DEV Community: Aditya Sorathiya

I Found a “Case Study” About My Open-Source Project — But Its Development History Didn't Match Reality

Aditya Sorathiya — Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:09:05 +0000

I recently discovered an article about PasteDB, an open-source project I built.

At first, I was actually happy to see someone writing about the project.

Then I started reading it.
I found that several parts of the article described PasteDB's technology, development process, and history in ways that don't match the actual project.

The article

The article is titled:

“Crafting a Product in Three Months: The Journey of Building PasteDB”

Read the article

Several important details don't match the actual project.

1. The technology stack is incorrect

The article claims that PasteDB uses:

Flask
React.js
PostgreSQL
Heroku

It even provides a Flask/PostgreSQL code example as part of the supposed PasteDB development process.

However, that isn't the technology stack of my actual PasteDB project.

The real repository is here:

https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb

The repository and its history provide the actual implementation and development record.

2. The article describes a development process that wasn't mine

The article describes things such as:

specific development sprints
a Flask REST API
PostgreSQL models
React components
unit and integration testing
deployment to Heroku

These are presented as the development journey of PasteDB.

But they don't represent how I actually built the project.

The article's footer identifies the website as being designed and developed by its operator:

This is what surprised me the most.

It's one thing to write an article about an open-source project.

It's another thing to present a development history as the project's actual history when that history does not match the project's repository and documented development.

3. What PasteDB actually is

PasteDB is a developer-focused paste-sharing platform that I've been building from my own repository.

The project has evolved considerably over time.

Some of the things I've built include:

End-to-end encryption
Public, private and unlisted pastes
Expiration and burn-after-read options
Markdown and syntax highlighting
Image sharing
QR sharing
Nearby transfer
Search and Explore
Version history
REST API
Python/Node tooling
CLI
VS Code extension
Code execution
Dashboard and analytics

PasteDB: https://pastedb.netlify.app

Github: https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb

4. I tried contacting the website

Before escalating the issue, I tried contacting the website using the email addresses available to me.

I found the following email addresses on the website's pages:

Unfortunately, the messages weren't delivered.

Attempt 1

me@ayubbaba.in

Result:

554 5.7.1 — Relay access denied

Attempt 2

legal@ayubbaba.in

Result:

554 5.7.1 — Relay access denied

I wasn't able to establish contact through those addresses.

5. Why I'm writing this

I'm not writing this post to start a fight with anyone.

I'm writing it because I think there's an important lesson here for open-source developers:

Your repository isn't just your code. It's also evidence of your work.

Commit history, releases, documentation, licenses and timestamps can help establish what a project actually contains and how it evolved.

If you're building something publicly, it's worth keeping that history organized.

What I learned

Keep your repository history

Don't treat Git history as something disposable.

It can become an important record of how a project evolved.

Keep your documentation accurate

A clear README and changelog make it easier for others to understand what your project actually does.

Keep licenses visible

Open-source licenses explain what other people can and cannot do with your code.

Verify claims before publishing them

A project being publicly available doesn't mean its development history can simply be invented.

What I'm doing now

I've documented the discrepancies and preserved screenshots of the relevant sections.

I'm also contacting the hosting provider through its abuse/copyright reporting process to ask them to review the reported material.

I'm not claiming that every inaccurate statement automatically constitutes copyright infringement.

My concern is that the article presents incorrect technical and authorship information as the history of my project.

I'd like to hear from other developers

Have you ever found an article, video, tutorial, or website describing your open-source project incorrectly?

How did you handle it?

Did you contact the author first, report it to the platform, or simply leave it alone?

I'd be interested in hearing how other developers handle situations like this.

PasteDB: https://pastedb.netlify.app

GitHub: https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb

Original project development story: https://pastedb.netlify.app/about

I built a Neo-Brutalist website for MagicDrop — a local-network file sharing CLI

Aditya Sorathiya — Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:24:08 +0000

I just launched a new website for MagicDrop, my local-network file and text sharing CLI.

I wanted the website to feel as unique as the project itself, so I redesigned it with a bold neo-brutalist UI — thick borders, hard shadows, high-contrast typography, and vibrant lime accents.

For now, the website has two pages:

🏠 Landing / Home page — introduces MagicDrop, features, installation, commands, browser sharing, local-network architecture, and the latest release.
📦 Releases page — a dedicated release history showing MagicDrop 0.0.2 and the first 0.0.1 release.
The site is built with plain HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with responsive navigation and small reveal/copy interactions.

MagicDrop: a simple way to share files and text between terminal and browser over the same local network, without cloud storage.

🔗 Website: https://magicdrop-cli.netlify.app
📦 NPM: https://www.npmjs.com/package/magicdrop-cli
💻 GitHub: https://github.com/sorathiya903/MagicDrop

Why only 2 pages for now?

I m a student,so now my tests are going one.
The other pages can be released after 20/9/26

I'd love to hear what you think about the design and what I could improve in future pages!

How I Added Server-Side File Size Limits to a WebSocket File Sharing App

Aditya Sorathiya — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 10:06:29 +0000

🚀 MagicDrop 0.0.2 is here!

I just added a configurable file-size limit to MagicDrop, my local-network file and text sharing tool for terminal and browser.

📦 Default limit: 512 MB

You can now set your own limit when starting MagicDrop:

md start --limit 1GB

Supported:
• KB
• MB
• GB

The limit is enforced on the server, with browser-side validation too.

I also improved the browser UI and fixed several file-transfer issues.

📦 NPM:
https://www.npmjs.com/package/magicdrop-cli

⭐ GitHub:
https://github.com/sorathiya903/magicdrop

Would love to hear your feedback! 🙌

A tool which can share files and text between your terminal and browser over your local network. No cloud storage or internet needed.

Aditya Sorathiya — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 01:19:24 +0000

Have you ever needed to quickly move a file or some text between your phone and computer without uploading it to a cloud service?

I built MagicDrop, a simple local-network file and text sharing tool that connects your terminal with a browser.

You start MagicDrop from the terminal, scan a QR code, and your browser becomes a connected device.
MagicDrop supports:

💻 Terminal → Browser file sharing
🌐 Browser → Terminal file sharing
🌐 Browser → Browser file sharing
💬 Text sharing between devices
📱 Multiple connected devices
📷 QR-code connection
✅ Transfer approval/rejection
📦 Chunk-based file transfers
📁 Automatic downloads on the terminal

The first version, v0.0.1, is now released.

Github: https://github.com/sorathiya903/MagicDrop

🚀 Install

npm install -g magicdrop-cli

Start it:

md start

MagicDrop starts a local server and displays a QR code. Scan it from another device connected to the same local network.

📁 Send a file

From the terminal:

md> send photo.jpg

The receiving device gets an approval request. Once accepted, the file is transferred in chunks.

💬 Send text

md> send-text Hello from MagicDrop!

No quotes are required.

🔢 Check version

md -v

Output:

MagicDrop 0.0.1 by Aditya Sorathiya

Version might be different as new version come.

This is my first release of MagicDrop, and I'm planning to keep improving it.
I'd love to hear what features you think would make MagicDrop more useful. 🚀

I built LavinderAI — an AI FAQ chatbot platform for businesses 🤖

Aditya Sorathiya — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 13:48:59 +0000

I built LavinderAI — an AI FAQ chatbot platform for businesses 🤖

Today I added and launched LavinderAI, a small AI chatbot SaaS project I've been building.

NOTE: IT WAS A OLD PROJECT, updating now😅
The idea is simple:

Businesses often have the same questions asked repeatedly. LavinderAI lets them create an AI-powered FAQ chatbot that can answer those questions automatically.

🚀 What can LavinderAI do?

🤖 Create an AI chatbot from your business information
🔗 Get a public shareable chatbot link
💬 Let visitors ask questions and receive AI-generated answers
📊 Track chatbot visitors and questions
🔐 Google authentication
⚙️ Manage chatbots from a dashboard
🎨 Customize and manage chatbot content
💰 Free plan for creating and testing a chatbot
⚡ Pro plan for deploying chatbots with AI responses

🛠️ How I built it

The project uses:

Python
Flask
Firebase
AI APIs
Google OAuth
Razorpay
HTML/CSS/JavaScript

I built the project from the ground up and kept improving it as I added features.

📈 What's next?

LavinderAI is still an early project, so there are plenty of things I want to improve.

Some things on my roadmap:

Better chatbot customization
More analytics
Better AI controls
Improved performance
More integrations
More ways to embed chatbots into websites

If you're interested in AI, SaaS, or chatbot development, I'd love to hear your feedback.

👉 Try LavinderAI: https://lavinderai-yp7v.onrender.com

What feature would you want in a simple AI chatbot platform?

I built and launched my first AI chatbot SaaS — LavinderAI 🚀

Aditya Sorathiya — Sat, 29 Aug 2026 03:37:30 +0000

What if a small business could have its own AI chatbot without needing a developer?
I built LavinderAI, an AI-powered FAQ chatbot platform designed for small businesses such as gyms, salons, tuition classes, and local businesses.

With LavinderAI, you can:

🤖 Create an AI-powered FAQ chatbot
⚡ Set it up in under a minute
🔗 Get a custom chatbot URL
📝 Provide your business information and FAQs
📱 Share the chatbot with customers
🔐 Sign in securely with Google
🗑️ Maintain control over your chatbot and account data
🚀 Try 5 free AI responses before upgrading

I built LavinderAI as a solo developer project and I'm now looking for feedback from developers, founders, and small-business owners.

Try it: https://lavinderai-yp7v.onrender.com/
Demo: https://lavinderai-yp7v.onrender.com/demo
Github: https://github.com/sorathiya903/lavinderai/

I'd especially love to hear: Would an AI FAQ chatbot like this be useful for your business? What feature would you add?

Node.js Express vs. Python FastAPI: Which Should You Choose in 2026?

Aditya Sorathiya — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:54:00 +0000

Node.js Express vs. Python FastAPI: The Definitive Guide for Choosing Your Next Backend

Choosing a backend framework used to be simple. If you liked JavaScript, you built with Express. If you liked Python, you went with Flask or Django.
But the landscape has fundamentally shifted.
With the explosion of AI, machine learning, and strict type safety, Python FastAPI has emerged as a powerhouse alternative to the traditional JavaScript runtime. Meanwhile, Node.js Express remains the unopinionated king of the enterprise web.

If you are starting a new project today, which one should you choose? Let’s break down the technical trade-offs, developer experience, and code structures of both frameworks.

🚀 The Core Philosophy

Node.js Express: The Minimalist Canvas

Express is a minimalist, unopinionated framework. It doesn't care how you structure your folders, how you validate data, or how you handle errors. It gives you a robust set of HTTP tools and steps out of your way.

The Catch: You have to build or install your own solutions for data validation, ORM mapping, and API documentation.

Python FastAPI: The Automated Powerhouse

FastAPI is built on modern Python 3.8+ features like type hints and asynchronous ASGI (asyncio). It is highly opinionated about data handling, leveraging Pydantic to automate input validation and schema serialization.

The Catch: It forces you into a specific way of handling data types from day one, which can feel restrictive if you prefer absolute freedom.

📊 Feature Breakdown

Feature	Node.js Express	Python FastAPI
Language	JavaScript / TypeScript	Python
Data Validation	Manual / Third-Party (Zod, Joi)	Native via Pydantic
API Docs	Manual Setup (Swagger UI plugin)	Automatic (Interactive Swagger UI & ReDoc)
Best For	Real-time I/O, WebSockets, Full-stack JS	AI/ML APIs, Data pipelines, Type-safe apps

🛠️ Code Comparison: Creating a Validated POST Route

Let’s look at how both frameworks handle a common task: creating a POST endpoint that accepts an item, validates that the data format is correct, and returns a success status.

The Express Way (JavaScript)

In Express, validating a request body requires manual conditional blocks or external middleware.

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.use(express.json());

app.post('/items', (req, res) => {
    const { name, price } = req.body;

    // Manual validation logic
    if (!name || typeof price !== 'number') {
        return res.status(400).json({ error: 'Invalid data format' });
    }

    res.status(201).json({ status: 'created', name, price });
});

app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

The FastAPI Way (Python)

FastAPI uses Python type hints to parse and validate incoming data automatically. If the client sends an invalid string for price, FastAPI catches it and throws a structured 422 Unprocessable Entity error before the function code even runs.

from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
app = FastAPI()
# Data schema definitionclass Item(BaseModel):
    name: str
    price: float

@app.post("/items",status_code=201)
async def create_item(item: Item):
    # Data is already validated and parsed into an 'item' object here
    return {"status": "created", "name": item.name, "price": item.price}

Bonus FastAPI Feature: By just running the code above and navigating to /docs in your browser, you get a fully interactive, production-ready Swagger UI playground instantly. No extra configuration required.

🧠 Performance & Ecosystem Trade-offs

High Concurrency vs. High Automation

Because Node.js runs on an event-driven event loop, Express excels at massive concurrent I/O operations (like a live chat application, IoT streaming, or real-time gaming backends). Express handles thousands of lightweight open connections with ease.
FastAPI is incredibly fast for a Python framework—lightyears ahead of Flask or Django. However, Python's runtime environment introduces slightly more CPU overhead during massive data serialization compared to Node.js.

The AI & Data Science Reality

If your project touches Large Language Models (LLMs), LangChain, PyTorch, NumPy, or automated data processing, FastAPI is the undisputed winner.
The entire AI ecosystem is built on Python. Forcing a Node.js server to orchestrate local Python ML models requires messy child processes or heavy microservice architecture. FastAPI acts as a seamless gateway to your data layer.

On the flip side, if your frontend is built with React, Vue, or Next.js, using Express allows your team to write JavaScript end-to-end. This lets you share typescript interfaces across the repository, keeping your cognitive load low.

🏁 The Verdict: Which Should You Write Next?

Stick with Node.js Express if: You are building real-time applications with heavy WebSocket reliance, your team consists entirely of JavaScript/TypeScript developers, or you want absolute control over your backend architecture.
Switch to Python FastAPI if: You are building APIs interacting with data science pipelines, AI agents, or machine learning models. It's also the best choice if you want automated, interactive documentation and native input validation right out of the box.

👇 What's your take?

Are you team Express or team FastAPI? Do you prefer the absolute freedom of the Node ecosystem, or the automated safety guards of modern Python type checking? Let's discuss in the comments below!

darkURL — A Beautiful CLI for Formatting and Viewing HTTP Responses🚀

Aditya Sorathiya — Sun, 23 Aug 2026 09:51:39 +0000

darkURL

is a developer-focused command-line tool that makes raw HTTP responses easier to read directly in the terminal.

Instead of staring at unformatted curl output, pipe your HTTP response into dark and get a cleaner, more readable terminal view with formatted JSON, syntax highlighting, HTTP status information, and a polished dark-themed interface.

curl -i https://example.com | dark

For example:

◆ darkURL
────────────────────────────────────────
Response Code : 200 Success
────────────────────────────────────────

{
  "status": "ok",
  "message": "Hello world"
}

darkURL is designed for developers who frequently work with curl, REST APIs, HTTP requests, JSON APIs, web services, and terminal-based debugging.
The project is currently focused on a simple, fast CLI experience, with more HTTP tooling planned for the future.

Install: npm install -g darkurl-cli
GitHub: https://github.com/sorathiya903/darkurl-cli
NPM JS: https://www.npmjs.com/package/darkurl-cli

Before:

After:

PasteDB Hackathon August 2026 - Offline Web App Submission

Aditya Sorathiya — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 15:12:15 +0000

🏆 PDB Hackathon 2026

🎯 Theme

Build a web app that runs without an internet connection.

Your app should be usable after the required files/resources have been loaded locally. Be creative — the goal is to build something genuinely useful, interesting, or unique for offline use.

📅 Hackathon Schedule

🟢 Start: 21 August 2026

🔴 Submission Deadline: 28 August 2026 at 11:59 PM IST

🏆 Results: 30 August 2026

Duration: 7 days
Judging period: 29–30 August 2026

Build Period: 21–28 August 2026
Results Day: 30 August 2026

How to participate

Build your project around the theme:

Build a web app that runs without an internet connection.
Old projects are allowed too
Open to all ages

Create a PasteDB submission

Go to the PasteDB submission page.
Use the provided submission template.
Add your project details in Markdown or plain text.
Include your GitHub repository link.
Include a short description of your project.
Explain how your app works offline.
Add instructions for running/testing it.
Comment your PasteDB URL in this post

One submission per participant.
Multiple submission from one participant>> Disqualified

Make sure your PasteDB URL is accessible to the judges.
Do not modify or delete your submission after submitting it.

Deadline: 28 August 2026, 11:59 PM IST.
Late submissions may not be considered

✅️ Comment in this way(This is vaild)

URL:https://pastedb.netlify.app/paste/xxxxx
Project:Name of Project (optional)

❌️ Do not Comment in this way(this is invalid)

Project: Name here 
Url: pastedb paste URL
Github: Guthub url
How to start?: whole process...

🏆 I Have No Money, But I Have Respect

There are no cash prizes for this hackathon. Instead, winners and participants will receive something that can stay with them long after the hackathon ends: recognition for what they built.

🥇 1st Place — PDB Hackathon Champion

Your name and project will be featured on the dedicated PDB Hackathon Winners page.
You will receive a unique PDB Hackathon 1st Place badge with your name.
Your winning project will be showcased on the winners page.

🥈 2nd Place — PDB Hackathon Runner-Up

Your name and project will be featured on the dedicated PDB Hackathon Winners page.
You will receive a unique PDB Hackathon 2nd Place badge with your name.
Your project will be showcased on the winners page.

🥉 3rd Place — PDB Hackathon 3rd Place

Your name and project will be featured on the dedicated PDB Hackathon Winners page.
You will receive a unique PDB Hackathon 3rd Place badge with your name.
Your project will be showcased on the winners page.

👥 Every Participant

Every valid participant will have their name and project listed on the dedicated PDB Hackathon Participants page.

The goal isn't to replace money with a fake prize. It's to give builders a permanent record that they participated, built something, and were recognized for it.

Build something. Earn your place. Leave your mark. 🏆

The participants showcase page is not made now, it will be made when 1ST participant participates

🏅 Recognition

All valid participants will be listed on the official PDB Hackathon 2026 Participants page.

Winners will be displayed in a separate Winners section and will receive a unique PDB Hackathon winner badge with their name, helping verify that the badge belongs to the actual winner.

Build offline. Share on PasteDB. Submit on Dev.to. 🚀

I added an interactive dashboard to the PasteDB CLI — manage pastes from your terminal

Aditya Sorathiya — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:40:05 +0000

PasteDB CLI

just got a new interactive dashboard! 🚀 Browse, navigate, open, delete, and refresh your pastes directly from the terminal — without constantly switching to the browser.

I've been working on PasteDB, a paste-sharing platform for code, notes, text, and more.

Today I added something I've wanted in the CLI for a while:

🗂️ An interactive paste dashboard — directly in the terminal

Instead of running separate commands every time I want to manage a paste, I can now run:

pdb pastes

and get an interactive dashboard showing my pastes.

It looks something like this:

╭──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                         PasteDB                              │
│                       Your Pastes                            │
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

  3 pastes

  ❯ app.py
      ID:       abc123
      Language: python
      Preview:  print("Hello from PasteDB!")

    website.html
      ID:       xyz789
      Language: html
      Preview:  <!DOCTYPE html>...

    notes.md
      ID:       note456
      Language: markdown
      Preview:  My project notes...

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
↑ ↓ Navigate   O Open   d Delete   r Refresh   q Quit

What can it do?

⬆️⬇️ Navigate through your pastes

🌐 Open the selected paste in your browser

🗑️ Delete a paste directly from the dashboard

🔄 Refresh the list without restarting the CLI

🔐 Handle encrypted/private paste data without dumping the encrypted objects into the terminal

📋 Show useful information such as the paste ID, language, title, and preview

The goal is to make the CLI feel less like a collection of commands and more like a small terminal application.

Why did I add this?

Previously, managing several pastes from the CLI meant remembering individual commands and paste IDs.

Now I can simply run:

pdb pastes

and navigate through everything from one place.

I'm still improving it. I initially experimented with adding search to the dashboard, but I've temporarily removed it while I work on making the handling of encrypted/private pastes more robust.

PasteDB CLI is built with Node.js and is available on npm.

If you're interested in trying it:

npm install -g pastedb-cli

Then:

pdb auth
pdb pastes

I'd love to hear what other features would make a terminal-based paste manager more useful.

Want to view Docs?See them here
https://pastedb.netlify.app/cli
Source Code:
https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb-cli
NPM JS : https://www.npmjs.com/package/pastedb-cli

I Built PasteDB CLI in 1 Day — Tool to upload files to the Web with pdb create 🚀

Aditya Sorathiya — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 13:20:33 +0000

Want to do this?

pdb create app.py

…and have your file uploaded online with a shareable PasteDB link returned instantly?

Now it's possible. 🚀

I built PasteDB CLI in just 1 day — a lightweight command-line tool for developers to upload files, retrieve pastes, update them, delete them, explore public pastes, and manage API keys without leaving the terminal.

The CLI is built with JavaScript / Node.js and connects directly to the PasteDB API.

⚡ What it can do

pdb create app.py

Upload a local file and get a PasteDB link.

pdb get abc123

Fetch a paste directly from the terminal.

pdb update abc123 app.py

Update an existing paste.

pdb delete abc123

Delete a paste.

It also includes API-key authentication, public paste exploration, code execution support, and other developer-focused commands.

🛠 Tech Stack
JavaScript / Node.js
The goal was to keep the CLI simple, fast, and easy to use while making PasteDB accessible directly from the terminal.

🔗 Check it out
Source code: https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb-cli
CLI documentation: https://pastedb.netlify.app/cli

This was a one-day build, and I'm planning to keep improving the CLI with more developer-friendly features.

PasteDB CLI is a tool of PasteDB, a text, code snippets and images sharing web app.

What would you want to see added to a my pastebin CLI? 👀

I removed live cursors from PasteDB — and replaced them with line-level editing presence

Aditya Sorathiya — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 16:04:10 +0000

I recently made a small but important change to PasteDB's collaborative editor.

Previously, PasteDB showed live cursors for other users while they were editing. While this was useful, I found that multiple cursors could make the editor feel cluttered, especially when several people were working at the same time.

So I removed the live cursor UI and replaced it with a simpler line-level editing indicator.
Now, when another user is editing a line:

A small colored dot appears in the editor gutter.
The dot shows exactly which line the user is working on.
Hovering over the dot reveals the user's name.
The indicator stays out of the code itself, keeping the editor cleaner.
Multiple users can be shown editing different lines at the same time.

The goal was to make collaboration feel less distracting while still letting everyone know what others are working on.

Try PasteDB

You can try the collaborative editor and other PasteDB features here:

Try PasteDB →
https://pastedb.netlify.app/

I'd love to know which approach you prefer for collaborative editors: live cursors or lightweight line-level presence?