$ cat blog/*.md

DevJournal

Thoughts on software architecture, distributed systems, and the lessons learned building at scale.

android gen-ai indie-dev launch marketing mytops permly privacy side-projects

// Featured Posts

indie-devside-projects

I stopped indexing the internet and let the database build itself

MyTops started as a fix for the half-hour “what should we watch” negotiation. It turned into a proof of concept for a database that gets populated by the questions people ask it.

29 August 2026

indie-devside-projects

A badly-timed notification made me build an app

How one badly-timed notification at a pub became the spark for Permly — an Android app that lets you control which apps can reach you, and when.

28 January 2026

Marketing is harder than the code

What I learned shipping Permly solo — why paid installs produced zero revenue, why word of mouth beat Google Ads, and what I'd do differently on launch day.

indie-devandroidlaunchmarketingpermly

12 April 2026

Permly's privacy model: no ads, no data, no second agenda

Why I made no-ads and no-data-collection structural constraints in Permly — set before writing a single line of code — and why that architecture is a genuine competitive advantage.

indie-devprivacypermly