In the age of social platforms and AI, the way we present ourselves online is shifting from curated profiles to dynamic, data-driven identities. Enter the idea of the whoami endpoint: a simple, standardized interface that gives a snapshot of a user based on their actual content and activity.
Imagine visiting https://github.com/nkigen/whoami (PS: it wont work now) and seeing not just a bio or pinned repos, but an AI-generated summary of who the user is based on the things they build, star, fork, or write about. Instead of self-written blurbs that are rarely updated or reflect aspirational versions of ourselves, whoami endpoints provide an honest and up-to-date description of who we are.
What Is a whoami Endpoint?
A whoami endpoint is a public URL (e.g., /whoami) on a user profile that returns a machine-readable and/or human-readable summary of that person, all powered by AI. It could include:
- A short description of what the user does or cares about
- Trends in topics they interact with
- Emotional tone or style of communication
- Top projects, collaborators, or interests
- Changes over time (e.g., “Recently focused on LLMs and open-source DevOps”)
This concept pulls inspiration from the classic Unix command whoami, which tells you which user is currently logged in. In the social media age, it answers a more profound question:
Based on everything I have done here, who does this platform think I am?
Why This Matters
Social media profiles today are static and easily gamed. They tell you what someone wants to be seen as, not necessarily who they actually are. An AI-powered whoami endpoint flips that on its head by letting data speak louder than carefully crafted bios.
This matters because:
- Transparency: It reveals patterns you might not see in yourself.
- Authenticity: It roots your identity in your actual contributions.
- Interoperability: Apps, agents, or collaborators could query your
whoamiendpoint to understand your digital personality, enabling smarter interactions. - Agency: You can see how you are perceived algorithmically and choose to correct or embrace it.
What It Could Look Like
Here’s a fictional example of an AI-generated /whoami summary:
Nelson is a developer and AI tinkerer, recently focused on social matching algorithms and multi-agent systems. Tends to post in bursts. Curious tone. Engages often with experimental projects in Python, FastAPI, and Kafka. High interest in decentralization and user agency.
It’s not just cool—it’s incredibly useful.
The Future: Standardized, Portable Digital Identity
What if every major social platform supported a /whoami endpoint? GitHub, X, and LinkedIn—each offering its own part of your identity, shaped by your contributions.
Going further, these could be federated and portable, like a universal whoami.json (similar to robots.txt) that lives in your personal cloud, constantly updated by AI agents scraping your public activity. Any app could then use it to understand your personality or preferences with your permission.
In a world where digital agents interact on your behalf, your whoami endpoint becomes not just a social badge, but a core part of your online identity infrastructure.
TL;DR: The whoami endpoint is a proposed social standard for AI-generated self-profiles, letting your online activity tell your story. As social media evolves, so should the way we define ourselves within it.