How I Built a High-Performance Creator Platform with $0 Database Latency using Turso

#webdev #programming #nextjs #startup

We've all been there. You visit a creator's profile to support them, and you wait. And wait. The loading spinner keeps spinning because the database is hosted in us-east-1, and you (or the user) are in London, Tokyo, or Riyadh.

When I started building *Tpylo *(a platform for creators to receive donations and sell products), I had one non-negotiable goal: It must be instant. Not "fast enough," but instant.

I didn't want the typical architectural debt of traditional databases. I wanted the data to live where the user is.

Here is the story of how I built a global, edge-ready creator platform using Next.js 16 and Turso (LibSQL), and why I ditched the traditional Postgres setup.

The Stack 🛠️

Framework: Next.js 16 (App Router + Server Actions)
Database: Turso (The star of the show ⭐️)
ORM: Drizzle (Type-safety without the bloat)
Styling: Tailwind CSS (Glassmorphism aesthetics)
Real-time: PartyKit (for instant chat/notifications)

Why Turso? (The Technical Decision)

I considered Supabase and Neon (both are great), but I chose Turso for a specific reason: Edge Replication.

Tpylo is read-heavy. A creator posts content, and thousands of fans read it. With a traditional single-region DB, thousands of requests travel across oceans to fetch that data.

With Turso, I could replicate the database to multiple regions with a single command. The data effectively "follows" the user.

# It literally takes one command turso db locations add fra # Adding Frankfurt turso db locations add sin # Adding Singapore
Now, when a user in Germany visits a profile, they hit the Frankfurt replica. The latency dropped from ~300ms to ~20ms. It felt like magic.

Implementing the "Optimistic" UI ⚡

Speed isn't just about the database; it's about perceived performance.
Since I'm using Next.js 16, I leveraged the new useOptimistic hook to make interactions feel zero-latency.

Here is a snippet of how the "Follow" button works. We don't wait for the server. We update the UI immediately, then sync with Turso in the background.

`// A simplified example of our Follow Button
'use client'

import { useOptimistic } from 'react';
import { toggleFollow } from './actions';

export function FollowButton({ isFollowing, creatorId }) {
  const [optimisticState, setOptimisticState] = useOptimistic(
    isFollowing,
    (state, newState) => newState
  );

  return (
    <button
      onClick={async () => {
        setOptimisticState(!optimisticState); // UI updates INSTANTLY
        await toggleFollow(creatorId); // Turso updates in background
      }}
    >
      {optimisticState ? 'Unfollow' : 'Follow'}
    </button>
  );
}
`

This combination of Edge Data (Turso) + Optimistic UI (Next.js) created that "app-like" feel I was chasing.

The Challenge: Chat & Real-time

A creator platform needs a community. I wanted a Discord-like chat, but without managing heavy WebSocket servers.
I integrated PartyKit. It works perfectly with Turso. When a user sends a message:

The message hits the PartyKit server (Edge).
It broadcasts to all connected users instantly.
We asynchronously save the message to Turso for persistence.
This architecture kept the main application thread unblocked and snappy.

**Lessons Learned
Drizzle + Turso is a cheat code. The developer experience is unmatched. No heavy migrations, just push and go.

Server Components are powerful. Fetching data directly on the server (close to the DB) eliminated the "waterfall" loading issues.

Don't over-engineer early. I started with a monolith. Next.js handles the API, frontend, and backend logic perfectly fine. You don't need microservices for an MVP.

Building Tpylo taught me that in 2025, you don't need a massive DevOps team to build global, high-performance apps. You just need the right tools.

If you are building a read-heavy application, give Turso a shot. The latency gains are real, and your users will feel the difference.

What do you think? Have you tried Edge databases yet? Let's discuss in the comments! 👇