This is such a great share—not just the tool itself, but the process you walked through. So many of us feel that “too much good content, not enough time” problem every day, and you went from conversation to MVP in a week. That’s impressive.
Also: the extra space in the API key… classic debugging plot twist. Thanks for keeping it real with the bumps as well as the wins. Excited to see how testers respond—it feels like something the Substack ecosystem really needs.
Really looking forward to seeing this live. I did a similar thing for news articles in the past but lost steam before making it work nicely. I can still support you, if you need ☺️
Glad to see good old Django being you for this. It‘s an awesome framework for something like this.
A couple of tips I can give you:
When I use LLMs in Python, I always do so with the LiteLLM library. It provides the same interface for all major LLM providers so you can switch from Claude to OpenAI or Llama or whatever without changing your code.
If you plan on using background tasks extensively, Celery is cool, but you can also consider a workflow engine. I‘ve used Temporal and it‘s awesome. You basically give it lambdas to run and it will manage them for you. Really wish I new this before 😀
Ofc, that means having another service running. But you might be running Celery separately too, so…
Karen, I think you did amazing for just 5 days! The product looks great and already has so many features, haha. Really love it so far and also how you’re sharing your building process!
I too suffer from not enuf free time to ready my many subscriptions..looking forward to your 'next release'. Interesting concept.
As a devops guy, I've been learning how to use AI to save me lots of time doing bulk work, like writing an automation script, or converting an old perl script to python, etc. Not sure how I feel about this, but it certainly has lots of negative potential. If I don't use it though, I'll not be as productive, and will eventually be replaced by someone who does use it. So..double edged sword.
So I guess you can say, I'm wondering about AI. :P
AI is destroying the business model for online content, which is a huge challenge for my agency…but it also has lots of potential to support new discoveries in science, medicine, etc. And it’s allowed me to stretch my limited coding skills pretty far!
I’m fixing bugs and making the first round of enhancements after sharing it with about 20 people last week. 😆 I’ll tag you when the next release (complete with domain name) is up on Friday.
I'm so impressed! Looking forward to trying it out. Loved the good enough approach to ensure you got something great done this week, while balancing everything else!
Karen, this is amazing. And I really appreciate how transparent you are about building everything in public. It makes the learning process for me as a reader super valuable. 🙏
I think there are two main audiences for this tool...publication managers (as you suggest) and readers:
For PUBLICATION MANAGERS:
Give your readers complete niche coverage without writing another word. With StackDigest, you can add AI-curated digests that make your newsletter the irreplaceable read they keep when others get cut.
For READERS:
Your newsletters are piling up, and you're missing great content. StackDigest creates personalized AI summaries of all your subscriptions, so you can catch up with your favorite publications in 5 minutes instead of 5 hours.
Karen, turning your newsletter into a digest format is brilliant! With 682 reads, you're clearly onto something that resonates with your audience.
AI curation can be such a game-changer for content creators - it helps us focus on the human connection while the tech handles the heavy lifting. Your 45 hearts and 11 comments show people are loving this approach.
What's been the biggest surprise about using AI to enhance your newsletter? I'm always curious how other creators are leveraging these tools! 🤖
This is such a great share—not just the tool itself, but the process you walked through. So many of us feel that “too much good content, not enough time” problem every day, and you went from conversation to MVP in a week. That’s impressive.
Also: the extra space in the API key… classic debugging plot twist. Thanks for keeping it real with the bumps as well as the wins. Excited to see how testers respond—it feels like something the Substack ecosystem really needs.
Thanks so much! ❤️
Already getting some really useful feedback from testers…lots of bugs to fix and ideas to explore!
So cool! Can’t wait to try this! There’s a lot that I want to read but it can be hard to keep up with it all.
I’ll send you a link to the MVP, would love to get your feedback!
Really looking forward to seeing this live. I did a similar thing for news articles in the past but lost steam before making it work nicely. I can still support you, if you need ☺️
Glad to see good old Django being you for this. It‘s an awesome framework for something like this.
A couple of tips I can give you:
When I use LLMs in Python, I always do so with the LiteLLM library. It provides the same interface for all major LLM providers so you can switch from Claude to OpenAI or Llama or whatever without changing your code.
If you plan on using background tasks extensively, Celery is cool, but you can also consider a workflow engine. I‘ve used Temporal and it‘s awesome. You basically give it lambdas to run and it will manage them for you. Really wish I new this before 😀
Ofc, that means having another service running. But you might be running Celery separately too, so…
Awesome, thanks for the tips! I’m going to check out LiteLLM and Temporal, this is the first time I’ve heard of either!
Karen, I think you did amazing for just 5 days! The product looks great and already has so many features, haha. Really love it so far and also how you’re sharing your building process!
Thank you! ❤️
I'm really looking forward to testing this with you Karen!
Just DM’d you the details! 😊
Super, thank you!
I don't know very much about how this sort of thing is built, so this was eye-opening for me! Thank you for detailing your process.
You’re very welcome! 😊
I too suffer from not enuf free time to ready my many subscriptions..looking forward to your 'next release'. Interesting concept.
As a devops guy, I've been learning how to use AI to save me lots of time doing bulk work, like writing an automation script, or converting an old perl script to python, etc. Not sure how I feel about this, but it certainly has lots of negative potential. If I don't use it though, I'll not be as productive, and will eventually be replaced by someone who does use it. So..double edged sword.
So I guess you can say, I'm wondering about AI. :P
Completely relate to the mixed feelings!
AI is destroying the business model for online content, which is a huge challenge for my agency…but it also has lots of potential to support new discoveries in science, medicine, etc. And it’s allowed me to stretch my limited coding skills pretty far!
That trailing space, that missing semi-colon, the little pests that stretch a programmer's patience... oh the joys!
The dreaded missing indentation
Hi very curious about all of these vibe-coded products popping up. Where is the link to your product?
I’m fixing bugs and making the first round of enhancements after sharing it with about 20 people last week. 😆 I’ll tag you when the next release (complete with domain name) is up on Friday.
I'm so impressed! Looking forward to trying it out. Loved the good enough approach to ensure you got something great done this week, while balancing everything else!
Thank you! ❤️
Just read the full piece and watched the demo video. Looks super cool and useful, Karen! Can't wait to try the MVP!
Thank you! 🙏 I’ll tag you on Friday with the latest rev!
Karen, this is amazing. And I really appreciate how transparent you are about building everything in public. It makes the learning process for me as a reader super valuable. 🙏
Thank you! 🤗
What can the product do that's most valuable for newsletter publication managers in two sentences?
I think there are two main audiences for this tool...publication managers (as you suggest) and readers:
For PUBLICATION MANAGERS:
Give your readers complete niche coverage without writing another word. With StackDigest, you can add AI-curated digests that make your newsletter the irreplaceable read they keep when others get cut.
For READERS:
Your newsletters are piling up, and you're missing great content. StackDigest creates personalized AI summaries of all your subscriptions, so you can catch up with your favorite publications in 5 minutes instead of 5 hours.
Cool logo!
Thanks!
Karen, turning your newsletter into a digest format is brilliant! With 682 reads, you're clearly onto something that resonates with your audience.
AI curation can be such a game-changer for content creators - it helps us focus on the human connection while the tech handles the heavy lifting. Your 45 hearts and 11 comments show people are loving this approach.
What's been the biggest surprise about using AI to enhance your newsletter? I'm always curious how other creators are leveraging these tools! 🤖
Hi! I think the idea here is to create a digest of all the newsletters I subscribe to, so I can see new articles in a single, easy-to-read format. 😄
Have loved following your progress on this. 🤞beta tester?!?!
Thank you! 🙏 I'll DM you a link to the MVP.