DEV Community: Samuel Aondo

I Built "Drop a Zip, Get a Live Site" Hosting

Samuel Aondo — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:29:03 +0000

Most static hosting today assumes you're comfortable with git pushes, build configs, and a CLI.

That's fine for a lot of us, but there's a large group of people — freelancers sending client previews, hackathon teams, anyone exporting from a static site generator — who just want to turn a folder into a URL with zero setup.

I built ZipHost around exactly that constraint: zip a folder, drop it, get a live URL with SSL in under 4 seconds.

The deploy flow

You zip your project folder the normal way (Finder, Explorer, or a build script)
Drag it into the dashboard or run one CLI command
It's unpacked, provisioned across edge nodes, and live at yourproject.ziphost.co with SSL already active

Average deploy-to-live time is under 4 seconds. Every deploy is versioned, so rollback is one click — no rebuilding, no re-uploading, just reverting to a previous numbered deploy.

What's under the hood

Edge-distributed serving across 190 locations, so a deploy is fast to reach globally, not just fast to publish
Deploy previews with password protection — useful for client review before something goes live publicly
Optional git integration for people who do want to wire it into a push-based flow (it zips the build output automatically on push), without forcing that workflow on everyone else

The part I'm building now: PHP support

The biggest gap in pure static hosting is anything that needs server-side execution.

I'm extending ZipHost to support PHP alongside static files — containerized per-site (PHP-FPM + nginx, resource-capped) so a ZIP with a PHP backend can go live the same way a static export does, without needing to manage a VPS or configure a runtime by hand.

If you've got a static site (or, soon, a PHP one) that just needs to exist somewhere without a deployment pipeline: https://ziphost.co — happy to hear from other devs on what's missing from the CLI or the deploy previews.

I Built a PDF Hosting Service with Per-View Analytics and a REST API — Here's How It Works

Samuel Aondo — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:16:03 +0000

Sharing a PDF is trivial. Knowing whether anyone actually opened it, how long they read, and where they dropped off is the part most tools skip. I built PDFHost to solve that specific gap — permanent hosted links plus real analytics per document, with an API for teams that want to wire it into their own product instead of using a dashboard.

The core idea

Upload a PDF, get a permanent link (pdfhost.se/d/xxxx), embed it or share it directly.

Every open is tracked: view count, average read time, geographic distribution, and completion rate.

For anyone sending pitch decks, proposals, or contracts, that data is the whole point — you want to know if the doc got opened at all before you follow up.

Stack notes

CDN-backed delivery for sub-100ms loads globally — PDFs are often multi-MB, so edge caching matters more here than for typical static assets
Embeddable viewer — a single script/iframe tag drops a full PDF viewer into any page, no dependency on the visitor having a PDF plugin
REST API + webhooks for programmatic upload/manage/track — built this specifically because a few early users wanted to auto-generate and host reports without touching a dashboard
Password protection that can be revoked independently of the link itself — so you can lock/unlock access without regenerating and re-sending a new URL

The upload-before-signup flow

One UX detail worth mentioning: the flow lets you drop a PDF in before creating an account. The file is held while you sign up, then it lands directly in your dashboard. Cut a surprising amount of friction compared to a signup-wall-first flow.

What's next

Working on deeper analytics (scroll depth per page, not just aggregate read time) and expanding the custom-domain setup to be fully self-serve.

If you're curious or have a use case that needs tracked document sharing: https://pdfhost.se — would love feedback from other builders on the API design.

I Built a Free Browser-Based Photo Editor with AI Background Removal, Upscaling, and Generative Fill

Samuel Aondo — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 19:09:31 +0000

Most "photo editor" side projects stop at crop and filters. I wanted to see how far I could push a purely in-browser editor before it needed a backend — so I built PhotoEditor.se, and ended up shipping AI background removal, upscaling, generative fill, and object removal, all running from a canvas-based editor with no install and no signup required to start editing.

Here's what the stack and feature set look like, and a few things I learned along the way.

What it does

Full canvas editor: crop, resize, rotate/flip, layers, shapes, text with font/animation options
Filters and adjustments: brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, blur
AI tools: background removal, image upscaling, photo enhancement, generative fill, object removal
Batch export: apply the same edits to multiple images and download as a ZIP
Presets for common social formats (Instagram square/story, YouTube thumbnail, Twitter banner, etc.)

Why no-signup-to-edit mattered

The biggest UX decision was letting people start editing immediately — drop an image, start working, no account wall. Signup only shows up at export/download. This alone cut a huge amount of drop-off compared to earlier versions that gated the editor itself.

The AI tooling problem

Background removal and generative fill are the expensive part of a project like this — both in compute and in keeping quality consistent across arbitrary user photos (weird lighting, busy backgrounds, low resolution uploads). Getting these to feel "good enough" for casual users (not professional retouching quality, but good enough for a product photo or a profile picture) took more iteration than the rest of the editor combined.

What's next

Working on higher AI usage limits for batch workflows and expanding the preset library (currently 200+ purpose-built editing pages for specific use cases like wedding photos, product shots, and social thumbnails).

If you want to poke at it: https://photoeditor.se — free to use, no signup needed to edit. Would genuinely like feedback from other devs on where the AI output quality falls short.

How to blur photos easily

Samuel Aondo — Sat, 26 Sep 2026 18:28:21 +0000

I found a simple tool ,that allows you to blur critical info or user info pefectly before you share online

You dont need to download a bunch of software to desktop to do that and its completely free

Photo editor

I Found a Way to Deploy a Static Site by Just Zipping a Folder

Samuel Aondo — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:29:45 +0000

I found something new this week, and it's stuck with me because of how little it asks of you: you zip a folder, drop it in, and you get a live URL with SSL already on. That's the whole deploy.

The problem it solves

Every time I've wanted to put a small static site online — a portfolio, a docs site, a landing page, a hackathon demo — the actual build was the easy part. The deploy was where I lost time: picking a host, wiring up a git integration, figuring out a build command for a project that didn't really need one.

ZipHost skips all of that. You already know how to make a zip file — that's the entire workflow:

Zip your project folder (Finder, Explorer, or a build script — doesn't matter)
Drop it into the dashboard, or run one CLI command
Get a live URL, SSL included, in about 3.8 seconds on average

What's actually included

Free SSL on every site, no setup
One-click rollbacks — every deploy is kept and versioned
Deploy previews for sharing a change before it goes live
Password-protected links for client review
CLI or GitHub push if you'd rather automate it than drag files

Where it fits

It's not trying to be a platform for full applications — there's no server-side runtime here. But for the sites that "just need to exist somewhere" — portfolios, generated docs output, one-page landing pages, hackathon demos, client previews — it removes every step between "I have a folder" and "here's the link."

How to Host php website for free

Samuel Aondo — Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:27:30 +0000

I had a small PHP script I wanted to share with a friend. Nothing fancy — no framework, no build step, just a handful of .php files that needed to live somewhere reachable by a URL.

Every "real" option I looked at wanted me to provision a VPS, install and patch PHP and a database by hand, and generate my own TLS certs before I could even see the thing running. That's a lot of setup for a weekend project.

What I used instead

I ended up on phphost — PHP hosting built around one idea: you already know how to write PHP, you shouldn't need to know Linux to ship it.

The deploy is genuinely just:

Upload a folder, a zip, or connect a git repo
It sets up the PHP runtime and HTTPS automatically
Your site is live at a working HTTPS URL in under 10 seconds

No config file, no shell to open.

What's actually included

Automatic HTTPS on every site, from the first deploy
Cron jobs, if you need something running on a schedule
MySQL support and per-site .env variables for secrets
Staging environments — a persistent pre-prod copy that doesn't count against your site limit
Deploy history with one-click rollbacks
Uptime monitoring that pings your site and tells you before a user does

Yaiko: A Lightweight Fullstack Web Framework for Rust

Samuel Aondo — Sat, 25 Jul 2026 11:03:56 +0000

Yaiko is a fullstack web framework built on Rust (Hyper + Tokio) and jQuery, designed to deliver high performance without the complexity of modern JavaScript build tools.

Why Yaiko?

Most Rust web libraries require assembling routing, authentication, migrations, and frontend build tools manually. Yaiko packages everything into one framework:

Fast & Minimal: Handles 80,000+ RPS with sub-5ms boot times and under 15MB RAM usage.
Batteries Included: Built-in SQLite and PostgreSQL migrations, CSRF protection, rate limiting, and WebSockets.
No Node.js Needed: Server-rendered HTML templates with jQuery for clean frontend interactions.

Getting Started

Install the CLI tool:

cargo install yaiko

Create and run a new project:

yaiko init my-app -d sqlite
cd my-app
yaiko dev

Example Handler (`src/main.rs`)

use yaiko_core::{App, Router, Server, Request, Response, BoxError};

async fn home(_req: Request) -> Result<Response, BoxError> {
    Ok(Response::new().html("<h1>Hello from Yaiko</h1>"))
}

#[tokio::main]
async fn main() -> Result<(), BoxError> {
    let router = Router::new().get("/", home);
    let app = App::new().router(router);
    Server::new(app, "127.0.0.1:3000".parse()?).run().await?;
    Ok(())
}

I got tired of configuring servers for PHP apps, so I built a host that skips that step

Samuel Aondo — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 11:37:08 +0000

The problem

Every time I shipped a small PHP app, the code was the easy part. The afternoon disappeared into:

Provisioning a VPS and picking a distro
Installing and patching PHP, nginx, and MySQL by hand
Generating and renewing my own TLS certs
Writing a deploy script, then debugging that deploy script
Finding out about downtime from a user, not a monitor

None of this is specific to my app. It's the same setup, every time, for every project.

What I built

phphost skips the server-configuration step entirely.
You give it code a folder, a zip, or a git repo and it gives you back a live, HTTPS URL.

The actual deploy looks like this:

\`
$ phphost deploy

Uploading your site… done
Setting up hosting… done
Securing with HTTPS… done
Going live… done
Live at https://yoursite.phphost.se ✓
`\

That's the whole thing. No hidden build step, no dashboard to babysit.

What's handled for you

PHP runtime + web server config — set up automatically, whether it's a static site or a full PHP app
HTTPS — applied the moment the site goes live
Staging environments — a persistent pre-prod copy of your site that doesn't count against your site limit
Cron jobs — scheduled tasks without a separate worker process
.env variables — kept out of your code, settable per environment
Deploy history — every deploy logged, roll back in a couple of clicks if something breaks
Uptime monitoring — pings your site continuously and alerts you before a user has to

Who it's for

Mainly developers and freelancers who know PHP well and don't want a second job running Linux. If you're already comfortable managing your own infra, this probably isn't for you and that's fine.

Pricing

Flat monthly plans, starting at $9/mo for one site (5K visitors/mo). No free tier, but no surprise overage shutoffs either — bandwidth/visitor overages are billed at a flat per-unit rate.

Try it

https://phphost.se — happy to answer questions about how it's built or why certain decisions were made.

I found Ai seo writer Tool That Now Publishes Directly to WordPress

Samuel Aondo — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:45:25 +0000

Most AI writing tools stop too early.

They help you generate text, but then the real workflow begins:

research keywords
decide what to write
generate or edit the article
format it
add metadata
publish it
repeat the process again tomorrow

That is the part we wanted to automate with BlogHunter.

BlogHunter researches keywords, writes SEO posts, and publishes them automatically.

The goal is not to be another AI writing interface. The goal is to become the publishing system behind a website.

## What BlogHunter Does

BlogHunter is built for people who want organic traffic without managing a full content operation.

The workflow is simple:

Enter your niche
BlogHunter builds a content plan
BlogHunter writes SEO posts
Posts publish automatically

It is useful for:

SaaS founders
agencies
niche site builders
local businesses
affiliate site operators
ecommerce teams

The main idea is consistency. SEO is not just about one good article. It is about publishing useful, search-focused content repeatedly.

## New: WordPress Publishing

We recently added WordPress support.

A lot of businesses already run their main website on WordPress. They do not want to move their whole site just to automate blog publishing.

So we built BlogHunter Publisher, a WordPress plugin that lets BlogHunter publish posts directly to a WordPress site.

The setup looks like this:

Install the BlogHunter Publisher plugin
Open Settings -> BlogHunter Publisher in WordPress
Copy the private token
Open BlogHunter
Go to Dashboard -> Integrations
Paste the token
Choose whether posts publish live or save as drafts

After that, BlogHunter can send generated posts directly into WordPress.

## Why We Used a Plugin Token

WordPress supports application passwords, but many users do not know how to create them.

The plugin-token flow is easier:

upload plugin
activate plugin
copy token
paste token
test connection

The token starts with bhp_.

If it is ever exposed, the user can regenerate it inside WordPress.

## What Gets Sent to WordPress

When BlogHunter publishes a post, it can send:

title
content
excerpt
slug
category
tags
SEO metadata

Users can choose between two modes:

Publish live
The post goes live immediately.

Create draft
The post is created as a WordPress draft for review.

That makes the integration useful for both solo site owners and agencies that need client approval.

## AI Visibility Is Part of the Strategy

Search is changing.

People are not only finding businesses through Google anymore. They are also asking tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Grok.

But AI tools often rely on content that is already discoverable, ranked, cited, or trusted across the web.

That means publishing still matters.

BlogHunter helps businesses create the search-visible content that AI systems can discover and cite.

## What We Are Adding Next

WordPress is the first major external publishing integration.

The integration system is now ready for more destinations, including:

Webflow
Shopify
Zapier
Wix
Notion
Ghost
custom APIs

The goal is to let BlogHunter publish wherever a business already works.

## Try It

You can try BlogHunter here:

https://bloghunter.se

The WordPress plugin page is here:

https://bloghunter.se/wordpress

If you are building organic traffic and want publishing to run automatically, BlogHunter is built for that.

I launched a LinkedIn scheduling tool — $49 lifetime deal, 20 spots

Samuel Aondo — Fri, 08 May 2026 08:28:55 +0000

What is it?
ProLoom is a LinkedIn scheduling and automation tool. You write your post, pick a time, it publishes automatically. That's it.
Who is it for?
Founders, solopreneurs, and small teams who know LinkedIn matters but keep forgetting to post. The problem was never writing — it was consistency. ProLoom keeps you consistent without thinking about it.
Why lifetime?
I want 20 power users who are actually invested in using it daily and giving honest feedback. That's worth more to me right now than monthly recurring revenue.
The deal:
$49 once. No monthly fees. No subscriptions. Ever.
After 20 spots it goes to $19/mo permanently. No second LTD.
Link:proloom.app
Happy to answer any questions in the comments.

BotiGigs: An AI Gigs Marketplace

Samuel Aondo — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 11:04:49 +0000

We built BotiGigs because we watched our agency collapse from freelancer delays.
The Problem We Lived
The scenario: Client calls at 4 PM. Needs website copy by 9 AM tomorrow.
Old approach: Call freelancer. They say "maybe in a week." You either:

Do it yourself at midnight (burnout)
Say no (lose the deal)
Hire expensive agency ($2K for one page)

This was killing us. We were stuck in a cycle of hiring freelancers, managing them, fixing their work, rehiring when they quit. It was exhausting and expensive.
We watched other agencies deal with the same thing. We talked to content creators drowning in writing work. E-commerce owners needing 500 product descriptions with no fast option.
The pattern was clear: People needed copy written. They couldn't wait days for freelancers. They couldn't afford agencies. There was no middle ground.
So we built BotiGigs.
What We Built
BotiGigs is a gigs marketplace where you hire AI agents instead of freelancers.
How it works:

Pick a writing gig (blog post, product description, email, cover letter, resume, etc.)
Describe what you need
Get professional copy in seconds
Use it immediately
Pay per task

Current gigs available:

Blog posts: $12
Product descriptions: $8
Email copy: $10
Sales pages: $25
Cover letters: $15
Resumes: $30
LinkedIn profiles: $20
Scripts: $25
And 10+ more writing task types

We're writing-focused right now. We're building image, video, and audio generation next (same platform, one workflow).
What We've Learned So Far
We've been testing this with real users and here's what's actually happening:
What works:

Agencies using it to say "yes" to more projects (instead of "we're at capacity")
Creators getting 10x content volume without hiring
E-commerce stores handling inventory at scale without freelancer delays
Job seekers getting professional resumes for $30 instead of $300

Speed is real:

Average turnaround: 47 seconds to 5 minutes depending on task
This matters more than we thought. Speed = competitive advantage in business

Quality is fine:

Is it perfect? No. But it's professional-grade and ready to use
Some tweaks needed on 20% of outputs. 80% ready to go
Better than cheap freelancers. Not quite as good as expensive professionals
But it costs 10x less than professionals and delivers instantly

The math works:

Current agency customer: Went from saying "no" to capacity-limited projects → can now say "yes" to everything
E-commerce customer: 500 product descriptions = 2 hours of work instead of 3 weeks
Content creator: 4 blog posts = 1 hour instead of 2 weeks of freelancer waiting

What surprised us:

The emotional relief matters as much as the economics
One agency owner said: "I can finally sleep. No more midnight freelancer emergencies."
Turns out the cost savings are great, but the sanity is the real value

Where We Are Right Now
Launch status: Open beta (free trial available)
What we actually have:

15+ writing gigs live
Deployed and working
Real users using it
Still finding bugs and rough edges
Not perfect but genuinely useful

What we're tracking:

User feedback (daily)
Turnaround times (hitting targets)
Output quality (consistently good)
Cost per gig (profitable already)

What we're NOT claiming:

We don't have 10,000 users (we don't)
We don't have a billion dollar valuation (we don't)
We're not going to "disrupt the freelance industry" overnight (we're not)
Our AI is not magical or revolutionary (it's not)

We're just solving a specific problem for specific people and it's actually working.
Why We're Sharing This Now
We're open beta because we're confident in what we've built but honest about what needs work.
What we need:

Users trying it and telling us what breaks
Feedback on pricing and gig types
Real-world use cases we haven't thought of
People who need this yesterday (they drive the best feedback)

What we're NOT doing:

Blasting ads everywhere
Making fake claims
Overpromising on AI capabilities
Pretending this is perfect

We built this because we needed it. Other people seem to need it too. That's the whole story.
Try It
Free trial includes 4 gigs to test.
botigigs.com
No credit card required. No BS.

Why I Built an AI Form Generator (And Why Traditional Form Builders Are Broken)

Samuel Aondo — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 08:50:59 +0000

Traditional forms have 68% abandonment rates.
Conversational forms fix this. Here's how.
The Problem
Most forms show everything at once. People see it, feel overwhelmed, and leave.
68% abandonment means you're losing 7 out of 10 potential leads.
The Solution
Conversational forms ask one question at a time. Like texting someone.
People actually complete these.
The Data
I tested conversational vs traditional forms:

Traditional: 32% completion
Conversational: 67% completion

109% improvement.
Why It Works

One question at a time = less overwhelming
Feels like texting = familiar
Mobile-friendly by default
People don't see how long it is
Each answer creates momentum

How Proloom Works
Building conversational forms manually takes hours.
Proloom uses AI. You describe what you need in plain text. AI generates the form instantly.
Input: "contact form for dental office"
Output: Working conversational form
Time: 30 seconds
Why AI
AI understands context. Different businesses need different questions.
You just describe what you need. AI figures out the rest.
Who It's For

Small businesses needing more inquiries
Agencies building client sites faster
Anyone tired of form abandonment

Try It
Proloom is free at proloom.app
Type what form you need. AI generates it. Embed anywhere.
Stop losing leads to bad forms

DEV Community: Samuel Aondo

I Built "Drop a Zip, Get a Live Site" Hosting

The deploy flow

What's under the hood

The part I'm building now: PHP support

I Built a PDF Hosting Service with Per-View Analytics and a REST API — Here's How It Works

The core idea

Stack notes

The upload-before-signup flow

What's next

I Built a Free Browser-Based Photo Editor with AI Background Removal, Upscaling, and Generative Fill

What it does

Why no-signup-to-edit mattered

The AI tooling problem

What's next

How to blur photos easily

I Found a Way to Deploy a Static Site by Just Zipping a Folder

The problem it solves

What's actually included

Where it fits

How to Host php website for free

What I used instead

What's actually included

Yaiko: A Lightweight Fullstack Web Framework for Rust

Why Yaiko?

Getting Started

Example Handler (src/main.rs)

Links

I got tired of configuring servers for PHP apps, so I built a host that skips that step

The problem

What I built

What's handled for you

Who it's for

Pricing

Try it

I found Ai seo writer Tool That Now Publishes Directly to WordPress

I launched a LinkedIn scheduling tool — $49 lifetime deal, 20 spots

BotiGigs: An AI Gigs Marketplace

Why I Built an AI Form Generator (And Why Traditional Form Builders Are Broken)

Example Handler (`src/main.rs`)