AI Engineering: Advent of AI with goose Day 7

Source: Dev.to

Day 7: Lost & Found Data Detective – Turning Chaos into Organized Magic with Goose 🕵️‍♂️

The Challenge: Festival Lost & Found Mayhem

Imagine running a festival (or school fair, conference, etc.) where dozens of lost‑item notes flood in—hand‑written, half‑typed, wildly inconsistent:

blue scarf, found near ice rink, 2pm
BLUE SCARF - ice skating area - 2:15pm
iPhone 13 pro, black case, storytelling tent, 3pm - URGENT
red mitten for kid, cocoa booth, around 2:30

Typical manual handling means:

• Copying, merging, and organizing entries by hand (a nightmare)
• Missing urgent items (phones, IDs)
• No quick search or clean presentation

Enter: Lost & Found Data Detective (a Goose recipe)

For Day 7 I built a reusable Goose YAML recipe that:

• Digests messy lists
• Merges duplicates
• Categorizes items (Electronics, Clothing, Valuables, …)
• Flags urgent finds
• Emits a gorgeous, searchable, mobile‑ready web app with stats, filters, and print/export options

Tech Stack

• Goose Recipes (YAML) – declarative AI automation
• Goose Developer + AutoVisualiser extensions – data & UX generation
• HTML/CSS/JS – self‑contained, offline‑capable output
• No external dependencies – works offline after generation

My Experience (From Raw Notes to App)

1. Loaded lost-and-found-detective.yaml into Goose Desktop.
2. Pasted the raw notes (CSV, plain text, etc.).
3. Clicked Run.

In under 10 seconds I got a fully‑organized, mobile‑ready, print‑friendly web app (e.g., festival-data/day2-lost-and-found.html).

What the application did

• Deduped entries (“blue scarf” → single record)
• Flagged urgent items (phones, jewelry)
• Categorized all items (Electronics, Clothing, Valuables…)
• Provided real‑time search and filters
• Showed a dashboard of stats
• Enabled print/export for the info desk
• Responsive on phone, tablet, and desktop; works offline

Why This Is a Game Changer

• Massively faster than spreadsheets or Google Forms
• Zero coding required
• Eliminates duplicate manual entries
• Gives instant visibility for urgent/lost valuables
• Reusable for any event, big or small

Who Can Use This?

• Festival coordinators & volunteers
• School fair organizers
• Conference and event staff
• Community‑center managers
• Anyone needing to professionalize lost‑and‑found chaos

Lessons & Insights

• Declarative YAML (Goose) is a superpower – automate anything with a single recipe.
• Data cleanup + deduplication are the hardest parts IRL; AI handles them effortlessly.
• Good design multiplies value – real‑time search, responsive UI, and print mode matter at live events.
• Documentation is critical – I wrote quick‑start, technical, and sharing guides for all audiences.

How You Can Use It

1. Grab lost-and-found-detective.yaml (the recipe).
2. Paste your raw data, click Run, and export the generated HTML.
3. Share the link/site with staff or print it for the help desk.
4. Done – in minutes!

Powered By

• Goose by Block
• My own festival‑organizing experience
• Lots of hot cocoa & recipes ☕

My Final Thoughts

Organizing lost & found shouldn’t be a horror story. With Goose’s declarative YAML recipes, the entire workflow—from messy notes to a clean, searchable web application—is automated in seconds. The system deduplicates entries, flags urgent items, and generates a responsive, offline‑capable interface with zero dependencies. It’s instant, beautiful, and open‑source, turning chaos into organized magic.