Building Sopha, and why curation is needed.

A ZABAL Gamez workshop with Chris (chriscocreated), founder of Sopha - a Farcaster client built for depth and high signal - on what he built and why curation is needed. Sopha is an intentional third place, a coffee shop or library for the deeper writing, art, and thinking that scrolls past on the main feed, with a curated feed kept by the community's curators plus BradQ's The Pulse. Chris traces why he built it (when Farcaster felt like it was tipping into meme coins, he set out to protect the culture of interesting thinkers, and good vibe coding made him the one to do it), how easy it now is to build your own client on Farcaster's open data with Neynar and Hypersnap, and the nested stack of client, mini apps, and Snaps. He closes on where Sopha is headed: a second round of Purple funding, experiments in rewarding curators, infra, and live cultural-center experiences, with a thoughtfully designed, non-extractive token only when the time is right.

• Opening
• What ZABAL Gamez is - a three-month build-a-thon, and why curated builders matter
• Why Chris is here: a Farcaster client focused on curation
• What Sopha is, and why curation
• A client for the high-signal, deep, interesting stuff - not a replacement for the daily feed
• The intentional third place: a coffee shop, a library, a cultural center
• A community-curated feed, plus BradQ's The Pulse; curators earn the role by taste
• Why he built it
• Farcaster tipping into meme coins, and the urge to protect the culture
• Vibe coding made him the person in the room to do it; the Neynar shift
• Build your own client
• Open data plus Neynar and Hypersnap: two ecosystems empowering builders
• Bring your own culture and vibe; escape flat doom-scrolling
• The nested stack: a client is a website showing Farcaster data, then mini apps, then Snaps
• Build your own algorithm - you are not beholden to the platform
• The future of Sopha
• A second Purple round funds the next year
• Experiments in rewarding curators, and covering infra
• Live cultural-center experiences: a Farcaster choir, improv, live drawing
• A carefully designed, non-extractive token, only when ready
• Where to find it
• @chriscocreated and @sopha on Farcaster, sopha.social

• Curation is the point - Sopha is a Farcaster client for depth, an intentional third place for high-signal writing and art, not a replacement for the daily feed.
• Building your own client is now a few hours of work: Farcaster's open data plus Neynar (and Hypersnap) let anyone shape their own view.
• You are not beholden to the algorithm - you build your own lens. That is the unlock for artists, writers, and creators.
• The nested stack: a client is just a website showing Farcaster data; below it sit mini apps, and Snaps you can spin up in seconds.
• The feed is curated by community curators (earn the role by showing taste), and BradQ runs a dedicated Pulse feed.
• Sopha's next year (a second Purple round): reward curators, cover infra, run live cultural-center experiences, and design any token carefully and non-extractively.
• Find it: @chriscocreated and @sopha on Farcaster, sopha.social.