A developer created a tool to track the popularity and sentiment of AI coding models mentioned in Hacker News comments. After returning from a two-week absence feeling out of the loop with coding assistant discussions, the creator automated the process of staying current in this rapidly evolving space.

The tool analyzes the top 200 daily posts from HN, filtering for those about coding or LLMs. It then uses Gemini to identify models from the OpenRouter list and analyze sentiment in each comment. All results are logged to a Google Sheet for transparency, allowing users to verify the model's output by checking specific comment IDs.

This approach provides developers with an at-a-glance view of which coding assistants the community discusses most favorably. The daily-updated chart reveals which models dominate conversations, helping developers make informed decisions about which tools to explore without manually sifting through thousands of comments.