by aizk on 2/4/25, 6:56 PM
Hi! I'm the dev here! I built this on a whim at after seeing someone ask for it on twitter. It was 12:30 at night but I couldn't pass down the opportunity to build it.
The code is very simple, there's no backend at all actually, I believe because wikipedia's api is very permissive and you can just make the requests in the frontend. So you just simply request random articles, get some snippets, and the image attached!
I used Claude and cursor do 90% of the heavy lifting, so I am positive there's plenty of room for optimizations. But right now as it stands, it's quite fun to play with, even without anything very sophisticated.
Here is the source code.
https://github.com/IsaacGemal/wikitok
by xhrpost on 2/4/25, 7:04 PM
Wonder what it would take to add a simple algorithm to this. Part of what makes short media apps (dangerously) addictive is that they eventually learn what you like and feed you more of that. An app like this with such an algo could help with the stickiness (and presumably get us away from the other apps at least for a little bit). "Oh this person likes science stuff, let's feed them more, oh they specifically like stuff related to quantum mechanics, let's place a summary paragraph from a related page topic in there."
by ya1sec on 2/4/25, 8:22 PM
Awesome. I have a project with a similar tik-tok-esque philosophy for serving all sorts of noncommercial content from the web. The interface is one button and a random page is embedded in an iframe. I use random wikipedia pages as a fallback in case my algorithm returns a dead page.
I call it moonjump: https://moonjump.app/
by duxup on 2/4/25, 6:43 PM
I like the idea, but one thing about Wikipedia is that with technical or granular topics it approaches things in a focused way. A specific molecular biology term's page isn't there to explain exactly how it fits into a larger biology topic. It makes random pages difficult to glean information from.
Even wikipedia articles I understand, more on computer topics, fall into the category of "the only people who understand this page are people who ... already understand it / don't need to read this".
Granted sometimes the social media context is kinda opaque, but usually "man fall down it funny" is pretty universal.
by doctoboggan on 2/4/25, 7:07 PM
This, plus an AI generated voice reading a TikTok-creator style catchy summary, plus TikTok's actual algorithm for surfacing content would actually make a decent app I believe.
EDIT: Also the name should be WikTok instead of WikiTok.
by srameshc on 2/4/25, 7:46 PM
I just admire how some people can build simple things. I see so many from simple games to visualizations to many other kinds on HN here. Hopefully someday I will be able to think of something simple and showcase here.
by zavg on 2/4/25, 8:13 PM
I think that the project has a potential.
I am a big fun of Wikipedia and sometimes TikTok (a "guilty pleasure"). I would be happy to have an app/web site like this but with
- more smart feed based on your activity/attention (was mentioned in other comments);
- maybe more fancy way to present information (not sure if it is feasible to implement). Currently just a text snippet and image do not seem like super engaging.
by arrowsmith on 2/4/25, 6:48 PM
How is this different from Wikipedia’s own “random article” feature?
by AzariaK on 2/5/25, 1:55 AM
by dustypotato on 2/5/25, 11:36 AM
by lucaslazarus on 2/4/25, 9:12 PM
This is great! Now all that's left is plugging this into some text-to-speech and a subway surfers/minecraft parkour background
by hao1300 on 2/12/25, 1:51 PM
by whiteborb on 2/4/25, 8:43 PM
by jona777than on 2/5/25, 12:26 AM
I’ve been thinking recently about how to use the addictive properties of applications like TikTok to the advantage of the user. This is definitely in that direction. Instead of trying to tame the pull of these apps by cold turkey quitting, replacing them with something useful seems to be more effective.
by rpastuszak on 2/4/25, 6:56 PM
I don't use TikTok, but I can easily spend an hour or two playing with the Random button on Wikipedia. Thanks!
by tolerance on 2/4/25, 9:07 PM
I don’t know how to feel about the visceral reaction that I have to the action of swiping my thumb in a movement that I can trace from where I guess is a team of tendons somewhere parallel to my wrist and the little fat part of my palm I like to refer to as “my drumstick”, from the bottom of my phone’s screen until the tip of my thumb is just at my general line of sight, all of this in one natural motion. No sooner is this action complete am I met when an entire block of information above my thumb, square in my line of sight.
In one stroke the location of a place, the type of place it is, its size, its distance from somewhere else, its history, read more, or swipe again. And another block. And another. And there’s something about this process that is visually disruptive and kinetically unsettling.
by sirobg on 2/5/25, 12:22 PM
by russian_bot on 2/4/25, 8:34 PM
Feature request to be able to like different pages so i can bookmark and return to them later
by coffeecantcode on 2/5/25, 12:34 PM
This is very nice, I adore the simplicity. Sometimes the summary gets cut off which is a bit frustrating,I think you should be able to finish reading the summary without click the read more link, but other than that, bravo.
by pentagrama on 2/5/25, 12:46 AM
This is incredible! Wikipedia has abundance of interesting stuff and this is a great way to discover it, using a popular UX at the moment. Great idea.
A bug report: When open the Wikipedia links on mobile, it shows the desktop view. I guess because the links are like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/?curid=5635437
This deserves a proper domain! I will be glad to gift you the $ to buy one for a year. Let me know! https://wikitok.app/ seems available.
by sebastiansc on 2/9/25, 12:38 PM
Great minds think alike - we built wiktok.lovable.app a few months ago in Lovable as a fun experiment
by pg5 on 2/5/25, 1:47 AM
The swiping mechanic is super smooth! I often find that website based swiping UIs are either too sensitive, not sensitive enough, or have weird acceleration. Not the case here.
by gessha on 2/5/25, 12:57 AM
by jonny_eh on 2/4/25, 11:11 PM
Fun idea, but TikTok works because you don't need to leave the feed. Try to find a way to provide the wiki's content in the feed itself.
by KrishnaAnaril on 2/5/25, 3:47 AM
by CameronBanga on 2/4/25, 9:31 PM
by qwertox on 2/4/25, 7:11 PM
I consume the internet mainly on an old-school monitor, not on a tablet. When the browser is maximized, all the images are pixelated.
by mehh on 2/4/25, 9:01 PM
Nice site @aikz
Hope you don't mind, but as others are pointing at wiki type sites, I'll plug my own (also using Vercel and cursor)...
https://ont.fyi it's a work in progress ... feedback wanted (no matter how painful), focusing on enabling adding in your own data at present, lots of ideas and work to be done
by DCAlmond on 2/5/25, 6:15 AM
by dvdbloc on 2/4/25, 11:25 PM
This would be an awesome way to get more breadth of knowledge during downtime. For example, many times there are interesting algorithms or some technology I would benefit from knowing I just wouldn’t know to search for it.
Or you could make infinite scrolling randomized hacker news front page articles from the past.
by Liquidor on 2/5/25, 8:18 AM
I like it a lot :-)
It scrolls a bit too far though. I move my fingers fast and it skips articles because of the momentum.
Also when at the top, scrolling up it should maybe refresh?
And it would be nice with a visual indicator that new articles are being loaded when at the bottom.
Kudos!
by rices on 2/5/25, 5:33 AM
I dig it lol. It reminds me of a t-shirt site a few friends and I made
https://wearwiki.com
It's cool that wikipedia shared so much data! Nice to donate to them if we got some extra funds.
by 65 on 2/4/25, 8:11 PM
I've been meaning to write a content algorithm where a random Wikipedia article is fetched, then calls the YouTube API to serve a video about the subject, and the algorithm learns based on how much you watch the video.
But if anyone wants to tackle that, it'd be really cool.
by novaomnidev on 2/4/25, 9:43 PM
This is such a good idea. Kind of reminds me of the spirit of the old site stumbleupon
by arvindrajnaidu on 2/4/25, 11:26 PM
by tgv on 2/4/25, 9:26 PM
Great idea. My only suggestion would be a less random article. I got a ton of US place names, which can be a downer. The avg tiktokker expects something funny or interesting within 30s.
NO recommendations. That would remove the charm.
by beardyw on 2/4/25, 8:49 PM
This is just great. A real keeper.
Only criticism is I get a poor presentation of the Wikipedia page on my phone if I follow the link. Haven't worked out why yet. Even selecting desktop gives me something better!
by aeropasta on 2/4/25, 10:12 PM
FeatureReq: use THAT{tiktok gal] voice to automatically transcribe audio
by CafeRacer on 2/4/25, 7:52 PM
Me: what a stupid idea
Also me after 30 minutes of doom scrolling: cool
by danhds on 2/4/25, 8:57 PM
by thomasreggi on 2/4/25, 7:16 PM
"tok" as a suffix for short form video is unhinged
by api on 2/5/25, 2:37 PM
I wonder just how much infinite scroll could be used for good, e.g. in education. It clearly engages the mind but we only use it to shovel slop.
by owenpalmer on 2/5/25, 12:29 AM
I could imagine this with automatic TTS and a slideshow. Basically you'd have procedurally generated mini documentaries in a tiktok like format.
by zoklet-enjoyer on 2/4/25, 9:17 PM
Is this some sort of location based thing? First thing I saw when I opened it was Thompson, ND. It's a small town like 70 miles north of me
by pjs_ on 2/4/25, 7:05 PM
This is awesome but it needs to autoscroll the full page. It needs to have the same completely instant dopamine hit that TikTok gives.
by cynicalsecurity on 2/4/25, 6:54 PM
Great idea, but it's too random and not one really liked reading about people. This app needs likes, comments and algorithm.
by OracB7 on 2/4/25, 8:38 PM
Great site! The only improvement I would ask for is automatically opening the articles with the Wikipedia app, if installed.
by rickcarlino on 2/4/25, 7:43 PM
Can you please add Korean? This looks like such a great tool for discovering language learning reading material. Great work!
by matthest on 2/4/25, 8:13 PM
Brilliant. Someone should do this same concept but for short-form essays.
So like Twitter, but with 3-4 paragraph essays.
by reustle on 2/4/25, 7:40 PM
Great job on on the quick execution!
Could you detect when on mobile and link to the mobile wiki page?
by corruptio on 2/4/25, 9:38 PM
I need it to loop subway surfers on the side. To keep my attention.
by asdf6969 on 2/5/25, 2:42 AM
The best project I’ve seen in months and exactly what I need
by sram1337 on 2/5/25, 4:50 AM
Can you have it link to en.m.wikipedia.com for mobile apps?
by rvba on 2/5/25, 7:41 AM
It could have more featured articles first / mixed
by lovegrenoble on 2/4/25, 7:12 PM
RandomWiki maybe?
by golergka on 2/4/25, 11:37 PM
The fist one I got was Foreskin piercing. With a penis photo all across the screen. Is it too much to ask to flag this as NSFW?
by flavaz on 2/5/25, 8:06 AM
Love this, thanks for sharing
by a1o on 2/4/25, 7:13 PM
This is awesome, great work!
by lazycode1 on 2/5/25, 3:10 PM
Awesome idea
by chigmma on 2/5/25, 10:19 AM
Hi
by bennettnate5 on 2/5/25, 1:30 AM
Now all it needs is to have that robotic female voice (the one everyone on TikTok uses) read out the main prompt while trendy music is playing in the background
by juancaruiz on 2/4/25, 9:36 PM
Cool
by roegerle on 2/4/25, 8:09 PM
I love it.
by barrenko on 2/4/25, 8:08 PM
It would work maybe if connected to an AI that would just start spouting the article immediately, or the summary.
by ConanRus on 2/4/25, 10:38 PM
Sorry, but I don't see any dancing girls, so this app is not for me I guess
by Llamamoe on 2/5/25, 8:08 AM
Now add an option to exclude people and places from showing up ^^`
by brokensegue on 2/4/25, 9:15 PM
by ranger_danger on 2/4/25, 9:06 PM
I have no idea what this is or if I should even click on it. Can we please have a description somewhere first?
by amelius on 2/4/25, 7:06 PM
Maybe use AI to turn a wiki topic into something explained by an influencer in 30 seconds.