Narro is a $5/month social media curation app that delivers algorithm-free feeds from social media profiles on almost any platform. Built with AI-first development using Claude Code, we'll move from concept to launch in 3-4 weeks through focused 1.5-hour working sessions. This is a meta-learning project for Black IT Academy members to experience modern AI-assisted product development at startup speed.
- Pricing: $5/month for unlimited profiles (no free tier)
- Platforms: iOS App Store + Android Play Store + Web App
- Authentication: Email-based (one-time password, passkey, or saved password)
- Tech Stack: To be determined in Session 1 (web framework, mobile framework, database, deployment)
- Master AI-assisted rapid development workflows
- Ship production software in weeks through focused sessions
- Learn complete business operations alongside development
- Build real portfolio projects with paying customers
Working Session Structure:
- Each session: 1.5 hours
- Several sessions per week (flexible scheduling)
- Sessions can be done solo or with team members
- Focus on one clear outcome per session
Timeline:
- 20-24 working sessions total (3-4 weeks at 2-3 sessions/day or 5-7 sessions/week)
- Sessions grouped into phases but can be reordered based on availability
Sessions 1-8 (Week 1-2)
Goal: Define entire technical ecosystem with Claude
Activities:
- Discuss requirements and constraints
- Evaluate tech stack options with Claude (web frameworks, mobile frameworks, databases)
- Make architecture decisions based on team skills and project needs
- Database schema design (users, profiles, feeds, subscriptions)
- Scraping strategy for social media platforms
- Authentication flow specification
- Mobile + Web architecture decisions
Deliverable: Architecture document with all tech decisions finalized
Goal: Get all projects initialized and connected
Activities:
- Claude Code scaffolds web app (using framework chosen in Session 1)
- Claude Code scaffolds mobile app (using framework chosen in Session 1)
- Set up repository structure
- Initialize database (using solution chosen in Session 1)
- Basic CI/CD pipeline
Deliverable: Empty but runnable projects on localhost
Goal: Core auth system working
Activities:
- Email-based authentication implementation
- Magic link / one-time password system
- Passkey support setup
- Traditional password option
- Session management
Deliverable: Authentication API endpoints working
Goal: Users can sign up and log in on web
Activities:
- Login/signup UI (web)
- Email verification flow
- Session persistence
- Basic user dashboard
Deliverable: Can create account and log in via web app
Goal: Auth working on iOS and Android
Activities:
- Implement auth screens in mobile framework
- Test on iOS simulator
- Test on Android emulator
- Handle platform-specific auth flows
Deliverable: Can create account and log in via mobile apps
Goal: Payment system working
Activities:
- Stripe account setup
- Subscription product creation ($5/month)
- Payment flow implementation
- Webhook handling for subscription events
- Basic subscription management UI
Deliverable: Users can subscribe and payment works
Goal: Core data models in place
Activities:
- User profiles table
- Social accounts table (stores followed profiles)
- Feed items table
- Subscription status tracking
- Basic CRUD APIs for profile management
Deliverable: Database structure complete, APIs testable
Goal: Users can add/remove social profiles
Activities:
- Search and add social profiles interface
- Display user's saved profiles
- Delete/manage profiles
- Works on web and mobile
Deliverable: Can search for and save social media profiles to follow
Sessions 9-12 (Week 2)
Goal: Build scraper framework that works across platforms
Activities:
- Set up scraping library/framework
- Build reusable scraper components
- Handle authentication/cookies if needed
- Rate limiting and retry logic
- Error handling for failed scrapes
Deliverable: Scraping infrastructure ready to use
Goal: Can scrape posts from Twitter/X, LinkedIn, Instagram
Activities:
- Build scrapers for 2-3 major platforms
- Parse HTML/JSON to extract posts, images, links
- Normalize data into unified format
- Store scraped content in database
- Test with various profile types
Deliverable: Can scrape and store posts from multiple social platforms
Goal: Create unified feed from all sources
Activities:
- Combine posts from all platforms
- Chronological ordering
- Pagination logic
- Refresh mechanism
- Background job for scheduled scraping
Deliverable: Single unified feed showing content from all followed profiles
Goal: Beautiful feed interface on web and mobile
Activities:
- Feed UI design and implementation (web)
- Post cards with images, text, links
- Mobile feed UI
- Pull to refresh
- Platform indicators (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram icons)
Deliverable: Clean, usable feed on both web and mobile apps
Sessions 13-16 (Week 2-3)
Goal: Everything works smoothly
Activities:
- Test all user flows end-to-end
- Fix critical bugs
- Improve error messages
- Loading states
- Empty states
Deliverable: Solid MVP ready for internal testing
Goal: Team tests and provides feedback
Activities:
- Black IT Academy members test the app
- Document all issues and suggestions
- Prioritize fixes
- Create issue list
Deliverable: Comprehensive feedback document
Goal: Fix major issues and polish UX
Activities:
- Address breaking bugs
- Fix auth issues
- Fix payment flow problems
- Improve navigation flow
- Better onboarding
- UI refinements
Deliverable: All critical bugs resolved, app feels polished
Goal: Verify everything works
Activities:
- Team retests everything
- Verify bug fixes
- Test edge cases
- Performance check
- Final approval for launch prep
Deliverable: Confidence in product quality
Sessions 17-21 (Week 3)
Goal: Production environment ready
Activities:
- Production database setup with backups
- Deploy web app to hosting platform
- Environment variables configured
- Error monitoring (Sentry)
- Analytics setup (PostHog or Mixpanel)
Deliverable: Production infrastructure live and monitored
Goal: Terms and policies in place
Activities:
- Use Claude to draft Terms of Service
- Draft Privacy Policy
- Cookie policy
- Add to website footer
- Compliance check
Deliverable: Legal documents published
Goal: Apps submitted for review
Activities:
- Create iOS App Store listing (screenshots, description)
- Create Google Play Store listing
- Submit iOS app for review
- Submit Android app for review
- TestFlight setup for beta testing
Deliverable: Apps in review, web app live
Goal: Marketing presence ready
Activities:
- Landing page with value proposition
- Demo video or screenshots
- Social media accounts setup
- Product Hunt draft
- Launch announcement prepared
Deliverable: Ready to market the product
Goal: Legal business entity created
Activities:
- LLC formation online (30 minutes)
- Business bank account application
- EIN registration
- Basic bookkeeping setup
Deliverable: Legitimate business entity
Sessions 22-24 (Week 3-4)
Goal: First real users
Activities:
- Private launch to Black IT Academy network
- Personal network outreach
- Monitor for critical issues
- Quick bug fixes if needed
Deliverable: First 10-20 paying customers
Goal: Public visibility
Activities:
- Launch on Product Hunt
- Engage with comments
- Share on Twitter/LinkedIn
- Monitor signups and issues
Deliverable: Public presence, traffic spike
Goal: Handle launch issues
Activities:
- Fix any bugs from real usage
- Respond to user feedback
- Monitor server load
- Customer support responses
Deliverable: Stable product with real customers
Ongoing sessions after launch
Marketing & Content (1.5 hours each):
- Blog posts about social media productivity
- SEO optimization
- Community engagement
- Social media management
- Outreach to tech bloggers
Feature Development (1.5 hours each):
- Advanced filtering (keywords, content types)
- Feed organization (folders, tags)
- Additional platform integrations (YouTube, Threads, Bluesky)
- Export/save functionality
- Analytics dashboard
Business Development (1.5 hours each):
- Customer feedback analysis
- Metrics review and reporting
- B2B outreach
- Partnership discussions
- Team/Enterprise tier development
- Domain & hosting: $50
- Infrastructure (database, hosting): $100-200
- Apple Developer account: $99
- Google Play Developer account: $25
- Tools (monitoring, analytics): $50
- Total Initial Investment: ~$300-400 (LLC can come later)
- Infrastructure: $100-300 (scales with users)
- API costs: $200-800 (Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram)
- Tools & services: $100 (email, analytics, monitoring)
- Payment processing: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (Stripe)
- Total Monthly: $400-1,200
- Month 1: 50 users × $5 = $250 MRR
- Month 3: 200 users × $5 = $1,000 MRR (break-even)
- Month 6: 500 users × $5 = $2,500 MRR
- Month 12: 1,500 users × $5 = $7,500 MRR ($90K ARR)
- Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR)
- Churn rate (target: <5% monthly)
- Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) - keep under $15
- Lifetime Value (LTV) - target 12+ month retention
- Daily Active Users (DAU) / Monthly Active Users (MAU)
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
Product Owner / Claude Code Driver (1-2 people):
- Lead working sessions
- Write requirements and user stories
- Prompt Claude Code for features
- Review and test generated code
- Make technical decisions
QA / Testing (1-2 people):
- Test features across devices
- Document bugs and edge cases
- User acceptance testing
- Can participate in any session to test
Business Operations (1 person):
- Handle legal and financial setup
- Monitor metrics and finances
- Customer support coordination
- Can work async between dev sessions
Marketing & Growth (1-2 people):
- Create marketing content
- Social media management
- Community engagement
- Launch coordination
Monday: Planning (30 min)
- Review last week's progress
- Schedule this week's working sessions
- Prioritize what to tackle next
Friday: Demo (30 min)
- Demo completed work
- Celebrate wins
- Discuss what's next
Ad-hoc: Team members join working sessions when available
API Rate Limits:
- Risk: Social platforms restrict API access
- Mitigation: Start with public APIs, build web scraping fallback, focus on 2-3 platforms initially
App Store Rejection:
- Risk: Apple/Google rejects app in review
- Mitigation: Web app launches regardless, follow guidelines strictly, have web-first mindset
Claude Code Over-Reliance:
- Risk: Team doesn't understand generated code
- Mitigation: At least one team member must fully understand each component, mandatory code reviews
Low Initial Adoption:
- Risk: Can't get first 100 paying users
- Mitigation: Black IT Academy network provides initial users, keep costs low, iterate based on feedback
Payment Processing Issues:
- Risk: Stripe account issues or payment failures
- Mitigation: Have backup processor ready (Paddle), clear communication with customers
Burnout / Inconsistent Sessions:
- Risk: Team loses momentum, sessions don't happen
- Mitigation: Keep sessions short (1.5 hours), no pressure on frequency, celebrate small wins
Last Updated: February 6, 2026
Note: This section reflects the original roadmap structure. See update.md for detailed recent progress.
Phase 1: Technical Foundation
- ✅ Session 1: Complete System Architecture - Architecture document finalized, tech stack decided (Go + Gin, Next.js, React Native + Expo, Supabase)
- ✅ Session 2: Project Scaffolding - All projects initialized and runnable locally
- ✅ Session 3: Authentication System - Backend - Supabase Auth integration complete with signup, login, logout endpoints
- ✅ Session 4: Authentication System - Frontend - Web auth UI complete with protected routes
- ✅ Session 7: Database Schema & APIs - Complete schema with 5 migrations (users, profiles, lists, feed_items, themes), all CRUD APIs working
- ✅ Session 8: Profile Management UI - Users can add/remove social profiles, create/manage lists on web
Phase 2: Core Features
- ✅ Session 9: Web Scraping Infrastructure - Scraper service implemented with ScraperAPI and Apify providers, job queue system
- ✅ Session 10: Multi-Platform Scrapers - Parsers complete for Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn with duplicate detection
- ✅ Session 11: Feed Aggregation Engine - Feed API with pagination, filtering, chronological ordering
- 🟡 Session 12: Feed Display - Feed UI implemented on web, needs mobile implementation
Additional Features (Beyond Original Roadmap)
- ✅ Themes System: Complete user-customizable theme system with 3 default themes, theme selector UI, CSS variable integration
- ✅ Thumbnail Storage: Pluggable storage system for downloading and serving thumbnails, local filesystem provider implemented
- Feed display UI polish and mobile implementation
- Mobile authentication screens
- Thumbnail optimization and cleanup
- Session 5: Authentication - Mobile
- Session 6: Stripe Integration
- Sessions 13-16: Testing & Refinement
- Sessions 17-21: Launch Preparation
- Sessions 22-24: Launch
- ✅ Session 8: Can add social profiles to follow
- ✅ Session 11: Feed aggregation working
- 🟡 Session 12: Feed display (web complete, mobile pending)
- ⏳ Session 13: MVP complete, internal testing begins
- ⏳ Session 19: Apps submitted to stores, web app live
- ⏳ Session 24: Public launch, first paying customers
- ✓ Week 4: 25+ paying customers ($125 MRR)
- ✓ Month 2: 100+ paying customers ($500 MRR)
- ✓ Month 3: Break-even (200+ customers, $1,000 MRR)
- ✓ Month 6: 500+ customers ($2,500 MRR)
- ✓ Month 12: 1,500+ customers ($7,500 MRR)
- ✓ All team members understand AI-assisted development workflow
- ✓ 2+ members can independently prompt Claude Code for features
- ✓ Team collectively handles operations, support, and marketing
- ✓ Every active member has portfolio-ready work from Narro
- ✓ Team completes full product lifecycle in 3-4 weeks
- Complete mobile authentication screens (Session 5)
- Implement Stripe payment integration (Session 6)
- Polish feed display UI and add mobile feed view
- Test end-to-end user flows
- Set up production infrastructure
- Complete Phase 2: Finish feed display on mobile
- Begin Phase 3: Testing and refinement
- Set up error monitoring (Sentry)
- Set up analytics (PostHog)
- Prepare for internal testing
- Complete Phase 3: Testing and bug fixes
- Begin Phase 4: Launch preparation
- Set up production deployment
- Prepare App Store submissions
- Create marketing assets
- ✅ System architecture finalized
- ✅ All projects scaffolded and running
- ✅ Authentication system (web) complete
- ✅ Profile management complete
- ✅ Scraper service operational
- ✅ Feed aggregation working
- ✅ Themes system implemented
- ✅ Thumbnail storage system implemented
Current State (February 6, 2026):
- Backend: Production-ready API with auth, feed management, RSS, profile favoriting, 24 migrations complete
- Web App: Full-featured with feed customization, Wide Mode, tutorial system, Next.js 16.0.10 (security patched)
- Scraper Service: Operational with multi-provider support, S3 storage, avatar processing, frequency calculation
- Mobile App: Scaffolded, core architecture in place, implementation in progress
- Deployment: Automated CI/CD with Gitea Actions, container registry deployment to Vultr
- Mobile App: Scaffolded, authentication screens pending
- Database: 5 migrations complete, all core tables in place
Progress: ~11 of 24 planned sessions complete (46%), with additional features (themes, thumbnails) beyond original scope
Key Achievements:
- ✅ Complete backend API with GORM and Supabase integration
- ✅ Web app with full authentication and profile management
- ✅ Scraper service with multiple provider support
- ✅ Feed aggregation engine with pagination and filtering
- ✅ Themes system for user customization
- ✅ Thumbnail storage and serving infrastructure
Remaining Work:
- Mobile authentication and feed display
- Stripe payment integration
- Testing and refinement phase
- Production deployment
- App Store submissions
- Launch preparation
The project uses a unified CI/CD pipeline that supports both staging and production environments:
- Staging Environment: Single server hosting both backend and web, deployed from
stagingbranch - Production Environment: Multi-server setup, deployed only from git tags (e.g.,
v1.0.0) onmainbranch - Main Branch: Builds Docker images but does not deploy (for testing builds)
- Push to
stagingbranch → Builds and deploys to staging server - Push to
mainbranch → Builds images only (no deployment) - Push tag
v*tomain→ Builds and deploys to production servers
- Domains are configured as CI/CD variables (not secrets) for easy updates without code changes
- Secrets (SSH keys, API keys, etc.) are stored securely in Gitea secrets
- Image tagging: Staging uses
staging-{commit-sha}, production uses{commit-sha}andlatest
For complete CI/CD documentation, see .claude/cicd-workflow.md.
This project demonstrates the power of AI-assisted development. Through focused working sessions, we've built a substantial portion of the application in a short timeframe. The session-based approach has proven effective:
- Flexible scheduling - work when you have time
- Clear outcomes - each session has one goal
- Sustainable pace - 1.5 hours prevents burnout
- AI acceleration - Claude Code does the heavy lifting
- Web scraping - faster than API integrations, no approvals needed
The journey continues toward launch, with core infrastructure in place and a clear path to completion.
Let's ship this thing.