I'm working on a tool to make tracking business metrics easy. [0]

I've always had issues collecting business metrics like "signups per day" in observability tools, but using marketing type tools comes with it's own set of problems.

[0] https://flexlogs.com/

Since this is a timescaleDB topic, would timescale not work? (With a basic DB and a few continuous aggregates running in the background?)

I've been using TimescaleDB for a while as a metrics datastore. It's really proven to be great for aggregating data without a lot of hassle (using continuous aggregates, retention policies, etc).

I recommend it when you don't want/need to have separate sources for account data and your metrics/aggregate data.

I like using the em dash, but I try to limit it now—because chatgpt loves it even more. Maybe it's for the better, some people seem to have strong opinions about it.

I find it distracting, I think because I'm so used to humans using two hyphens as a substitute, sometimes with spaces around them, that a real em-dash used what I suppose is correctly looks too small and tight.

Yeah, understandable.

I’ve actually never been a fan of the “correct usage” that forgoes any spacing around it. I find it crowded and jarring.

I like to use a “thin space” around an em dash — it breaks it up without adding too much space.

As usual, isn't the next question... "What are you trying to build?"

I build most projects in Elixir/Phoenix these days, but wouldn't flinch at ROR if you are comfortable with it.

Right now, an AI tool that generates mockups for branding agencies. But I’m still validating the idea so who knows. Ideally, I would like a stack that would work for most SaaS I may think of building. Tempted to give Elixir Phoenix a try. I briefly tried it a few years back and it just felt right.

As it's just you I'd stick with Ruby on Rails 8[1] as you already know it and I think it could realistically easily achieve what you're proposing.

There's lots of libraries for calling out external AI services. e.g. something like FastMCP[2]. From the sound of it that's all you need.

I'd use Hotwire[3] for the frontend and Hotwire Native if you want to rollout an app version quickly. I'd back it with SolidCache, SolidQueue, etc

I'd use Kamal[4] to run it on cheap hosting using on something cheap from Hetzner.

1. https://rubyonrails.org/

2. https://github.com/yjacquin/fast-mcp

3. https://hotwired.dev/

4. https://kamal-deploy.org/

>What are you trying to build?

Indeed. Not everything even has to be a "web app" in the first place.

I love this, I've primarily been working in Elixir for a few years now and this is neat to see!

Yeah, unfortunately this is true. A street near my house has a limit of 40mph and people would regularly drive 60 mph+, sometimes someone would pass me doing 65+mph (it's a no-passing residential road).

Eventually someone died, and they added a lot of traffic-calming changes to the road. It's much nicer now, but a shame that someone had to die to change it.

I'm working on a solution for gathering product metrics and making sure applications keep running — when you don't want to install or maintain a lot of extra stuff. https://flexlogs.com

... also continuing to not add features to my (not-much-of-a) system for getting more done each week. https://carpeweekem.com

I've also been cautiously adding AI-powered features to my Heroku autoscaling tool (https://flightformation.com/) and a simple free-text time/date input has been the most popular (demo: https://x.com/ejschmitt/status/1893268742760448497)

Glad I'm not the only one that feels this way. For a small application when you just want some metrics and observability, it's a big burden to get it all working.

On my own projects, I send the metrics I care about out through the logs and have another project I run collect and aggregate them from the logs. Probably “wrong” but it works and it's easy to set up.

I usually implement the whole username/password auth flow, but recently used only magic links for a simple application.

Since the application only sends a weekly email (a markdown template for goal/task tracking) it seemed easier to just use a magic link, only.

I am happy at how much easier the auth code ended up, and fail to see much downside for such an application.

I'm not sure it would be a good system for more complex apps and services.

I have a system where users log in extremely infrequently. Tempting to move away from username & password because they just reset every time anyway.

Yeah - that's my thought too, the service I use them for is not something people often log into. Sometimes never.