Level Up Your Indie Dev Game: Platform Engineering for One

Let's be clear: as indie developers, we wear all the hats. We're not just writing code; we're also DevOps, QA, project managers, and sometimes, even marketing. This juggling act can quickly lead to burnout and slow down development.

But what if there was a way to streamline our workflow, automate repetitive tasks, and ultimately, ship our apps faster? That's where platform engineering comes in. It might sound like something only large organizations with dedicated platform teams can benefit from, but frankly, it's incredibly cool and powerful for solo developers too.

This post will explore how you, as an indie dev, can adopt platform engineering principles to create your own "internal platform," drastically improving your developer experience (DX) and accelerating your app development lifecycle.

What Exactly Is Platform Engineering?

At its core, platform engineering is about creating self-service tooling and standardized workflows that empower developers to deliver value more efficiently. Think of it as building an "internal platform" that abstracts away the complexities of the underlying infrastructure.

For example, instead of manually configuring servers, setting up CI/CD pipelines, and wrestling with deployment scripts every time you start a new project, you can use pre-built tools and templates to automate these tasks. You gain more time to focus on what matters: building awesome features and solving real problems.

The Problem: Indie Dev Pain Points

Before diving into solutions, let's acknowledge the pain points many indie developers face:

• Context Switching Overload: Constantly switching between coding, infrastructure management, and deployment tasks kills productivity.
• Inconsistent Environments: Developing on your local machine and then deploying to a drastically different production environment can lead to unexpected bugs and headaches.
• Repetitive Tasks: Setting up new projects, configuring databases, and writing boilerplate code are tedious and time-consuming.
• Lack of Visibility: It's hard to monitor app performance and debug issues when you're juggling multiple roles.
• Infrastructure Complexity: Keeping up with the latest cloud technologies and best practices can feel overwhelming.

If you've ever felt your head spin from any of the above, you're not alone!

The Solution: My Journey to Platform Engineering (for One)

Over the years, I've tried countless tools and approaches to streamline my development workflow. It wasn't until I started thinking in terms of platform engineering that things really clicked.

Here's how I built my own "internal platform":

1. Standardized Tooling: I settled on a core set of tools that I use for almost every project:

   • Next.js for front-end development. It strikes the perfect balance between flexibility and convention.
   • tRPC for type-safe APIs. Frankly, manually writing API documentation is a crime against humanity in 2024.
   • Prisma for database access. It provides a clean, type-safe interface to my database.
   • Supabase as my go-to backend-as-a-service (BaaS). Supabase handles authentication, storage, and real-time data, so I don't have to.
   • Vercel for deployment. It's incredibly easy to deploy Next.js apps to Vercel, and their edge network delivers blazing-fast performance.

2. Automated Project Setup: I created a custom Yeoman generator that automates the creation of new projects with my preferred tech stack. This saves me hours of setup time and ensures consistency across all my projects.

3. Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC): I use Terraform to manage my cloud infrastructure. This allows me to define my infrastructure in code and automate its provisioning and configuration.

4. CI/CD Pipeline: I set up a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions that automatically builds, tests, and deploys my code to Vercel whenever I push changes to my repository.

5. Monitoring and Alerting: I use Sentry to track errors and performance issues in my applications. This allows me to quickly identify and fix problems before they affect my users.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

The beauty of platform engineering is that you don't have to build everything from scratch. You can leverage existing open-source tools and cloud services to create your own customized platform.

For example, I rely heavily on Supabase to handle backend tasks that would otherwise require significant effort. Supabase provides a PostgreSQL database, authentication, storage, and real-time data, all in one convenient package. This allows me to focus on building the front-end and user experience of my applications. I consider myself lucky to be building web apps in this era.

Living Dangerously: Embracing Beta Features

I'm not afraid to experiment with beta features and cutting-edge technologies, but I always do so with caution. For example, I recently started using Drizzle ORM¹, a new TypeScript ORM, in one of my projects. It's still in beta, but I'm excited about its potential. I have a robust backup plan, though, and know how to revert to Prisma if things go south.

The Benefits: Why Bother?

Implementing platform engineering principles has had a significant impact on my productivity and the quality of my applications. Here are some of the benefits I've experienced:

• Faster Development Cycles: I can spin up new projects and deploy changes faster than ever before.
• Improved Code Quality: Standardized tooling and automated testing help me catch bugs early and ensure code quality.
• Reduced Cognitive Load: I can focus on building features without getting bogged down in infrastructure management.
• Increased Scalability: My infrastructure is designed to scale automatically as my applications grow.
• Happier Developer: Less time spent on tedious tasks means more time spent on what I love: building awesome apps.

Getting Started: Baby Steps to Platform Bliss

You don't have to overhaul your entire workflow overnight. Start small and gradually incorporate platform engineering principles into your development process.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Pick One Pain Point: Identify the most time-consuming or frustrating task in your workflow and automate it.
• Standardize Your Tooling: Choose a core set of tools and stick with them across all your projects.
• Embrace Infrastructure-as-Code: Learn Terraform or another IaC tool and start managing your infrastructure in code.
• Automate Your Deployment: Set up a CI/CD pipeline to automatically build, test, and deploy your code.

The Future of Indie Development

I believe platform engineering will become increasingly important for indie developers in the years to come. As cloud technologies become more complex, having a streamlined and automated workflow will be essential for staying competitive.

By embracing platform engineering principles, you can level up your indie dev game and deliver value faster than ever before. It's not just about writing code; it's about building a system that empowers you to build amazing things.

Conclusion

Platform engineering isn't just for large organizations. As an indie developer, you can leverage these principles to create your own "internal platform" and supercharge your workflow. It's an investment that pays off in faster development cycles, improved code quality, and a much happier developer experience.

What are some of the biggest bottlenecks in your current development workflow? Share your thoughts, and let's learn from each other! Perhaps you can share your own tricks, automation tools, or preferred services on your platform of choice.