Narlo Thoughts
A reflective writing platform, built from the database up.
In the story, this one is a website. Same method, different material.
01 — The Challenge
Most publishing tools optimise for engagement, not thought. I wanted a slower, more honest space to write and read — and I wanted to build the whole thing myself, front to back, rather than assemble it from plugins.
02 — The Approach
- 01
Built on Express, EJS and SQLite — deliberately lightweight, no heavy framework, every layer legible.
- 02
Modelled authors, posts, follows and a personalised feed as a small, well-shaped relational schema.
- 03
Designed reading-first: generous type, calm spacing, nothing competing with the words.
- 04
Shipped follow / feed mechanics so the platform is social without being noisy.
03 — The Outcome
A feature-complete, self-hosted publishing platform running in production on a VPS.
A codebase small enough to reason about entirely — and extend with confidence.
A clear backlog (notifications, email flows, image uploads, SEO) scoped and deferred on purpose.
04 — Lessons Learned
Building the full stack yourself removes the mystery — you understand exactly where behaviour comes from.
Shipping the smallest honest version beats designing the perfect one that never launches.
Deferring features explicitly is a decision, not a gap.
Skills demonstrated
Next — 03
Brew Society