Toot Scheduler, My new pet project!
I've been having fun with a little personal project for about two weeks now.
Codename: Toot Scheduler.
I talk about it quite a bit on Mastodon using the hashtags "#TootScheduler" and "#BuildInPublic". If curiosity gets the better of you, feel free to check out these hashtags.
I started calling this project my "Pet project",it could be also called as "Companion project". I thought it was cute, it kind of personifies the thing.
But actually, this name doesn't really reflect the place this project has taken in my days.
This project is more like a Fidget, a Fidget project, that's it! Let's invent a word for it; Toot Scheduler is my "Fidgect".
Fidgect?
Because this project is here to keep my mind occupied. Attention, I'm not saying that the primary function of this project is to escape a reality that bothers me, at least I hope not… Who wants to fly from reality theses days anyway!
Well, I see this project more like reading or doing crosswords while waiting for a train or a dentist appointment…
Yeah, okay, maybe I am trying to escape something.
Escaping reality is so much better with a Fidgect!
That's a big headline!
But what does this Fidgect do?
It's true that I talk about the concept of this project but not at all about the project itself! Where is my head? You're here patiently reading this article, wondering, "Where is he going with this, he's a genius at storytelling!"
Hey, calm down a bit, I'm getting there. I'm failing all my obligations, but still! I'm not an easy blogger.
The shitty Idea
So, you got it (thanks to the title, of course), the idea isn't incredible. We're not going to make the new unicorn startup out of it. Plus, it's so easy to find mediocre ideas.
So, the goal being to keep the mind occupied, the concept must be:
- a bit funny,
- and not really useful.
So the brilliant idea I wanted to build for myself: a tool that allows you to publish your messages (toots) in the future on the fediverse! (Wow, looks like a time travel machine. I should keep that in mind for a future pitch)
Where are we? Yes, you read that right, I'm talking about the feature to schedule the publication of toots. This feature already exists in the Mastodon API and has been implemented in many clients (web or app) for Mastodon, but we don't care, it makes me laugh during sleepless nights.
What I Use
- My brain and my JavaScript skills.
- GitHub for the repo. I'm considering creating another account or organization to host the project differently.
- GitHub Pages for hosting and uses an old domain. Again, I'm considering either using the basic GitHub Pages of the organization or getting a small domain. I'll see that with the co-founders.
- URLR.me is not directly related to the project but more to the Marketing part; I use this little URL-shortener which is Made in France. 🐓
- VSC (Visual Studio Code) and VueJS 3 for the code. Recently, I looked into Cursor AI, a code editor biased towards AI. Yes, I know AI is evil, but I'm telling you, I'm doing it for real like big tech company!
Well, my take is: Cursor AI isn't crazy... It's excellent for spitting out legacy code and make small bug more complicated to fix. It's time consuming, so for my brain it's perfect. Also for a project where I don't have much time to devote to coding, it's pretty good as long as you're precise in your requests. You have to keep a tight rein on the Unicorn!!!
So, like a product team, I imagine, document, and plan (with nice GitHub issues) before moving on to coding. In fact, this part allows me to maximize the benefits of a sharp mind in a well-occupied mind!
Fake it until you Fidgect it!
Finally, I decided to treat this project like a real company but without a board, clients, revenue, and bills to pay. Yes, I'm in freewheel mode, YOLO. So I've already planned useless features (but that mimic a big project) like, for example, displaying new features and a home page with its innovative tool speech! I don't have any testimonials yet for my fictional clients to express their gratitude, but the tool is already "The first toot scheduling service of all time!" That's saying something!
Of course, I have plenty of other ideas to make this Fidgect a virtual unicorn valued at several billion, but I can't reveal everything, or someone might steal the concept.
The Final Word
"Fidgect"
No, Seriously, the Final Word
It's not a word; it's a URL so you can visit my wonderful Fidgect. Toot Scheduler
Thanks for reading this
If you want to discuss this article, feel free to reach out to me (the link opens a new tab). I'd be happy to hear from you.
🫣