I finally did it!

Hey everyone!

After two months of carefully selecting the right stack, building, tweaking features, and rebuilding, I've finally released a product that will serve as the foundation for all my upcoming SaaS projects. My goal is to start testing ideas quickly, which is why I chose to build a boilerplate.

Here's the stack I settled on:

1. Next.js: A powerful React framework for building server-side rendered and static websites.

2. Supabase: An open-source alternative to Firebase, offering a PostgreSQL database, authentication, and more.

3. Stripe: A popular payment processing platform for handling transactions.

4. Replicate AI: A platform for running machine learning models in the cloud.

5. Resend: A modern email API for developers. (might have to change this to Loops soon since it does not support events/journeys).

6. Tailwind CSS: A utility-first CSS framework for rapidly building custom user interfaces.

7. shadcn/ui: A collection of re-usable components built with Radix UI and Tailwind CSS.

This project has been an incredible learning experience, and I now feel much more comfortable building on top of this stack.

I also discovered that "shiny object syndrome" is real. When I started this project, I was using Firebase as my database and Clerk for authentication.

However, I soon realized these were two major vendor lock-ins that I wanted to avoid in the future. This decision was reinforced by a particularly bad experience with Firestore, where I received an unexpected bill of over $1,000 for a single month! Additionally, Firestore didn't have proper type support, which was frustrating.

Switching to Supabase has addressed these concerns. It provides a PostgreSQL database (most popular DB in the world atm) with better type support and more predictable pricing. Plus, being open-source, it offers more flexibility and control.

Overall, I'm pretty stoked with the result. It will provide a solid foundation for my future projects, allowing me to focus on building unique features rather than reinventing the wheel each time.

Feel free to check it out at appliful.com