How I Built PasteDB in 3 Months — From a Blank Repo to a Real Product
A developer recently asked me:
«“How do you manage all of this so effectively?”»
It made me think about how PasteDB actually started.
Not with a big team.
Not with expensive infrastructure.
Just a blank GitHub repository, an idea, and a lot of questions.
May 2, 2026 — The beginning
I wanted to build a project that could give me real-world experience and, hopefully, real users.
At first I thought about building something much bigger, like a social media platform.
Then I started thinking about something simpler: code and information sharing.
I noticed that many paste-sharing platforms had trade-offs.
If something was simple, it wasn't always secure.
If it focused heavily on security, the experience wasn't always great.
And if it tried to include everything, the interface could become complicated.
So I decided to build my own.
I created the PasteDB repository on May 2.
The first commit was basically just the initial README.
And I remember thinking:
Will I actually be able to build this?
Will anyone use it?
What happens if nobody does?
Building the MVP
The first version was extremely simple.
The project started with:
- HTML/CSS/JavaScript
- FastAPI
- MongoDB Atlas
I created the initial frontend and backend and slowly started turning the idea into an actual product.
Within a couple of days, the tiny "create.html" file had grown from almost nothing to 100+ of lines.
And now 4000+ lines
Then came authentication.
I decided to keep registration simple with Google authentication.
Getting that working wasn't exactly painless, but eventually I had a functional dashboard and a working authentication flow.
At that point, I thought:
Maybe I actually have an MVP.
Then I stopped.
On May 18, I stopped working on PasteDB.
I started working on other projects and even stopped maintaining the backend server.
For a while, I genuinely thought:
PasteDB failed.
I didn't think there was much more I could do with it.
June 10 — Starting again
Then I wanted to participate in a hackathon.
I came back to PasteDB.
And that changed everything.
I started improving the project again.
I worked on SEO.
I submitted pages for indexing.
I started trying different communities.
I didn't have money for a custom domain, so I kept using:
I wasn't trying to make it look like a huge startup.
I just wanted the product to work.
I tried Reddit.
Some posts were removed by moderators.
So I tried DEV.
And DEV was different.
People started following me.
People started asking about PasteDB.
People actually started noticing the project.
Then I stopped focusing only on code.
This was probably one of the biggest lessons.
Building features is important.
But nobody can use a product they don't know exists.
So I started spending more time on:
- SEO
- developer communities
- documentation
- demos
- feedback
- talking to developers
- finding ways for PasteDB to integrate with other tools
I also added Google Analytics so I could actually understand whether people were using the product.
Then something happened that made all the work feel real.
July 22 — 6:30 PM
I opened Analytics.
98 active users.
98 new users.
Only two users away from 100.
And there were returning users too.
People were actually finding something I had built.
Users were coming from different parts of the world, with a large portion coming from the US.
That was a completely different feeling from looking at an empty project.
But there was another challenge: resources.
I didn't have a powerful development machine.
The PasteDB web interface and SDK were largely developed on a Samsung Galaxy M21(Whose screen is bleeding).
The VS Code extension was developed on an old Dell Inspiron N5010 with an i3 processor and a hard drive.
So yes, a significant part of PasteDB was built from a phone.
Today PasteDB has grown beyond the original MVP.
It now includes:
- Web interface
- Python and Node.js SDK
- VS Code extension
- API key management
- Public and private pastes
- Custom URLs
- Image support
- Analytics and view tracking
- Google Authentication
- Syntax highlighting
- Version Control
- QR sharing
- Transfer tools
- End-to-end encryption features
- And more
There are still things I want to improve.
But at some point, you have to stop saying:
“It's not finished yet.”
and start saying:
“This is good enough to put in front of people.”
And that's what I learned.
PasteDB wasn't built in one continuous sprint.
It was:
Idea → Build → Stop → Restart → Improve → Ship → Get feedback → Market → Repeat.
I didn't have a perfect plan.
I didn't know if anyone would use it.
I didn't have expensive hardware.
I didn't have a team.
I just kept trying different things.
And one of the most important lessons I've learned is that marketing isn't only posting advertisements.
Sometimes marketing is:
- using another developer's product,
- finding a bug,
- reporting it,
- giving useful feedback,
- starting a genuine conversation,
- and showing what you've built.
That can lead to opportunities you never planned for.
That's actually how some of my recent developer conversations started — including conversations that eventually led to PasteDB integrations.
So when someone asks me:
“How do you manage all of this?”
My answer is probably:
I don't manage everything perfectly.
I just keep moving.
Build something.
Put it in front of people.
Listen.
Improve it.
And repeat.
That's how PasteDB went from a blank repository on May 2 to a real product being used, discussed, and integrated with other developer tools.
And I'm still building.
PasteDB: Share code, notes, snippets and images instantly.
I documented the full development journey, including the milestones, setbacks, technical decisions and lessons learned, on the PasteDB About page.
Top comments (1)
That's brilliant.
I almost do all this, but I never thought about Google Analytics or tracking if users actually use my platform or just enter and leave. Thanks for idea, my friend.