echoes

The internet's emotional memory. One moment per day.

A minimalist web platform where people anonymously submit short reflections responding to a single daily prompt. No accounts, no likes, no comments, no feeds—just the quiet truth of how the world feels.

🌍 Philosophy

• Anonymous by default — no identity, no history, no clout
• Once per day — one submission per person, per prompt
• Text only — no images, no formatting, no noise
• Time over engagement — moments discovered through time, not popularity
• Emotion, not opinion — no debates, just experiences

🚀 Features

• Daily Prompt — One global question that changes every 24 hours (UTC)
• 240 Character Echoes — Anonymous submissions classified by emotion
• Time-Based Discovery — Explore random moments, jump to any second, or revisit one year ago
• Emotion Pulse — Aggregated visualization of today's emotional landscape
• No Dark Patterns — No infinite scroll, no engagement metrics, no manipulation

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Framework: Next.js 14 (App Router, Edge Runtime)
• Database: Vercel Postgres
• Styling: Tailwind CSS
• Language: TypeScript
• Deployment: Vercel

📦 Installation

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/luvaary/Echos.git
cd echoes

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Add your Vercel Postgres credentials to .env

# Setup database
npm run setup-db

# Run development server
npm run dev

Visit http://localhost:3000

🗄️ Database Schema

prompts

• id — Unique identifier
• text — Prompt text (max 200 chars)
• date — UTC date (unique)

echoes

• id — Unique identifier
• content — Echo text (max 240 chars)
• created_at — Timestamp
• prompt_id — Reference to prompt
• emotion — Classified emotion (calm, hopeful, anxious, heavy, joyful, lost)
• country — Optional 2-letter country code

🔐 Environment Variables

Required variables (see .env.example):

POSTGRES_URL
POSTGRES_PRISMA_URL
POSTGRES_URL_NO_SSL
POSTGRES_URL_NON_POOLING
POSTGRES_USER
POSTGRES_HOST
POSTGRES_PASSWORD
POSTGRES_DATABASE
CRON_SECRET

🚢 Deployment

Vercel (Recommended)

1. Push code to GitHub
2. Import project to Vercel
3. Add Vercel Postgres database
4. Environment variables are auto-populated
5. Add CRON_SECRET manually
6. Deploy

The cron job will automatically rotate prompts daily at midnight UTC.

Self-Hosting

Requires:

• Node.js 18.17+
• PostgreSQL database
• Cron job scheduler for prompt rotation

📝 Project Structure

echoes/
├─ app/                    # Next.js App Router
│  ├─ api/                # API routes
│  ├─ echoes/             # Discovery pages
│  └─ submit/             # Submission page
├─ components/            # React components
├─ lib/                   # Core logic
│  ├─ db.ts              # Database layer
│  ├─ emotions.ts        # Emotion classification
│  ├─ prompts.ts         # Prompt rotation
│  └─ rateLimit.ts       # Submission limits
├─ scripts/              # Setup scripts
└─ styles/               # Global styles

🎨 Design Principles

• Typography-first — Content is the design
• Neutral colors — Off-white backgrounds, near-black text
• No animations unless meaningful — Respect user attention
• Silence is intentional — Space to breathe

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome. Please open an issue first to discuss changes.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

🌐 Links

• Live Site: [Coming soon]
• GitHub: https://github.com/luvaary/Echos
• Issues: https://github.com/luvaary/Echos/issues

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Built with intention. No dark patterns. Just moments.