I’ve been working on an open-source P2P file sharing app called MeshDrop (early beta, looking for honest feedback)

aamirali51 — Wed, 29 Jul 2026 21:17:27 +0000

Hey everyone,

For the past few months I've been working on a side project called MeshDrop.

The idea started because I wanted a simple way to send files and folders directly between my own devices (and with friends) without uploading everything to cloud storage or relying on third-party servers.

MeshDrop is built on the Holepunch ecosystem using Pear Runtime, Bare JS, and Hyperswarm. It supports direct transfers over LAN and can also connect over the internet using DHT hole punching with end-to-end encryption. I've also been experimenting with a few extra features like short 8-character pairing codes, cross-device clipboard sharing, and a remote drive feature that's still a work in progress.

I'm still learning as I build this project, and I've been using AI coding tools alongside documentation, testing, and a lot of trial and error to help me move faster. I'm trying to understand the code and improve with every feature instead of just generating code and hoping it works.

This is very early beta, so please expect bugs, rough edges, missing features, and probably a few questionable UX decisions. I'm sharing it now because I'd rather get feedback early than spend months building something people don't actually enjoy using.

If you decide to give it a try, I'd really love honest feedback on things like:

Does the overall workflow feel simple or confusing?

Is the UI easy to understand?

Did you run into any bugs or connection issues?

Are there features you'd expect from a P2P file sharing app that are missing?

Is there anything that feels unnecessary or poorly designed?

Please don't hold back. Constructive criticism is exactly what I'm looking for. If something feels wrong, confusing, or badly designed, I'd much rather hear about it now so I can improve it.

GitHub:
https://github.com/aamirali51/MeshDrop

Latest Beta:
https://github.com/aamirali51/MeshDrop/releases/tag/v1.0.0-beta.1

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Whether you try it, report a bug, suggest a feature, or tell me where I've made a bad design decision, I genuinely appreciate it. 🙂

I Got Roasted on Reddit for My AI-Built CMS So I Built a Full PHP Framework Instead

aamirali51 — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 18:16:58 +0000

Hey DEV community 👋

My name is Aamir, English isn’t my first language, and I’m not a PHP expert. In fact, I know jack shit about PHP.

A few weeks ago, I posted my homemade CMS (Zed) on r/PHP. I used AI to help write the code and even to clean up my Reddit replies (because writing perfect English is hard when it’s not your native tongue).

The response? Nuclear.

“AI slop”
“Vibe-coded garbage”
“No tests, no structure”
Someone literally asked the mods to ban “AI vibe-coding” posts
Got flamed for using AI to reply — yes, really

I felt like an outsider crashing the “real developers only” club. I deleted the post. Logged off. Thought maybe they were right.

Then I got stubborn.

Instead of giving up, I took their “feedback” (tests? structure? real features?), used even more AI, and built something bigger.

Meet Intent Framework v0.3.0

A zero-boilerplate, explicitly designed, AI-native PHP micro-framework — now powering my next (much better) CMS.

What’s inside:

Immutable Request, fluent Response
Middleware + pipeline
Sessions + flash messages
Full authentication (bcrypt, login, logout)
Event dispatcher
File-based cache with Cache::remember()
Powerful validator
Secure file-based API routes (outside public/)
Built-in CLI: php intent serve, make:handler, make:middleware, cache:clear
CSRF protection middleware
Route groups with prefix + middleware

The Stats:

~3,000 lines of core code
69 tests, 124 assertions (nice)
PHPStan Level 8 passing
Mutation testing score: 85%+

📂 Repo: Intent-Framework
📄 Full docs: ARCHITECTURE.md (worth a read)

The Reality

Yes — I still used AI for most of it.
Yes — It took less than a weekend of real work.
Yes — I still don’t know what half the PHP internals do.

But it works. It’s clean. It’s tested. It’s fast. And honestly? It feels more predictable than a lot of “hand-written” code I’ve seen.

The Point

I’m not saying AI replaces developers. I’m saying tools like Claude and Grok are incredible pair programmers — especially for people like me who aren’t native English speakers or PHP gurus.

The gatekeeping on some forums (“real devs don’t use AI”) is wild. We all copy from Stack Overflow. We all use Copilot when stuck. I’m just honest about it.

AI didn’t make me lazy. It let me build faster, learn faster, and ship something real.

What’s Next?

Finishing the new CMS on top of Intent
Starting an ecosystem of packages (intent/seo, intent/comments, etc.)
Maybe... a live demo soon?

If you're curious, check out the repo.
Star it if you like it.
Fork it if you want to improve it.
Or just laugh — I don’t mind anymore.

Thanks for reading my comeback story. And thanks to the roasters — you motivated me more than you know.

Now shipping > gatekeeping. 🔥

DEV Community: aamirali51