11 ms·

Show HN: Divjoy 2.0 – Build a SaaS app in minutes

70 points by makeee 6y ago

makeee 6y ago
Hey HN, Divjoy is a tool that allows you to generate a fully-functioning SaaS app. You get a React UI, auth, database, stripe payments, billing, and so on. What makes it different from your average boilerplate is that you can customize your tech stack and UI before exporting your code. For example you can choose between Material UI, Bootstrap, or Bulma for your UI. Firebase or Auth0 for auth, and so on down the stack. It then runs your app in our built-in editor where you can play with styles and drop in new components from the Divjoy library. The idea is to give you that "Aha! I'm building something and it works!" moment right away. That's a better experience than spending your first few hours sifting through docs. You can try all this out without signing up or paying. Just head to the site, pick some options, then a template. PS. You may remember my original Show HN from over a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20688044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20688044). The 2.0 version takes that concept and expands it from mostly static sites to full SaaS apps.
- edwinwee 6y ago
  Congrats on the launch!!
nilkanthjp 6y ago
Nice. do you have plans to abstract the db layer further for non firebase + relational stores? Specifically like a tighter integration for postgres maybe?
- makeee 6y ago
  Yes, for sure! A lot of people have been asking for Postgres and I want to get that in this year. For now some customers are using the "Other" DB option, which gives you a REST API where you can connect to your DB of choice.
damechen 6y ago
Any plan to support other css styling, like tailwindcss?
- makeee 6y ago
  I'm going to be adding a Tailwind option soon that gives you the basic config + no UI. Hopefully useful to people that want to roll their own or drop in components from tailwindui.com. Later this year will be building out my own Tailwind kit for Divjoy users.
  - flaque 6y ago
    This is basically what has held me back from purchasing Divjoy, so sounds cool! :D
    - makeee 6y ago
      Great to hear! Out of curiosity, would you prefer Divjoy offer the UI for that or would you want to roll your own (or use the official Tailwind UI)?
  - damechen 6y ago
    It looks like I made a good investment ;)
CoffeePython 6y ago
This looks awesome Gabe. Is there somewhere we can see a roadmap of future improvements/features? I'm currently building things with React, tailwind, FastAPI, and hosting on Render. I'm thinking of buying it just to explore and use the codebase as an example of what best practices to use. (Seeing as the CTO of Stripe even mentioned the code quality on your testimonials haha)
- makeee 6y ago
  Check out http://docs.divjoy.com http://docs.divjoy.com for a changelog and roadmap. Tailwind is coming this year. If there's anything you need that's not on there feel free to shoot me a message. And yeah I was really excited to see the Stripe CTO sign up! He's used it to build a bunch of side project, including this one which is in use at his kid's school right now: https://bonjourmaclasse.com https://bonjourmaclasse.com
- ck_one 6y ago
  I use a similar tech stack. Setting up auth is a pain in the ass and adds zero value. But when I use a cookie cutter template I need to spend a considerable amount of time getting familiar with the codebase.... No free lunch I guess.
  - makeee 6y ago
    Yeah there's always a bit of a trade-off there. You naturally learn how things work very well by building them yourself. In terms of the code that Divjoy gives you, I try to keep abstractions to a minimum and include as many helpful code comments as I can.
mizz_leopold 6y ago
All my projects use TypeScript. really cool, but dead in the water (for me). sucks as I really want to use it, but if this project saves me 2 months of work, type script saves me 12 months of sanity (signed, someone that really appreciates type safety). Id pay extra.
- makeee 6y ago
  Totally understand that! TS is coming at some point.. just don't have an ETA yet as I need to iron out some issues with TS support in the editor.
  - mizz_leopold 6y ago
    thanks for letting me know. i wont write off divjoy just yet. Will def look out for it. sux theres no eta yet, but I get that you cant commit to it just yet. fingers crossed you can get to it at some point sooner rather than later!
mikeveilleux 6y ago
Awesome to see this pull together a lot of the core elements that are fall into the "other stuff" needed when launching a SaaS startup. I think a lot of developers have prototypes or code that can bring value to customers but packaging the business functions around it slows them down if it doesn't scare them off altogether. This is a great step toward helping that. Do you have any thoughts on how this might eventually integrate with some sort of functions as a service? Also, any plans to support AWS cognito/dynamo/s3?
- makeee 6y ago
  Glad you like it! By functions as a service do you mean functionality hosted by me or shipping serverless functions with the codebase? At the moment you get any necessary server logic as serverless functions (formatted correctly for your chosen host) or if you choose "Other" for your host you get an Express.js server. Definitely interested in supporting AWS cognito/dynamo/s3 or bundling all that up into an AWS Amplify option.
  - mikeveilleux 6y ago
    Got it. I guess I was thinking like bundling an AWS AppSync type option here so you could easily plug CRUD functions behind it, where Divjoy continues to take care of auth and permissions.
- iamlolz 6y ago
  In my case I've built all business functions with the theory of leaving the most enjoyable work for last to keep me motivated. We'll see if it pays off.
purple-again 6y ago
I remember DivJoy 1.0 and wow you have come a long way! Looking forward to seeing where this project ends up in a few years. A couple of questions/comments: 1) postgres is critical but I saw in another comment you were already on that 2) where are the big boys under hosting? I had an imposter syndrome moment when I clicked on that drop down because I didn’t recognize a single name on it...I’ve been at this for almost 20 years now. AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, and Heroku were some of the things I would have expected. 3) anyway to see a sample code base without paying? I’m not sure how that would work as I don’t know how you can do it without also enabling people to take your work without paying but it’s a non starter for me. I’m probably not your target audience though so take this request with a grain of salt. Congrats on shipping and best of luck with the product! Edit: I went back and noticed to hosting options are all serverless so not surprising a crusty old Rails guys wouldn’t recognize them.
- makeee 6y ago
  Hosting: Yeah I really need to expand those hosting options. It was one of those things I expected to do much sooner, but didn't end up getting as many requests for hosts as I expected (at least compared to other features). That's changing a bit now now that Divjoy gives you something a bit more advanced. That attracts customers with more complex needs and, it would seem, more opinions around hosting. Firebase Hosting and Heroku are up next. Probably AWS after that. Previewing code: Happy to send over an example codebase if you shoot an email to hello@divjoy.com :) I'm going to be rolling out a code preview so customers can explore what their code will look like when exported. Plan is to let non-customers browse at least some it it.. or maybe just view half of each file.. or maybe I'm overthinking it and I should just let everyone see the code and emphasize they aren't legally licensed to use it. Anyway, definitely something I've been thinking about.
jeremynevans 6y ago
Awesome work with the speed you're moving. Big fan + user - love Divjoy and where it's headed!
newsbinator 6y ago
This is cool! I'd love to see something like this for Vue (and ideally Vuetify in addition to Tailwind/Bulma).

70 points by makeee 6y ago

Hey HN, Divjoy is a tool that allows you to generate a fully-functioning SaaS app. You get a React UI, auth, database, stripe payments, billing, and so on. What makes it different from your average boilerplate is that you can customize your tech stack and UI before exporting your code. For example you can choose between Material UI, Bootstrap, or Bulma for your UI. Firebase or Auth0 for auth, and so on down the stack. It then runs your app in our built-in editor where you can play with styles and drop in new components from the Divjoy library. The idea is to give you that "Aha! I'm building something and it works!" moment right away. That's a better experience than spending your first few hours sifting through docs. You can try all this out without signing up or paying. Just head to the site, pick some options, then a template. PS. You may remember my original Show HN from over a year ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20688044 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20688044). The 2.0 version takes that concept and expands it from mostly static sites to full SaaS apps.

edwinwee 6y ago
Congrats on the launch!!

nilkanthjp 6y ago

Nice. do you have plans to abstract the db layer further for non firebase + relational stores? Specifically like a tighter integration for postgres maybe?

makeee 6y ago
Yes, for sure! A lot of people have been asking for Postgres and I want to get that in this year. For now some customers are using the "Other" DB option, which gives you a REST API where you can connect to your DB of choice.

damechen 6y ago

Any plan to support other css styling, like tailwindcss?

makeee 6y ago
I'm going to be adding a Tailwind option soon that gives you the basic config + no UI. Hopefully useful to people that want to roll their own or drop in components from tailwindui.com. Later this year will be building out my own Tailwind kit for Divjoy users.
- flaque 6y ago
  This is basically what has held me back from purchasing Divjoy, so sounds cool! :D
  - makeee 6y ago
    Great to hear! Out of curiosity, would you prefer Divjoy offer the UI for that or would you want to roll your own (or use the official Tailwind UI)?
- damechen 6y ago
  It looks like I made a good investment ;)

CoffeePython 6y ago

This looks awesome Gabe. Is there somewhere we can see a roadmap of future improvements/features? I'm currently building things with React, tailwind, FastAPI, and hosting on Render. I'm thinking of buying it just to explore and use the codebase as an example of what best practices to use. (Seeing as the CTO of Stripe even mentioned the code quality on your testimonials haha)

makeee 6y ago
Check out http://docs.divjoy.com http://docs.divjoy.com for a changelog and roadmap. Tailwind is coming this year. If there's anything you need that's not on there feel free to shoot me a message. And yeah I was really excited to see the Stripe CTO sign up! He's used it to build a bunch of side project, including this one which is in use at his kid's school right now: https://bonjourmaclasse.com https://bonjourmaclasse.com
ck_one 6y ago
I use a similar tech stack. Setting up auth is a pain in the ass and adds zero value. But when I use a cookie cutter template I need to spend a considerable amount of time getting familiar with the codebase.... No free lunch I guess.
- makeee 6y ago
  Yeah there's always a bit of a trade-off there. You naturally learn how things work very well by building them yourself. In terms of the code that Divjoy gives you, I try to keep abstractions to a minimum and include as many helpful code comments as I can.

mizz_leopold 6y ago

All my projects use TypeScript. really cool, but dead in the water (for me). sucks as I really want to use it, but if this project saves me 2 months of work, type script saves me 12 months of sanity (signed, someone that really appreciates type safety). Id pay extra.

makeee 6y ago
Totally understand that! TS is coming at some point.. just don't have an ETA yet as I need to iron out some issues with TS support in the editor.
- mizz_leopold 6y ago
  thanks for letting me know. i wont write off divjoy just yet. Will def look out for it. sux theres no eta yet, but I get that you cant commit to it just yet. fingers crossed you can get to it at some point sooner rather than later!

mikeveilleux 6y ago

Awesome to see this pull together a lot of the core elements that are fall into the "other stuff" needed when launching a SaaS startup. I think a lot of developers have prototypes or code that can bring value to customers but packaging the business functions around it slows them down if it doesn't scare them off altogether. This is a great step toward helping that. Do you have any thoughts on how this might eventually integrate with some sort of functions as a service? Also, any plans to support AWS cognito/dynamo/s3?

makeee 6y ago
Glad you like it! By functions as a service do you mean functionality hosted by me or shipping serverless functions with the codebase? At the moment you get any necessary server logic as serverless functions (formatted correctly for your chosen host) or if you choose "Other" for your host you get an Express.js server. Definitely interested in supporting AWS cognito/dynamo/s3 or bundling all that up into an AWS Amplify option.
- mikeveilleux 6y ago
  Got it. I guess I was thinking like bundling an AWS AppSync type option here so you could easily plug CRUD functions behind it, where Divjoy continues to take care of auth and permissions.
iamlolz 6y ago
In my case I've built all business functions with the theory of leaving the most enjoyable work for last to keep me motivated. We'll see if it pays off.

purple-again 6y ago

I remember DivJoy 1.0 and wow you have come a long way! Looking forward to seeing where this project ends up in a few years. A couple of questions/comments: 1) postgres is critical but I saw in another comment you were already on that 2) where are the big boys under hosting? I had an imposter syndrome moment when I clicked on that drop down because I didn’t recognize a single name on it...I’ve been at this for almost 20 years now. AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, and Heroku were some of the things I would have expected. 3) anyway to see a sample code base without paying? I’m not sure how that would work as I don’t know how you can do it without also enabling people to take your work without paying but it’s a non starter for me. I’m probably not your target audience though so take this request with a grain of salt. Congrats on shipping and best of luck with the product! Edit: I went back and noticed to hosting options are all serverless so not surprising a crusty old Rails guys wouldn’t recognize them.

makeee 6y ago
Hosting: Yeah I really need to expand those hosting options. It was one of those things I expected to do much sooner, but didn't end up getting as many requests for hosts as I expected (at least compared to other features). That's changing a bit now now that Divjoy gives you something a bit more advanced. That attracts customers with more complex needs and, it would seem, more opinions around hosting. Firebase Hosting and Heroku are up next. Probably AWS after that. Previewing code: Happy to send over an example codebase if you shoot an email to hello@divjoy.com :) I'm going to be rolling out a code preview so customers can explore what their code will look like when exported. Plan is to let non-customers browse at least some it it.. or maybe just view half of each file.. or maybe I'm overthinking it and I should just let everyone see the code and emphasize they aren't legally licensed to use it. Anyway, definitely something I've been thinking about.

jeremynevans 6y ago

Awesome work with the speed you're moving. Big fan + user - love Divjoy and where it's headed!

newsbinator 6y ago

This is cool! I'd love to see something like this for Vue (and ideally Vuetify in addition to Tailwind/Bulma).