I built a tool to stop clients from texting 'any update?' at 11 PM - Here's the tech stack and what I learned

The Problem

As a freelance developer, I was spending 6+ hours/week answering "any update?" messages from clients.

Even though I'd just sent them an update yesterday.

The issue wasn't lack of communication. It was communication scattered across 5 platforms (email, Slack, WhatsApp, SMS, DMs).

Clients genuinely forgot what I told them because it was buried in threads.

The Solution

Built Animiso - a dead-simple client update feed.

How it works:

1. Freelancer posts updates (text + images)
2. Client gets one permanent link
3. Client checks progress anytime (no login required)
4. No more "any update?" texts

The Tech Stack

Frontend:

• Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS (keeping it simple)
• Bootstrap Icons + Lucide
• No framework bloat

Backend:

• Node.js + Express
• PostgreSQL for data
• JWT auth for freelancers
• Cloudflare for CDN/caching

Why no React?
Speed. The client-facing pages load in <100ms because there's no JS framework overhead. Just fast, static HTML.

File uploads:

• Cloudflare R2 (S3-compatible, cheaper)
• Image optimization on upload
• Max 5MB per image

Early Results (Week 3)

• 18 beta users testing
• 4.2 hours avg saved per user/week
• 89% would recommend
• 0 "any update?" texts reported since onboarding

What I Learned

1. Authentication should be frictionless

• Freelancers use email magic links (no password)
• Clients don't need accounts at all
• Lower friction = higher adoption

2. Mobile-first is critical

• 70% of client views are on mobile
• Had to optimize for small screens first

3. Real-time isn't necessary

• Thought about WebSockets for live updates
• Realized clients check once a day max
• Saved weeks of dev time by skipping it

4. Speed > Features

• Clients don't care about fancy UI
• They care about seeing updates fast
• Sub-100ms load time matters more than animations

What's Next

Opening 25 beta spots next week for freelancers who want to test it: animiso.fun

Questions for the community:

• What would you add to this stack?
• Any security considerations I'm missing?
• How would you handle file versioning?

Building in public. Code is closed source for now but happy to discuss architecture.

Cheers,
Levi

animiso.fun