Free for Mac · open source
Your fantasy football assistant, one iMessage away.
Text Waterboy the questions your league argues about: who to pick up, who to start, whether that trade is fair. It runs on your Mac, thinks with your Claude or ChatGPT account, and answers in Messages with live data from ESPN, Sleeper and nflverse.
Which Mac do I have?
Apple menu → About This Mac. If Chip says Apple M1 or later, pick Apple silicon. If it says Intel, pick Intel.
- Free and open source, MIT
- No server, no account to create
- macOS 12 or later
Davewaterboy start Vale or Okafor?
WaterboyStart M. Vale. 17.9 projected to 11.5, a 25.5-point team total, and Carolina gives up the most to running backs. Okafor's on the road at San Francisco.
trust the waterboy 💧
New in 0.4.0
- Live alerts arrive as one image card, with no more false alarms at kickoff
- Playoff odds and weekly awards in the roundup
- Usage and data-source health on the Dashboard
Demo
See it in a real group chat.
One minute, start to finish. Fictional league; every name is made up.
How it works
Three steps.
Install it on a Mac that stays on.
An old MacBook or a Mac mini is perfect. Waterboy runs quietly in the background.
Connect your league.
The setup walkthrough handles permissions, signs you in to Claude or ChatGPT, and links your ESPN league (private leagues too).
Text it.
From your phone, or in your league's group chat by name. It answers like a league-mate who has actually read the injury report.
Ask
Ask it anything your league argues about.
Waivers, start/sit, trade value, matchup previews, game lines and expert rankings, answered in plain English with the numbers to back them up. Waterboy pulls from ESPN, Sleeper, nflverse, FantasyPros and FantasyCalc, and cites where each answer came from.
- "Who should I pick up?" Best available by position, plus what's trending
- "Start Burrow or Stroud?" A pick and the reason
- "Is Walker for Moore fair?" Trade values and your lineup before and after
who should I pick up at WR this week?
WaterboyYour best add is J. Pruitt (34% rostered, trending up). He's seen 8+ targets in 3 straight games and has a soft matchup vs. CAR. If you need a stash, C. Bram returns from IR in week 7. Sources: ESPN, Sleeper trends, nflverse
Show
Answers you can screenshot.
Start/sit, trade and player comparisons come with a rendered card: headshots, projections, usage, the verdict. They're made for dropping into the group chat to win an argument.
- Start/sit, trade and comparison cards, each switchable
- Drawn in code on your Mac, so no image service is involved
Follow
It shows up on Tuesday so you don't have to.
Set it once by text ("post the roundup here every week") and Waterboy posts the weekly roundup as soon as every game is final: results, standings with playoff odds, and the week's awards. Turn on live alerts and it sends you a card when your matchup swings.
- Weekly roundup that waits for Monday night to finish
- Awards: biggest blowout, closest game, bench blunder, lucky win
- Live alert cards with win probability, opt-in per person
- Anything else on a schedule: "post the matchup slate every Thursday at noon"
Waterboy🏈 Week 4 is final. Priya takes 1st after a 41-point blowout. Marcus left 28 on the bench and still won by 0.6. Dave is officially below the playoff line. Full standings ↓
Group chat
Built for the group chat.
Add Waterboy to your league's chat and everyone can use it. Mention it by name and it answers. It knows who's talking, so "how's my matchup?" works for every person in the thread.
- Each person mapped to their own fantasy team
- Typing indicators, tapbacks and threaded replies, just like a real person
- In groups it sticks to fantasy, and it ignores everything it isn't named in
Priyafirst place feels nice ngl👍
Davewaterboy how's my matchup
WaterboyDave, Couch Coaches is projected 103.9 to 101.4 over Taco Titans. It's close: starting Pruitt over Hale would flip it.
Claude or ChatGPT.
Use your Claude Pro or Max plan, or a ChatGPT account (the free plan works). Switch any time.
A control panel for everything.
See who it's talking to, what it remembers, its schedule and its logs, all from a native Mac app.
Remembers what matters.
Tell it "remember I'm rebuilding" and it will. You can view or erase its memory per chat.
Privacy
No server in the middle. Only the message it's answering leaves your Mac.
Waterboy has no server and no account to create. It reads Messages on your own Mac, and the only thing that goes out is the message it's answering, sent to the AI you picked using your own sign-in. Every fantasy data source is free and needs no account.
Nothing answers by default.
It only replies in chats you allow.
Group chats stay on topic.
In groups it can only use the fantasy tools: no files, no web, no shell.
Open source.
Every line is on GitHub, MIT-licensed. Read it, build it, change it.
Why isn't it on the Mac App Store? Reading Messages on your Mac is exactly what the App Store's sandbox forbids. So Waterboy is distributed the other common way, signed and notarized by Apple, straight from GitHub.
Install
Up and running in about ten minutes.
Download
The version for your Mac: Apple silicon · Intel
Drag Waterboy to Applications
And open it from there.
Follow the setup walkthrough
It asks for Full Disk Access (to read Messages), permission to control Messages (to send replies), and optionally Accessibility (for typing indicators). Then it signs you in and connects your league.
Text it
Allow your first conversation and say hi.
- Signed and notarized by Apple, so macOS opens it without warnings.
- Updates install themselves; you'll see "Restart to update" when one's ready.
- Verify your download: SHA256SUMS.txt on the release page · All releases
FAQ
Questions
Does my Mac have to stay on?
Yes. Waterboy runs on your Mac, so it answers while the Mac is on and awake. A Mac mini or an old laptop that stays plugged in works well.
Do I need a paid AI plan?
For Claude, you need a Claude Pro or Max plan. For ChatGPT, any ChatGPT account works, including the free plan. Waterboy uses your own sign-in, so there's nothing else to pay for, and busy group chats count against your plan's usage limits. The Dashboard shows what it's using, day by day.
Which fantasy platforms does it support?
ESPN leagues today, public or private. Sleeper and Yahoo are on the roadmap.
Can my whole league use it?
Yes. Add it to the group chat, map each person to their team, and anyone can ask it things by name. You decide who's allowed.
Is it free?
Yes: free and open source under the MIT license. If it wins you a trade, there's a Buy me a beer link.
What can it do outside of fantasy football?
In your own 1:1 chat it's a capable general assistant with memory, scheduling and file handling. In group chats it sticks to fantasy, on purpose.
