Have an agent call local businesses to check if they are open
On July 4 in Portland the founders' API found 15 Thai and sushi places and called them in parallel to confirm holiday hours. PlaceCall now lets agents and apps phone businesses to get answers and get things done.
Source
ymarkov on Hacker News · 2026-09-24
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-16.
What they did
On July 4 in Portland the founders' API found 15 Thai and sushi places and called them in parallel to confirm holiday hours. PlaceCall now lets agents and apps phone businesses to get answers and get things done.
Result (as claimed)
In-house tool launched as an API (YC W26); 16 points on Show HN.
Tools they used
The source does not name specific tools.
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You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: Have an agent call local businesses to check if they are open What the original author did: On July 4 in Portland the founders' API found 15 Thai and sushi places and called them in parallel to confirm holiday hours. PlaceCall now lets agents and apps phone businesses to get answers and get things done. Reported result (as claimed by the author): In-house tool launched as an API (YC W26); 16 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49831231 Tools they used: not named in the source Category: Personal & life Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: Have an agent call local businesses to check if they are open What the original author did: On July 4 in Portland the founders' API found 15 Thai and sushi places and called them in parallel to confirm holiday hours. PlaceCall now lets agents and apps phone businesses to get answers and get things done. Reported result (as claimed by the author): In-house tool launched as an API (YC W26); 16 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49831231 Tools they used: not named in the source Category: Personal & life Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: Have an agent call local businesses to check if they are open What the original author did: On July 4 in Portland the founders' API found 15 Thai and sushi places and called them in parallel to confirm holiday hours. PlaceCall now lets agents and apps phone businesses to get answers and get things done. Reported result (as claimed by the author): In-house tool launched as an API (YC W26); 16 points on Show HN. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49831231 Tools they used: not named in the source Category: Personal & life Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
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