Blurb is an idea I came up with a while back but could never fully flesh out. I was inspired by a feeling I was experiencing that the main social media platforms I’m on are way too cluttered, with an overwhelming amount of content I’m facing every time I log in, when I really just want to see a select few people’s activity. Hence, the idea is essentially that Blurb will be a social media platform solely for my partner and I (and also for select groups of people who are invited by each other in a fuller version of this project) - think Twitter but for just you and your friends.
I do want to rebuild this project from scratch again, and get a strong MVP up and running for testing with my partner.
Ideas:
Bun- React frontend
- Swift for Mobile
Firebase Auth- Or a postgres/mysql DB?
Redis CachingMicroservice architectureVercel first, AWS S3, Terraform if scalingNot sure if needed: Apache Kafka, Docker, Kubernetes
Finalised Stack
| Layer | Choice | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | Go | Compiled, statically typed, purpose-built for high-throughput APIs |
| Router | Chi | Lightweight and idiomatic; used in production at my company |
| Frontend | React + TypeScript (Vite) | |
| Database | Postgres + sqlc | sqlc generates type-safe Go from raw SQL with no ORM overhead |
| Migrations | golang-migrate | |
| Architecture | Clean Architecture (monolith) | Monolith first; clean layer boundaries make future extraction straightforward |
| Logging | slog (stdlib) | Structured logging with zero external dependencies (Go 1.21+) |
| Config | caarlos0/env | Typed, validated env vars at startup; fails fast if config is missing |
| Testing | testify + real Postgres | Real DB ensures tests reflect actual production behaviour |
| Auth | In-house (bcrypt + JWT + refresh tokens) | Invite-only app; no vendor lock-in, full ownership |
| Real-time | SSE | One-way server push; simpler than WebSockets for feed updates |
| Containerisation | Docker (multi-stage) | |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | |
| Dev tooling | Makefile | |
| Hosting (Frontend) | Vercel | |
| Hosting (Backend + DB) | Railway | Persistent server required for SSE; managed Postgres included |
| Mobile | Swift (deferred) | Web MVP first |
Old Draft of Blurb:
- i was using vue for this
- i tried lifting from twitter’s ui
- i would much prefer a more minimalist, monochromic colour scheme to begin with, then customise from there
- i would like to deprecate the mood section for now, and just focus on the blurbs (tweets) and feed
MVP Features
I believe that the MVP should have a few components that can confidently function for my girlfriend and I as the only users at least for now:
Phase 1
- Login / Auth - and storing this user data in our db
- Home Page
- Feed (similar to twitter, we will see blurbs in our timeline here)
- Blurb Button + composer (text only)
- Profile Page - to configure user info
- profile pic (just emojis for now)
- username
- display name
- PostgreSQL DB
- user data
- blurbs - content only
- Styling:
- minimalist, monochromic
- berkeley mono / jetbrains mono for font
Phase 2
- Interaction data on blurbs (likes, comments)
- Settings Page
- dark / light mode toggle
- Media in blurbs (images, etc.)
Future
- Custom CSS config
- Invite system for other users