DEV Community: Mohit || Dev

I Built Relay_: The Open-Source Layer Between Your API and the Internet

Mohit || Dev — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 11:30:58 +0000

I almost rage-quit my own side project last month because I spent 14 hours fighting AWS API Gateway just to validate a single API key.

Actually, I didn't quit. I just got so unbelievably frustrated with the extortionate pricing and miserable UX of modern API tools that I rage-built my own Gateway in Go instead.

If you've ever built a public-facing API, you already know the nightmare. You write your core business logic in a weekend, and then hit a massive brick wall.

When you look at the existing solutions to protect your API, they are universally painful:

❌ AWS API Gateway: The pricing is extortionate if you actually get traffic. Plus, the AWS Console UX is a nightmare, and setting up simple API key validation requires digging through IAM roles and CloudWatch just to see basic logs.

❌ Kong / Tyk: Incredibly powerful, but completely enterprise-bloated. You need a PhD in Lua and YAML just to configure a basic route. It's massive overkill for 99% of projects.

❌ DIY (Express/FastAPI middleware): You end up re-inventing the wheel every single time. It's slow under heavy load, and building a UI to manage your users' API keys is a miserable distraction from building your actual product.

I got sick of choosing between "expensive," "bloated," or "DIY," so I built Relay.

Why you should switch to Relay

Relay is a lightweight, open-source API infrastructure layer. It sits right in front of your actual backend and handles all the annoying stuff automatically.

Here is why it actually beats the alternatives:

✅ Sub-millisecond latency: The core gateway is written purely in Go. It uses Goroutines to handle thousands of concurrent requests with almost zero overhead. It blows Node.js proxies out of the water.
✅ Instant API Keys & Auth: No writing database lookups in your app. Relay intercepts the request, validates the key in-memory, and forwards the clean request to your API.
✅ Built-in Redis Rate Limiting: Enforce sliding-window rate limits globally or per user without writing a single line of Redis logic yourself.
✅ A Gorgeous Control Plane: Instead of crying over AWS CloudWatch logs, Relay comes with a sleek Next.js dashboard. You can generate keys, revoke access, and see real-time analytics instantly.

Take it for a spin

Relay is completely open-source, but if you want to skip the deployment headache, I've got a fully managed cloud version you can use right away.

If you're building an API and don't want to deal with auth, rate limits, or AWS bills, you can start using Relay right now for free.

🔗 Start using Relay: https://relayapicloud.vercel.app/
🐙 GitHub Repo: https://github.com/mohitdebian/relay

I was tired of OSS PRs going nowhere — so I built a tool that tells you what to work on and how to solve it

Mohit || Dev — Fri, 06 Mar 2026 03:44:29 +0000

I was tired of OSS PRs going nowhere — so I built a tool that tells you what to work on and how to solve it

Tags: opensource github webdev productivity

I've been contributing to open source for a while now.

And for a long time, my workflow looked like this:

Browse GitHub issues for an hour
Pick something that looks doable
Spend a weekend on it
Submit the PR
Wait
...still waiting
Move on feeling defeated

Sound familiar?

The problem was never the code. It was that I had no system for picking the right work.

The real problems nobody talks about

When you're contributing to open source, there are three invisible problems killing your momentum:

1. Issue selection is a black box
You pick something that looks interesting. But you have no idea if the maintainer is even active, if someone else is already working on it, or if this type of PR ever gets merged in this repo.

2. Competition is higher than you think
Those "good first issue" tags? Everyone sees them. By the time you finish, three others have already submitted. You never had a chance.

3. You don't know when to submit
Maintainers are humans with schedules. Submitting at the wrong time means your PR gets buried before it's even seen.

So I built AlgoMerge

🔗 algomerge.vercel.app

It's a contribution command center that solves all three problems.

Here's what it actually does:

🔮 Merge Probability Score

Before you even start working, AlgoMerge shows you the probability that a PR in this repo will get merged — based on maintainer patterns, repo behavior, and PR state. No more guessing.

🏆 Competition Score

See how contested an issue is before you claim it. Low competition + active maintainer = high value work.

🎯 Issue Fit Discovery

It matches issues to YOUR stack and bandwidth. Not just "beginner friendly" — actually relevant to what you know and how much time you have.

🤖 AI Analysis + Implementation Plan

For each issue, you get an AI-generated breakdown of the problem AND a step-by-step implementation plan. So you walk in already knowing exactly what to do.

⚡ Actionable Queue

A ranked list of exactly what to work on next — built from your real contribution data and repo signals.

How it works

Connect GitHub — one click, takes 2 minutes
Import your context — PR history, issue patterns, repo data pulled automatically
Get your queue — ranked, prioritized, ready to ship

No config. No spreadsheets. Just signal.

Who it's for

Developers who contribute regularly and want to maximize impact
Students building their OSS portfolio and need a smarter starting point
Engineers who've had PRs ignored and want to stop wasting weekends

Try it free

🔗 algomerge.vercel.app

Free to try. Sign in with GitHub and you're up in under 2 minutes.

I'd love brutal feedback from this community — what would make this actually useful for how you contribute? Drop it in the comments 👇

[FOR SALE] PixelMagic – AI Image Generator SaaS (Live, Monetized) – Asking $199

Mohit || Dev — Sat, 07 Jun 2025 19:02:30 +0000

Hi everyone,

I'm selling my micro-startup, PixelMagic [https://pixelmagic.vercel.app] , a fully complete, AI-powered image generator software as a service (SaaS) for creators who desire quick, high-quality, watermark-free images at a far lower cost than rivals.

🔧 What’s Included:

Live Website: Fully deployed on Vercel, ready for scale.

AI Image Generation: Uses a reliable third-party API.

Frontend: Built in React.js + TypeScript for clean, modern UX.

Authentication: Secured via Firebase Auth.

Analytics: Integrated PostHog for user behavior tracking.

Payments: Credit-based model with integrated payment gateway – monetization ready.

No Watermarks on generated images.

User Base: 100+ monthly active users and growing organically.

📈 Why It's Valuable:
Priced ~50% cheaper than Midjourney, ChatGPT, etc.

Unique value prop: Free credits + no watermark

Perfect for content creators, social media marketers, agencies, or indie hackers.

Strong foundation – just needs traffic or community to scale.

Great launchpad for someone looking to break into AI tools or bootstrap a creative SaaS.

💰 Asking Price: $199 (Open for negotiations)