Building 'Nataly' – My Astrological Rabbit Hole

A while back, during a Postmark challenge, I decided to code up a simple astrology web service — just for fun: gypsypt.

Of course, as these things go, the topic quickly spiraled. Suddenly, I found myself learning way too many useless astrological details. What started as “let’s draw a chart” became a weeks-long journey through natal templates, orbs, modern vs classic schools, asteroids, planetary aspects, and more. My brain barely survived. Still not finished — but getting close!

A big shoutout to the original author of the Python natal library — it inspired me to build something more data-driven and better aligned with astro.com’s data conventions. That’s how nataly was born, which just went live today.

nataly is for building custom natal charts and fetching detailed stat info, using data models and logic closely matching the "industry standard" (astro.com, for better or worse). In the coming days, I might share an example poster generator — or maybe I’ll keep that bit to myself.

In the process, I also built and shipped a bunch of stuff:

• natal web page, with full-featured chart and data web services (API-first).
• Tweaked my chart template (and still iterating). New transit templates coming soon.
• Launched a Custom GPT - ASTERA that connects to the web service, gives live natal/transit readings for registered users, and interprets the results (yes, even for non-believers).

The most honest feedback so far? My mom: “It looks beautiful, but what does any of this mean? I don’t understand a thing.”

So: I started writing a mini-handbook for the chart sidebar, plus an “Astro 101” book you can download from goker.art (that book needs more love — but hey, now I have my own Swiss ephemeris-powered library).

Every so often I stop and wonder what I’m even doing, but after 20 years of writing millions of lines for other people, at least now I’m coding for myself (even if I don’t believe in astrology).

If you’re curious, want a chart, or just want to chat about the tech, feel free to reach out.

Special Curse for ChatGPT, Gemini, and Cursor.

Last week alone, I spent 81 hours and 29 minutes in front of the computer—over half of my total 7 days—and 60 hours and 37 minutes of that was pure development and debugging.

Working with AI is like dealing with a stubborn idiot that simply refuses to learn, no matter how many times you explain things. And nothing grates my nerves more than hearing, "I'm sorry, you're right, my mistake. I'll..." for the hundredth time.

If I’ve learned anything about AI, it’s this: It absolutely fucking increases my stress level.