https://www.smart-stacking.com/tags/indie-hacker/Recent content in Indie-Hacker on SmartStack: AI, Self-Hosting & Smart FinanceHugoen© 2026 SmartStackThu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:34 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-i-built-a-peaceful-virtual-place-where-you-can-work-study-or-read-alongside-others-like-a-virtual-caf-or-library/Thu, 06 Aug 2026 12:00:34 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-i-built-a-peaceful-virtual-place-where-you-can-work-study-or-read-alongside-others-like-a-virtual-caf-or-library/A real breakdown of the tech stack needed to build a virtual coworking cafe without going broke on WebRTC bandwidth.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-i-built-the-focus-space-i-wanted-to-study-in-and-now-people-i-dont-know-are-using-it/Thu, 06 Aug 2026 06:00:32 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-i-built-the-focus-space-i-wanted-to-study-in-and-now-people-i-dont-know-are-using-it/What happens when you build a niche productivity tool to cure your own ADHD and random people on the internet start moving in.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-9-months-of-building-4-months-of-shipping-updates-live-on-product-hunt-today/Thu, 06 Aug 2026 00:00:30 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-06-9-months-of-building-4-months-of-shipping-updates-live-on-product-hunt-today/A reality check on the r/sideproject playbook of taking nearly a year to launch, and the brutal infrastructure choices that follow.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-i-built-my-own-3d-printable-irrigation-timer-and-made-it-open-source/Wed, 05 Aug 2026 18:00:30 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-i-built-my-own-3d-printable-irrigation-timer-and-made-it-open-source/Smart sprinklers are overpriced garbage. I built a $12 open-source ESP32 valve controller and it actually survives the rain.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-what-if-your-browser-had-a-tiny-creature-living-inside-it/Wed, 05 Aug 2026 12:00:28 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-what-if-your-browser-had-a-tiny-creature-living-inside-it/Someone on r/sideproject built a desktop pet that lives in your DOM and punishes you for reading Hacker News. I built it, broke it, and ran the numbers.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-i-built-a-free-map-poster-maker-any-place-on-earth-3d-terrain-and-it-records-a-rotating-video-of-your-map/Wed, 05 Aug 2026 08:00:28 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-05-i-built-a-free-map-poster-maker-any-place-on-earth-3d-terrain-and-it-records-a-rotating-video-of-your-map/A deep dive into the three best tech stacks for building a topographical map poster generator with rotating video output.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-04-i-rebuilt-msn-messenger-in-the-browser-real-time-chat-nudges-sounds-and-winks-actually-work/Tue, 04 Aug 2026 06:55:12 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-04-i-rebuilt-msn-messenger-in-the-browser-real-time-chat-nudges-sounds-and-winks-actually-work/How to build a real-time browser chat app with working 2000s-era sounds, nudges, and winks without melting your server.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-04-i-made-a-website-that-turns-hand-movements-into-electronic-music/Tue, 04 Aug 2026 04:53:11 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-04-i-made-a-website-that-turns-hand-movements-into-electronic-music/A deep dive into a side project that maps webcam hand tracking to MIDI controls, straight from the r/sideproject trenches.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-built-chess-but-every-player-gets-2-consecutive-moves-instead-of-1/Sun, 02 Aug 2026 22:27:05 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-built-chess-but-every-player-gets-2-consecutive-moves-instead-of-1/A redditor forgot that doubling the moves in chess doesn’t add strategy, it nukes the board. Here is why Double-Move chess collapses.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-now-your-pile-of-hoard-can-fly/Sun, 02 Aug 2026 20:25:05 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-now-your-pile-of-hoard-can-fly/Self-hosting your hoard of side projects doesn’t require a massive AWS bill. Here is how I moved 14 apps to a single Hetzner box.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-made-my-first-app-and-got-over-1000-downloads/Sun, 02 Aug 2026 18:23:05 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-made-my-first-app-and-got-over-1000-downloads/Crossing 1k downloads is thrilling until your $5 VPS catches fire. Here is how to survive the traffic without going broke.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-a-stranger-bought-my-first-paid-app-today-after-a-year-of-building-it-finally-feels-real/Sun, 02 Aug 2026 02:10:01 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-a-stranger-bought-my-first-paid-app-today-after-a-year-of-building-it-finally-feels-real/A stranger bought my side project today. Here is the actual server setup I used to get paid without burning cash on AWS.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-built-a-fully-automated-ar-menu-system-for-restaurants/Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:08:02 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-02-i-built-a-fully-automated-ar-menu-system-for-restaurants/An automated AR menu system sounds like a brilliant side project until you try to sell it to a restaurant. Here is the reality check.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-im-42-yo-and-i-wish-someone-had-told-me-this-20-years-ago/Sat, 01 Aug 2026 18:03:00 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-im-42-yo-and-i-wish-someone-had-told-me-this-20-years-ago/A 42-year-old dev’s brutally honest take on infrastructure, scopes, and tools from r/sideproject.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-i-started-a-chili-crunch-business-with-my-husband-and-weve-shipped-over-125-jars-in-the-first-24hrs/Sat, 01 Aug 2026 16:00:59 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-i-started-a-chili-crunch-business-with-my-husband-and-weve-shipped-over-125-jars-in-the-first-24hrs/Shipping 125 jars of chili crunch in 24 hours proves physical products are a different beast. Here is the messy reality of scaling a food side project.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-i-built-a-browser-extension-that-pays-you-cash-back-for-waiting-on-chatgpt/Sat, 01 Aug 2026 11:56:58 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-i-built-a-browser-extension-that-pays-you-cash-back-for-waiting-on-chatgpt/A step-by-step breakdown of building a browser extension that monetizes ChatGPT server errors and pays users crypto cash back. Code included.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-share-your-not-ai-projects/Sat, 01 Aug 2026 01:49:57 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-08-01-share-your-not-ai-projects/Sick of every r/sideproject post being another AI wrapper? Here are real, dumb, useful projects from the trenches.https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-07-31-as-the-year-wraps-up-whats-the-project-youre-most-proud-of-building-and-why/Fri, 31 Jul 2026 15:39:54 +0800https://www.smart-stacking.com/posts/2026-07-31-as-the-year-wraps-up-whats-the-project-youre-most-proud-of-building-and-why/Real developers share the side projects they finally shipped this year. Spoiler: nobody cares about your microservices architecture.