Nous 1.0: It's out.

Recap, updates, tech and why I am not excited about releasing this.

Dec 13, 2023

Goal: $5
Current: $0

After two months of building, I’m glad to say that a full 1.0 version of Nous is out.

Recap

Nous is a search engine for bookmarks. It’s a chrome extension that indexes whatever you bookmark and a web app where you can semantically search for them.

Earlier this year, I launched Nous and got up to 100 users. After getting some feedback, I learned a lot of stuff;

the tool doesn’t work well if it doesn’t map to users’ habits.
people can’t see the tool's value if it doesn’t immediately recognize and work with their habits.
the tool needed to explain its usefulness the first time it opened for anyone.

What’s new?

The new extension and website are now live.
I’ve rewritten the front end, added an actual database, and made sure the extension is easier to use.

I’ll split my this newsletter into two parts: Updates and Tech

Updates:

Extension:
- Has better indexing. The extension now successfully removes irrelevant text (ads, popups, etc) to ensure only the important part of the page is indexed for better search results.
- Listens in whenever and wherever you add your bookmarks and automatically indexes them for you.
- Redesigned and has a button to go back to the app.
- Handles login/logout states better and automatically logs the user in when logged out.
- Better toast notifications to convey the error and success states.
Application
- Redesigned and rewrote the front end. (Had a lot more things in mind but I’ll slowly add things along the way!)
- An import feature that lets users import their bookmarks from the get-go.
- A welcome modal for all users to get started, and learn how to use the app.
- A neat, low-key upgrade button.
- Search results are less restrictive. This is to decrease the chances of a false negative (at the cost of false positives, which I think is a fair trade-off for now)

Tech:

I’m using NextJS 14 for the front end. I just picked it up because it seemed like it had a lot of support and many tutorials on how to do most things. Also, using shadcn-ui and Radix Colors.
I’m using a database now! I’m making good use of Supabase and its features. There are webhooks, database functions, constraints, Row-Level Security, and more. Fun fact: I was using JSON and log files to store data before!
For better indexing of the web pages, I’m using Mozilla’s ReadabilityJS. It strips the web page of useless tags, ads, and more and converts it to a nice, readable page.
The feature that I worked the longest on was the import feature. It’s a feature that fully utilizes every component of my tech stack. I’m using a proxy server and rotating user agents to evade detection. So far, only Google and YouTube block my scrapers.

What’s next?

There’s still a long way to go before I hit my ramen profitability. I’m just done with the first actual version of this. There are loads to be fixed and tuned.

That’s actually why I’m not excited about this launch.

A little while back, I had a little bit of a sinking feeling.

I just realized that I won’t be able to sit back and enjoy once I launch this.

How well Nous does will depend more on what I do from now on than on what I built before

I may have imagined myself taking a little break after this while Nous prints money for me and I start doing whatever the fuck I want.
But obviously, that’s far off.

I think I do imagine a future where I get good at doing this stuff and I can take a break and start my hobbies.

But, in fact, from now on, I’m going to have to do even more stuff to make sure what I built gets feedback.
And I’m gonna have to fix things faster and on the fly.
It’s kind of broken obviously, but I’ll add small improvements every day
I have to talk to people every day
I have to edit videos, write copies, and find niche subreddits to post Nous in.