# QueueInk

> Source: <https://dev.to/nikitha_s_3a42baaa72fd15a/queueink-5e2a>
> Published: 2026-10-19 05:06:29+00:00

*This is a submission for the [Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 2: Side Hustle](https://dev.to/challenges/hacktoberfest-week2-2026-10-12)*

A tattoo inquiry usually shows up as a vague DM: "small fox on my forearm, kinda fine line, budget around 400Rs, need it before the 20th." Size, references and exact placement are often missing, and some requests are things the artist simply doesn't do. Answering every one by hand takes time, and so does saying no.

**QueueInk** is an inquiry desk for solo tattoo artists. The artist sets their own rules once: styles they don't do, placements they avoid, a minimum price, and whether they take cover-ups. Then they paste an inquiry and get:

The AI never accepts a job, never sets a price and never creates artwork. It only reads text and drafts a message that the artist edits.

**Who would pay?** 

I think solo artists who book through DMs could, since it saves repetitive replies. I haven't tested whether they'd pay. 

Deployed link : [https://huggingface.co/spaces/nikisded/queueInk](https://huggingface.co/spaces/nikisded/queueInk)

Sample video: [Link to your video, if you made one]

*The sample message on the demo is made up. Please don't paste real client messages into the hosted version (see "Why Does Open Innovation Matter?").*

The design choice that mattered most: **the model has a narrow job.** Budget parsing, flags, "what's missing" and the decline decision are ordinary code driven by the artist's settings. The model only extracts a few fields and writes a friendly reply. That keeps decisions predictable, makes declines instant (no model call), and means a small model is enough.

A few details I'm happy with:

**Performance, honestly:** my first run on my local space took 90.8s. But after having it hosted on HuggingSpace with ZeroGPU that time came to be 3.7s

**What it can't do:** the rules use keyword matching, so unusual wording can slip through and some phrases false-alarm. A small model gets fields wrong sometimes, which is why every field is editable. I tested it on 10 inquiries, not at scale.

Tattoo clients send personal details, and sometimes health or age information. Because the model is open-weight, an artist can run QueueInk **entirely on their own computer**:

```
pip install -r requirements.txt
python app.py
```

After the first model download, nothing needs to leave the machine, there's no per-message API bill, and nobody can change the price or switch the model off. Because the weights are open, the model can also be swapped or tuned later for how artists actually write.

I want to be clear about the limits:

Overall