Vibecode Podia
track this build5 steps, step by step0%Selling a few digital downloads or a course is buildable, but Podia bundles checkout, file delivery, courses, email, memberships, affiliates, and support.
You are building a lean indie version of Podia. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== README.md ===== # Podia indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Podia workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Build product pages, Stripe checkout, gated downloads/course lessons, customer accounts, and email receipts. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - checkout/product UX - course hosting - email marketing - memberships - affiliates - tax/payment details - support If those capabilities are essential, use Ghost instead of pretending the gap is solved. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs". ===== BUILD_PLAN.md ===== # Build plan ## Original build brief Build me a small digital-products store to replace Podia, for selling a few downloads, not running a course business. Requirements: - Node + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages with nunjucks, deployed on my VPS behind my existing reverse proxy. - Products live in products.json: slug, title, price, description, and the file to deliver. Delivered files sit outside the web root. - One page per product plus a /store index. The buy button goes straight to Stripe Checkout (keys in .env); no cart, no coupons. - Stripe webhook on payment: record the order in SQLite (email, product, amount, timestamp) and email the buyer a download link via Resend or SMTP (creds in .env). - Download links are signed tokens that expire after 7 days or 5 uses; an expired link shows a resend-by-email form. - An /admin page behind HTTP basic auth: order list and revenue per product. - Out of scope: memberships, drip courses, email marketing, and affiliates. Do not build customer accounts, the receipt email is the account. - README: Stripe webhook setup with the CLI test command, and a plain note that VAT/sales tax is on me, Stripe Tax exists if it matters. ## Required capabilities - Stripe - file storage - auth - hosted site - email service - course/content database ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden. ===== .env.example ===== # Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
You are building a lean indie version of Podia. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== README.md ===== # Podia indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Podia workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Build product pages, Stripe checkout, gated downloads/course lessons, customer accounts, and email receipts. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - checkout/product UX - course hosting - email marketing - memberships - affiliates - tax/payment details - support If those capabilities are essential, use Ghost instead of pretending the gap is solved. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs". ===== BUILD_PLAN.md ===== # Build plan ## Original build brief Build me a small digital-products store to replace Podia, for selling a few downloads, not running a course business. Requirements: - Node + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages with nunjucks, deployed on my VPS behind my existing reverse proxy. - Products live in products.json: slug, title, price, description, and the file to deliver. Delivered files sit outside the web root. - One page per product plus a /store index. The buy button goes straight to Stripe Checkout (keys in .env); no cart, no coupons. - Stripe webhook on payment: record the order in SQLite (email, product, amount, timestamp) and email the buyer a download link via Resend or SMTP (creds in .env). - Download links are signed tokens that expire after 7 days or 5 uses; an expired link shows a resend-by-email form. - An /admin page behind HTTP basic auth: order list and revenue per product. - Out of scope: memberships, drip courses, email marketing, and affiliates. Do not build customer accounts, the receipt email is the account. - README: Stripe webhook setup with the CLI test command, and a plain note that VAT/sales tax is on me, Stripe Tax exists if it matters. ## Required capabilities - Stripe - file storage - auth - hosted site - email service - course/content database ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden. ===== .env.example ===== # Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
You are building a production product version of Podia. Create the following project files first, then implement the application by following them. Keep the files updated as decisions change. Do not collapse this into a single README or prompt. ===== PRODUCT.md ===== # Podia product brief ## Problem Selling a few digital downloads or a course is buildable, but Podia bundles checkout, file delivery, courses, email, memberships, affiliates, and support. ## Product outcome Build product pages, Stripe checkout, gated downloads/course lessons, customer accounts, and email receipts. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Stripe - file storage - auth - hosted site - email service - course/content database ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - checkout/product UX - course hosting - email marketing - memberships - affiliates - tax/payment details - support ## Success criteria - The primary workflow is measurable end to end. - Setup is reproducible in a clean environment. - Failure, recovery, and support paths are documented. - Product claims match what the implementation actually guarantees. ===== ARCHITECTURE.md ===== # Architecture ## Starting brief Build me a small digital-products store to replace Podia, for selling a few downloads, not running a course business. Requirements: - Node + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages with nunjucks, deployed on my VPS behind my existing reverse proxy. - Products live in products.json: slug, title, price, description, and the file to deliver. Delivered files sit outside the web root. - One page per product plus a /store index. The buy button goes straight to Stripe Checkout (keys in .env); no cart, no coupons. - Stripe webhook on payment: record the order in SQLite (email, product, amount, timestamp) and email the buyer a download link via Resend or SMTP (creds in .env). - Download links are signed tokens that expire after 7 days or 5 uses; an expired link shows a resend-by-email form. - An /admin page behind HTTP basic auth: order list and revenue per product. - Out of scope: memberships, drip courses, email marketing, and affiliates. Do not build customer accounts, the receipt email is the account. - README: Stripe webhook setup with the CLI test command, and a plain note that VAT/sales tax is on me, Stripe Tax exists if it matters. ## Boundaries Separate the product into replaceable modules for interface, application logic, persistence, external integrations, and operational concerns. Keep domain logic independent from delivery frameworks and vendors. ## Production baseline - Configuration: validated at startup with safe local defaults where possible. - Security: least privilege, input validation, secret redaction, rate limits on abuse-prone paths, and no invented security primitives. - Data: explicit schema and migrations, transactional writes where integrity matters, backup and restore instructions. - Integrations: adapters around third-party providers, idempotent webhook or job processing, bounded retries, and timeouts. - Observability: structured logs with request or operation IDs, an error-tracking hook, and health/readiness checks where a server exists. - Quality: unit tests for domain rules, integration tests at module boundaries, and one end-to-end critical-path test. ## Decision records For each major dependency, document why it was chosen, its failure mode, and how it can be replaced. Do not introduce infrastructure until a requirement justifies it. ===== AGENTS.md ===== # Agent instructions - Read `PRODUCT.md` and `ARCHITECTURE.md` before changing code. - Implement milestone by milestone; keep each change reviewable and leave the application runnable. - Treat authentication, payments, encryption, imports, webhooks, and destructive actions as high-risk boundaries when present. - Never invent cryptography or silently weaken a requirement to make a test pass. - Use provider interfaces for external services and deterministic fakes in tests. - Add migrations and rollback or recovery notes for persistent data changes. - Log useful operational context without credentials, tokens, passwords, or personal data. - Update documentation and run all checks before completing a milestone. ===== MILESTONES.md ===== # Delivery milestones ## M0 — Decisions and scaffold - Confirm the runtime, persistence model, threat boundaries, and deployment target. - Create a reproducible local environment and continuous checks. ## M1 — Core workflow - Implement the smallest end-to-end product path with validation and tests. - Keep integrations behind interfaces. ## M2 — Trust layer - Add secure failure behavior, recovery paths, audit-relevant events, and data safeguards. - Test abuse cases and destructive operations. ## M3 — Operability - Add structured logs, error reporting hooks, health signals, backup/restore documentation, and deployment configuration. ## M4 — Release gate - Run a clean-install test, critical-path end-to-end test, dependency review, and documented rollback exercise. - Compare the shipped behavior with `PRODUCT.md` and publish remaining limitations. ===== OPERATIONS.md ===== # Operations ## Before release - Validate configuration and secrets at startup. - Define backup, restore, and rollback procedures and test them. - Document logs, error tracking, health signals, and alert ownership. - Set dependency update and vulnerability review expectations. ## Incident checklist 1. Contain the issue without destroying evidence or user data. 2. Record the timeline and affected scope. 3. Rotate exposed secrets and revoke compromised sessions or credentials. 4. Restore from a verified source when needed. 5. Document the root cause, remediation, and regression test. ## Launch constraint Do not market omitted Podia capabilities as implemented. The v1 non-goals in `PRODUCT.md` remain user-visible limitations until they are deliberately delivered.
# Podia indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Podia workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Build product pages, Stripe checkout, gated downloads/course lessons, customer accounts, and email receipts. ## Quick start 1. Install the documented dependencies. 2. Copy `.env.example` to `.env`. 3. Run the development command chosen during implementation. 4. Complete the acceptance checks in `BUILD_PLAN.md`. ## Honest limits This build deliberately does not replace: - checkout/product UX - course hosting - email marketing - memberships - affiliates - tax/payment details - support If those capabilities are essential, use Ghost instead of pretending the gap is solved.
# Agent instructions - Optimize for a working, understandable weekend build. - Prefer the fewest moving parts that satisfy the brief. - Do not invent cryptography, security guarantees, APIs, or compliance claims. - Keep secrets out of source control and logs. - Add focused tests for destructive, security-sensitive, and data-loss paths. - Run the project checks before declaring the build complete. - Record any deliberate shortcut in the README under "Tradeoffs".
# Build plan ## Original build brief Build me a small digital-products store to replace Podia, for selling a few downloads, not running a course business. Requirements: - Node + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages with nunjucks, deployed on my VPS behind my existing reverse proxy. - Products live in products.json: slug, title, price, description, and the file to deliver. Delivered files sit outside the web root. - One page per product plus a /store index. The buy button goes straight to Stripe Checkout (keys in .env); no cart, no coupons. - Stripe webhook on payment: record the order in SQLite (email, product, amount, timestamp) and email the buyer a download link via Resend or SMTP (creds in .env). - Download links are signed tokens that expire after 7 days or 5 uses; an expired link shows a resend-by-email form. - An /admin page behind HTTP basic auth: order list and revenue per product. - Out of scope: memberships, drip courses, email marketing, and affiliates. Do not build customer accounts, the receipt email is the account. - README: Stripe webhook setup with the CLI test command, and a plain note that VAT/sales tax is on me, Stripe Tax exists if it matters. ## Required capabilities - Stripe - file storage - auth - hosted site - email service - course/content database ## Delivery order 1. Scaffold the smallest runnable application and document its commands. 2. Implement the primary data model and core workflow. 3. Add validation, safe failure states, and persistence. 4. Cover the critical path with automated tests. 5. Exercise a clean install from the README and fix every missing step. ## Done when - A new user can go from clone to first successful workflow using only the README. - The core workflow works without paid infrastructure unless the brief requires it. - Tests cover the highest-risk behavior. - Known limitations are explicit rather than hidden.
# Copy to .env and document every variable when it is introduced. # Never put real credentials in this file. APP_ENV=development # Add only values required by the selected implementation.
# Podia product brief ## Problem Selling a few digital downloads or a course is buildable, but Podia bundles checkout, file delivery, courses, email, memberships, affiliates, and support. ## Product outcome Build product pages, Stripe checkout, gated downloads/course lessons, customer accounts, and email receipts. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Stripe - file storage - auth - hosted site - email service - course/content database ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - checkout/product UX - course hosting - email marketing - memberships - affiliates - tax/payment details - support ## Success criteria - The primary workflow is measurable end to end. - Setup is reproducible in a clean environment. - Failure, recovery, and support paths are documented. - Product claims match what the implementation actually guarantees.
# Architecture ## Starting brief Build me a small digital-products store to replace Podia, for selling a few downloads, not running a course business. Requirements: - Node + Express + better-sqlite3, server-rendered pages with nunjucks, deployed on my VPS behind my existing reverse proxy. - Products live in products.json: slug, title, price, description, and the file to deliver. Delivered files sit outside the web root. - One page per product plus a /store index. The buy button goes straight to Stripe Checkout (keys in .env); no cart, no coupons. - Stripe webhook on payment: record the order in SQLite (email, product, amount, timestamp) and email the buyer a download link via Resend or SMTP (creds in .env). - Download links are signed tokens that expire after 7 days or 5 uses; an expired link shows a resend-by-email form. - An /admin page behind HTTP basic auth: order list and revenue per product. - Out of scope: memberships, drip courses, email marketing, and affiliates. Do not build customer accounts, the receipt email is the account. - README: Stripe webhook setup with the CLI test command, and a plain note that VAT/sales tax is on me, Stripe Tax exists if it matters. ## Boundaries Separate the product into replaceable modules for interface, application logic, persistence, external integrations, and operational concerns. Keep domain logic independent from delivery frameworks and vendors. ## Production baseline - Configuration: validated at startup with safe local defaults where possible. - Security: least privilege, input validation, secret redaction, rate limits on abuse-prone paths, and no invented security primitives. - Data: explicit schema and migrations, transactional writes where integrity matters, backup and restore instructions. - Integrations: adapters around third-party providers, idempotent webhook or job processing, bounded retries, and timeouts. - Observability: structured logs with request or operation IDs, an error-tracking hook, and health/readiness checks where a server exists. - Quality: unit tests for domain rules, integration tests at module boundaries, and one end-to-end critical-path test. ## Decision records For each major dependency, document why it was chosen, its failure mode, and how it can be replaced. Do not introduce infrastructure until a requirement justifies it.
# Agent instructions - Read `PRODUCT.md` and `ARCHITECTURE.md` before changing code. - Implement milestone by milestone; keep each change reviewable and leave the application runnable. - Treat authentication, payments, encryption, imports, webhooks, and destructive actions as high-risk boundaries when present. - Never invent cryptography or silently weaken a requirement to make a test pass. - Use provider interfaces for external services and deterministic fakes in tests. - Add migrations and rollback or recovery notes for persistent data changes. - Log useful operational context without credentials, tokens, passwords, or personal data. - Update documentation and run all checks before completing a milestone.
# Delivery milestones ## M0 — Decisions and scaffold - Confirm the runtime, persistence model, threat boundaries, and deployment target. - Create a reproducible local environment and continuous checks. ## M1 — Core workflow - Implement the smallest end-to-end product path with validation and tests. - Keep integrations behind interfaces. ## M2 — Trust layer - Add secure failure behavior, recovery paths, audit-relevant events, and data safeguards. - Test abuse cases and destructive operations. ## M3 — Operability - Add structured logs, error reporting hooks, health signals, backup/restore documentation, and deployment configuration. ## M4 — Release gate - Run a clean-install test, critical-path end-to-end test, dependency review, and documented rollback exercise. - Compare the shipped behavior with `PRODUCT.md` and publish remaining limitations.
# Operations ## Before release - Validate configuration and secrets at startup. - Define backup, restore, and rollback procedures and test them. - Document logs, error tracking, health signals, and alert ownership. - Set dependency update and vulnerability review expectations. ## Incident checklist 1. Contain the issue without destroying evidence or user data. 2. Record the timeline and affected scope. 3. Rotate exposed secrets and revoke compromised sessions or credentials. 4. Restore from a verified source when needed. 5. Document the root cause, remediation, and regression test. ## Launch constraint Do not market omitted Podia capabilities as implemented. The v1 non-goals in `PRODUCT.md` remain user-visible limitations until they are deliberately delivered.
$ choose a build depth, inspect the files, then open the complete pack in your agent · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR
They pay because commerce plus content delivery has lots of edge cases.
xcheckout/product UX
xcourse hosting
xemail marketing
xmemberships
xaffiliates
xtax/payment details
xsupport
Don't feel like building it? These folks already made it free.
no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real
Podia pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| mover | $49/workspace | $42/workspace | 50 products; 500 videos; 25 community spaces; 100 email subscribers; unlimited customers; 5% transaction fee. |
| shaker | $99/workspace | $84/workspace | 150 products; 1,000 videos; 100 community spaces; 1 assistant; 500 email subscribers; 0% transaction fee. |
| earthquaker | $179/workspace | $150/workspace | Unlimited products, videos, spaces and assistants; 1,000 email subscribers; 0% transaction fee. |
free tierno free tier; 30-day trial with no card required
billingmonthly + annual
hidden costsMover takes 5% of sales; email costs rise with subscriber count (the current example for 2,500 subscribers is $28/month or $22/month on annual billing); Stripe/PayPal processing is separate, and annual subscriptions generally receive no partial refund.
verified 2026-08-14 · source ↗
Vibecode Podia
Kinda. The core of Podia is buildable in a weekend with the prompt on this page, but there are real gaps: checkout/product UX, course hosting. Read the honest list above before committing.
How much does Podia cost?
Podia costs about $49/month (Mover, checked 2026-07-30), which is $588 per year.
What do I lose by replacing Podia?
Honestly: checkout/product UX; course hosting; email marketing; memberships; affiliates; tax/payment details; support. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Podia?
Yes: CourseLit (Courses, downloads, email automation and memberships in one compose file; hosting and deliverability are yours.) systeme.io (One course, digital products, memberships, email and 2,000 contacts free; the second course is where the meter starts.) The prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.