WrittenByMe

🎉 Full-Stack Article Writing Platform

Simple web app to create, edit, and share articles with a modern UI and reliable backend.

❓ Why ?

I made this project to see where I can go alone, I wanted to make a SaaS from scratch in less than 2 weeks.

I learned several things:

• How payment processing works
  • polar.sh
• Auth -> Sessions (I was used to JWTs before)
• Mailing
  • Resend
  • Magic links
• DNS (namecheap)
  • Buy & configure a domain name

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🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24+
• Docker & Docker Compose
• npm or yarn

1️⃣ Start Database

cd backend
docker-compose up -d

2️⃣ Setup Backend

cd backend
npm install
npm run db:push
npm run dev

3️⃣ Setup Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

4️⃣ Setup Payments (Optional - for testing Polar.sh)

To test payments locally, you need to expose your local backend to the internet so Polar.sh webhooks can reach it:

Install ngrok:

# Download from https://ngrok.com/download
# Or use brew on macOS
brew install ngrok

Expose your backend:

ngrok http 3001

You'll see output like:

Forwarding    https://abc123def456.ngrok.io -> http://localhost:3001

Update environment variables:

In backend/.env, update POLAR_WEBHOOK_URL with your ngrok URL:

POLAR_WEBHOOK_URL=https://abc123def456.ngrok.io/api/payments/webhook

Update Polar Dashboard:

1. Go to Polar Dashboard
2. Navigate to Settings → Webhooks
3. Update the webhook endpoint URL to your ngrok URL
4. Test the webhook connection

Now your local backend can receive webhooks from Polar during payment testing!

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