND to get it for FREE!

If you find it useful for learning Notion API in Python or building your MTG collection, PLEASE buy me a coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/nerdymomocat

I share weird notion tips that work every weekend. Megathread here: https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1634569897446608896

Megathread of academic workflows shared on weekdays here: https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1632321456968437760

Get NOMs & MEOWs: automations for Notion & other productivity software, here: https://nerdymomocat.lemonsqueezy.com/

Creating a Notion Database for Magic: The Gathering with Python

Welcome to the weekend PAWS Series where I am going to be talking about weird Notion workflows/tips that work when you are trying to get that one thing done.

Today it is time for #WNTW 1 (Weird Notion Tips that Work OR Want your damn Notion To Work? 🤣)

WNTW1. Today's tip: Any page peek by @bensomething

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1631532683586338817

A menu bar shortcut to make this easy on you by @aNotioneer: https://twitter.com/aNotioneer/status/1633164577260093440

A customizable and context menu initiable (one tap keyboard shortcut) by me here: https://nerdymomocat.lemonsqueezy.com/checkout/buy/a0c038d0-a195-421d-9e59-da504dcd418d?checkout%5Bdiscount_code%5D=NERDYMEOWS%E2%80%A6

Weird Notion Tips that Work OR Want your damn Notion To Work? 🤣

Through March and April, I would be doing a DAILY OPINIONATED series of quick starters for CS academics or Academic Paws.

Each thread (<5) would be a solution, solving ONE problem that people have in academia that they still struggle with.

Why now?

Because, I have my thesis submission and job search to look forward to, and I need a distraction where I am still feeling productive, doing what I like, but not necessarily wasting my time.

Why am I a good person to talk about this?

I can confidently say, in ten plus years of being in academia (and hopefully continuing to be in one), people are usually miles behind on tools. And I do not blame them.

Trust me, I used keras till '20. And I still don't use lightning.

What would be different?

1. These would be quick threads, to the point, solving only one problem specific to academics/researchers.
2. Have options with elevator pitch "whys": Academia enhances monetary inaccessibility, so high cost subscription tools are out of question.

Absolutely no pitches, no follow requests (though follow me at @nerdymomocat right now if you want to be notified of these threads), no upsells, no affiliate links.

Where can I see them all? You should be able to access them all neatly organized on:

https://nerdymomocat.notion.site/Academic-PAWS-cf44e672e85b47a6a8d31592dd9811a9

Academic Paws

Design tips from a non-designer.

While prepping for NOMs launch, I was trying to figure out the best way to create a non over-engineered MVP, but still good enough for my ADHD brain.

If you have the pesky perfectionism owl looking over you all the time, you'd want to read this.

It has been a month since I tried to soft-launch the first time around and in this month.

I have not only become way more proficient in some tools, I have also recognized the importance of personal branding. (Initial launch: https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1621700343854931969)

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1623640412652179457

Let's start with the basics.

1. Twitter profile.

This is what my twitter profile looked like before. The dark green and the halo glow made it really hard for the profile to be recognizable. So, I changed it to a clearer profile picture that you see right now.

This twitter profile went through a series of name changes, from notefun to opinesnotes to finally landing on @nerdymomocat.

For most people, using their real name would be a great idea. For me, I want this passion of mine to be disassociated from my full time work.

Having a consistent branding might not be a problem if:

(a) you are using your real name, or,
(b) you do not obsess over making things look and feel consistent.

For me, I was spending time trying to make it consistent everywhere, @NotionHQ, @Twitter, @gumroad.

This time spent on design gave me fixed guidelines to follow:

a. Colors (orange and green)
b. Personality (cat, food & code)
c. Product/series names (cat related acronyms: see NOMs, MEOWs, PAWS)
d. Style (illustration-like)
e. Font (Bubbly)

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1628379124720107521

For many people, it might not matter much. I not only respect you, I am jealous of you.

For me, I was spending a significant amount of time looking for the appropriate name for an automation, selecting the perfect icon and the cover to go with it, tying my identity in.

2. Notion template design

If I was making a google sheets template, maybe this would not matter as much. But given I was making notion templates, design had to be factored in for covers and page icons.

And inconsistent ideas made me flustered, not something I want to repeat.


https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1621700343854931969

Going back to the finalizations from above, design quickly became easier.

I need a name for a series? Find a cat related word that can be an acronym (look at MEOWs).

I need a page icon? Find an illustrative icon, put the selected cute kawaii icon representing NOMs with it.

Design though, is about the organization and structure as much as it is about colors/graphics.

So, I standardized it too. Every NOM would now have 3 levels, L1, L2, L3, where L1 would mostly be free, L2 and L3 providing increasingly more value.

Dividing it as such made feature design a lot more easier too.

I could now easily list the features that I want the best version to have and then pare it down to L1.

And all I needed to do was copy paste it over for each NOM and then replace it with relevant features.

I decided to launch on both iOS/Android this time around, I initially used input from Automate/Shortcuts.

Automate does not have list input, & I did not want to handle inconsistency.

I would need a generic UI input too.

So, each NOM has a dashboard and a settings page.

Each NOM needs to have multiple components. I need to include a setup, FAQs, instructions, demo video etc.

And I needed to design it once to be able to repeat it consistently. So, I created a set of blocks, tested them and made sure I liked them.

Then the blocks were reusable.

3. Personal branding design

Can you believe I launched the first time around without any personal website?

This time around I decided to have a detailed version on @NotionHQ (https://nerdymomocat.notion.site/) and a shorter version on @joinbento (https://bento.me/nerdymomocat)

Now I knew where to redirect people if they wanted to know more about my tool stack or workflows.

You can see how consistent the promotional material, & the personal profile is too.

It is all in colors of orange, grey, green.

And I did not have to spend time or think about it.

So now, everything is branded nerdymomocat. My lemon squeezy store at: https://nerdymomocat.lemonsqueezy.com/, my personal profiles, my email, @buymeacoffee, @Reddit etc.

If I need to create a new series, I just find a cat illustration about it.

4. Tools

Now that is all set and done, how did I get here?

a. I created a side projects database in @NotionHQ and stored all the designs in there related to all the series, profiles, websites etc.

I made sure to keep a track of my newer and older designs.

b. I tried MANY logo making websites, and eventually decided to use @canva and let me tell you, nothing comes close to the ease of use that canva provides.

No AI tool comes close when you have a fixed set of guidelines and standardizations in your head. No more playing around!


c. As much as I love to play around with tools, I do like narrowing them down to "go-tos".

I will never be able to play around with tools forever, even though I am open to going back to them.

So, I settled on @AppPika, @screenrunapp, @ScreenFlow for screenshot and demo design.

https://twitter.com/nerdymomocat/status/1631153245707206657

Possibly ending on a controversial take, but I know I am blessed to be good at coding, given how much I like personalization, automation and flexibility.

It is not that I can put something together with time. I do AI/ML model design (not just use) as a full time job.

So, I would not do subscriptions >2$/mo for app that I do not use more than 100 hours a month. As I said before, paying for @GoogleWorkspace, @Spotify, @netflix is fine.

If my "productivity" app costs more than my google subscription and provides me less value, I'm not doing it.

In summation,

For Repetitive Processes, REFINE:

1. Creation: color, personality, font, style.
2. Structure: reusable blocks, ordering.
3. Presentation: screenshots, recording, processing.
4. Posts: website, writing, scheduling.

Follow @nerdymomocat for more workflow dig ins