🌱 My Idea Tracker Journey with Appwrite (from “Hello World” to Hoodie!)

#appwrite #webdev #opensource #buildinpublic

Hey everyone 👋 This is my very first post here on Dev.to! I wanted to share something close to my heart - the journey of building Idea Tracker and how it unexpectedly brought me lots of love from the community… and even an Appwrite hoodie! 🧡

🚀 How It All Started

I’d always wanted to try out Appwrite, but never really got around to it. Then one day, I saw a tweet about Appwrite Sites (kind of like an alternative to Vercel) and that instantly grabbed my attention.

That weekend, I decided: Okay, time to finally explore Appwrite.
I followed the React quickstart blog (since I’m a React/Next.js dev) and step by step, I built a small app with:

🔐 User auth + sessions
⚡ Real-time DB operations
🛡 Secure permissions (users own their own ideas)

It worked! 🎉 But I didn’t want to stop there…

🌟 The Birth of Idea Tracker

What started as following a guide turned into a full project. I began adding my own features:

🍀 Tags & Categories
🥒 Dynamic search & filters
🌱 User profiles with stats
🧩 Smooth UI with Tailwind + Framer Motion

At first, I deployed it on Vercel (Appwrite Sites was in high demand and not open yet 😅). Then I shared it on X (Twitter) and with the community.

The response? Incredible ❤️

Lots of appreciation for the UI
Small bug reports
Suggestions like editing ideas, OAuth signups (Google/Discord), and a dark/light theme

So I went back, built those features, and shared again.

🎁 The Game Changer: Appwrite Sites Access

I kept saying in my posts: “I really wish I could deploy on Appwrite Sites too…”

One day, out of the blue, I got a DM from an Appwrite core team member. They gave me early access to Appwrite Sites 🚀 - which at the time wasn’t open to everyone. That moment was huge for me.

From then on, Idea Tracker was running on:

Auth ✅
Database ✅
Sites ✅

…and I was only getting started!

🌍 Exploring More (Lingo.dev + AI)

Around that time, I discovered Lingo.dev, an AI-powered localization service. I thought: Why not make Idea Tracker multilingual?

It wasn’t easy (I even switched the whole project from React to Vite just to integrate it properly), but eventually it worked! The Lingo.dev team themselves noticed, liked, and reposted my work. That gave me so much encouragement.

Then came AI expansion ✨ I integrated Gemini AI so users could expand their ideas. The community loved it, but I accidentally leaked my API key in the URL 🙈.

Guess what? A kind stranger from Switzerland DMed me about it. He suggested: “Why not use Appwrite Functions to secure it?” Boom 💡 That pushed me to finally explore Appwrite Functions, and it worked perfectly.

📧 Completing the Stack

By now, Idea Tracker was already using:

Auth
Database
Functions
Storage
Sites

Only Messaging was left. So I explored the docs, watched YouTube tutorials, and finally decided: let’s add email notifications.

I built a system where users could choose what notifications they want (new idea added, AI expansion, weekly summaries). Functions + Messaging handled it beautifully.

And that was the moment I realized: Idea Tracker now uses the entire Appwrite stack. 🎉

🧡 Hoodie Moment + Recognition

All this work and community love led to something really special:

Idea Tracker was featured in Appwrite’s July 2025 Product Update.
I received an Appwrite Community Recognition Award.
And yes… the Appwrite hoodie arrived! 🧡 (my tweet)

That was surreal. A hoodie might sound small, but for me it represented the kindness of the Appwrite team and community.

📊 Where It’s At Today

Here’s what Idea Tracker has achieved so far:

5K+ views
500+ visitors
65+ countries
50+ upvotes on Peerlist

And it now includes:

Core features (auth, CRUD, privacy, real-time sync)
Extended features like search, tags, dark/light mode, OAuth login, multilingual support, AI expansion, notifications, discover page, GitHub links, and much more.

💚 Thank You

What started as “just following a tutorial” has grown into one of my favorite projects ever.

I’m deeply thankful to:

The Appwrite team for building such an amazing open-source platform (and for noticing my little project).
The community for feedback, encouragement, and love at every step.
Kind strangers (and even Lingo.dev & Gemini folks) who nudged me in the right direction.

Idea Tracker is free & open source, and I’d love for you to check it out: