Hey there,

We’ve been busy making Upvoted the simplest way to collect, prioritize, and communicate product feedback. Here are three powerful upgrades, plus a limited Lifetime Deal to lock in massive value.

What’s new

• Slack integration (real‑time updates where your team works) Get rich notifications for new feature requests, comments, and status changes. Messages include author attribution, clean HTML-to-text formatting, and optional feature images for high‑signal context.

• Zapier integration (connect to 5,000+ apps) Automate your workflows end-to-end. Triggers for new features, comments, and status changes. Actions to create features from any tool. Post to support desks, create Jira/GitHub issues, update spreadsheets, and more — no code required.

• Embeddable Widget & Board (capture feedback anywhere) Drop a single script to add a beautiful request widget to your app or website — or embed the full board with statuses, upvotes, and comments. Dark mode supported, flexible config (target element, height, visible statuses), and optional request/comment/upvote actions.

What's best

• Unlimited boards to organize feedback by product, team, or audience
• Unlimited feature requests so nothing gets left behind
• Unlimited collaborators for your whole team (PMs, Support, Success, Eng)
• Public or private boards to control visibility by audience
• Flexible statuses and voting to surface the most impactful work
• Tags to categorize requests and segment insights at a glance
• Releases to announce what shipped and close the loop with customers
• Easy API to fetch features, comments, and votes programmatically (plus webhooks)

Analytics & insights

• Stats dashboard with month‑over‑month trends for features, votes, and comments
• Top statuses and activity to see where work is happening
• Historical charts to visualize engagement over the last 12 months
• Admin‑only access so sensitive metrics stay private

Why teams choose Upvoted

• One source of truth for requests, votes, comments, and roadmap status
• Clear customer context with author info and deep links to features
• Fast setup — minutes to integrate, not days
• Flexible embeds & automations that fit your stack

Limited‑time: Lifetime Deal

For a short window, you can get Upvoted with a one‑time payment and enjoy future updates:

• Pay once, use forever — no recurring fees
• All core features included — Slack, Zapier, widget/board embeds, and more
• Perfect for startups and lean teams who want predictable pricing

Reply to this email or visit your workspace to claim the deal while it lasts.

See it in action

• Widget example: see an embedded feature request in production here
• Board example: explore a live embedded roadmap with statuses and voting here

If you need help, just hit reply — we’re happy to set things up with you.

Onwards, The Upvoted Team

Transform Your Product Feedback with Upvoted's Complete Feature Suite

Dear Upvoted Community,

We're excited to share all the powerful capabilities that make Upvoted the ultimate platform for collecting, organizing, and acting on user feedback. Plus, we have a special announcement at the end!

🆕 Latest Features - Now Available!

🏷️ Private Feature Tagging

Organize your features like never before! Our new tagging system lets you categorize and filter feature requests with tags that are visible only to your team. Perfect for internal organization and prioritization workflows.

💬 Slack Integrations

Stay connected with your team! Get instant Slack notifications for new features, comments, and status updates with rich formatting and images. Never miss important feedback again, it comes straight to your team channels.

✏️ WYSIWYG Editor

Create rich, formatted content with our intuitive WYSIWYG editor for feature descriptions and comments.

📋 Complete Feature Overview

Core Functionality

✅ Unlimited Public & Private Boards - Create as many boards as you need for different products or teams

✅ Unlimited Feature Requests - No limits on the number of feature requests you can collect

✅ Unlimited Public Users, Upvotes & Comments - Let your users engage without restrictions

✅ Unlimited Private Users & Team Collaboration - Invite your entire team to collaborate on feedback

Analytics & Insights

✅ Voting Stats - Track and analyze user votes to prioritize features

✅ Roadmap Features - Share your product roadmap with your users

✅ Feature Filtering & Sorting - Easily find and organize features with advanced filtering Communication & Notifications

✅ Real-time Notifications - Get notified instantly when users interact with your boards

✅ Email Notifications - Stay updated with email notifications for important activities

✅ Slack Integrations ⭐ NEW - Rich team notifications with images and formatting Content & Media

✅ Image Uploads - Allow users to attach images to feature requests

✅ Private Feature Tagging ⭐ NEW - Organize features with internal tags Integration & API

✅ Full API Access - Create, comment, upvote, and list features from API

✅ Custom Fields (API only) - Add custom data to features through our API

✅ Embeddable Widget - Add a feedback widget to any website with a single line of code

🎉 Special Limited-Time Offer!

Get $50 OFF Your Lifetime Plan!

Use coupon code: UPVOTED50

This exclusive discount gives you $50 off our lifetime plan , that's access to all these powerful features forever, at an incredible value.

Don't miss out on this limited time opportunity to transform how you collect and manage user feedback!

🚀 Ready to Get Started?

Join thousands of product teams who trust Upvoted to build better products through user feedback.

With our comprehensive feature set, seamless integrations, and now these exciting new capabilities, there's never been a better time to upgrade your feedback workflow.

[Claim Your $50 Discount Now →] https://upvoted.io/

Happy building! The Upvoted Team

If you've been around Rails for even a hot minute, you already know gems are the magic. They help you move fast, cut down on headaches, and let you focus on what actually matters.

There are tons of gems out there, but these are the real legends. The ones that helped shape the way we build Rails apps and still get regular love. These are the essentials. The ones people keep installing again and again.

Let’s jump in.

1. Devise - Authentication Without Pain

GitHub repo

Devise has been handling user stuff forever. Sign up, log in, password reset, email confirmation, all baked in.

# In your model
class User < ApplicationRecord
  devise :database_authenticatable, :registerable,
         :recoverable, :rememberable, :validatable
end

Why it matters: You get a full authentication setup in minutes and barely have to touch anything.

2. Pundit - Permissions That Make Sense

GitHub repo

Pundit gives you a clean way to write rules for who can do what. Nothing magical or hidden. Just plain Ruby classes.

def show
  @post = Post.find(params[:id])
  authorize @post
end

Why it matters: Keeps logic where it belongs and plays nice with everything else.

3. Sidekiq - Background Jobs That Just Work

GitHub repo

Any time you need to do stuff in the background, like sending emails or processing files, Sidekiq is your friend.

class HardWorker
  include Sidekiq::Worker

  def perform(name, count)
    puts "Doing work for #{name} #{count} times"
  end
end

Why it matters: Super fast and super solid. You set it up once and it just runs.

4. FriendlyId - Clean URLs People Actually Like

GitHub repo

Turns ugly URLs into ones that make sense to humans. Instead of /users/123, you get /users/sarah.

class User < ApplicationRecord
  extend FriendlyId
  friendly_id :username, use: :slugged
end

Why it matters: Makes your app feel cleaner and more polished.

5. Kaminari - Easy Pagination

GitHub repo

Need to break up long lists of stuff? Kaminari gives you simple and flexible pagination.

@posts = Post.page(params[:page]).per(10)

Why it matters: Easy to drop in and customize.

6. CarrierWave - File Uploads That Don’t Fight You

GitHub repo

Want to let users upload files or images? CarrierWave still holds it down after all these years.

class User < ApplicationRecord
  mount_uploader :avatar, AvatarUploader
end

Why it matters: Works out of the box and scales up when you need it.

7. Simple Form - Forms That Don’t Suck

GitHub repo

Simple Form makes form building way easier, cleaner, and a lot less painful.

<%= simple_form_for @user do |f| %>
  <%= f.input :email %>
  <%= f.input :password %>
  <%= f.button :submit %>
<% end %>

Why it matters: Less typing, better forms, and way easier to style.

8. Rails Admin - Admin Panels with Zero Stress

GitHub repo

If you need a quick way to manage models in a browser, this gem gives you a full dashboard in like five minutes.

RailsAdmin.config do |config|
  config.authenticate_with do
    # your logic here
  end
end

Why it matters: Skip building a back office from scratch. Just drop this in and go.

9. Ahoy - Track What Your Users Are Doing

GitHub repo

Ahoy helps you track visits, clicks, events, and more right in your Rails app.

Ahoy.track "Viewed Book", title: "Dune"

Why it matters: Gives you visibility without needing Google Analytics or third party tools.

10. Ransack - Search Made Simple

GitHub repo

Need search filters, sorting, and advanced queries without writing SQL? Ransack is your tool.

@q = Product.ransack(params[:q])
@products = @q.result

Why it matters: Helps your users actually find stuff. Also great for admin panels.

Bonus Tools You Should Know About

• Rubocop for keeping code clean and tidy
• Bullet for fixing query problems fast
• dotenv for keeping secrets out of version control

Final Thoughts

If you’re building with Rails, these are the tools that keep the engine running smooth. They’ve been around for years, they’re still being updated, and they make your life a lot easier.

Got another gem you always reach for? Hit me up. Let's trade notes.

Now get out there and build something solid.

The Backstory: Why I Started

I wasn’t just building apps... I was building a way out.

Corporate engineering was fine, paid well, but honestly? It felt like I was stuck. Every project I built on the side was me carving out my own little exit.

Something I could actually own.

The Products: Stuff I’ve Actually Shipped

Releasy (Summer 2023)

Tech: Go API, React, Next.js, Strapi, MongoDB, Postgres, Redis

This came from watching QA teams suffer. Like really suffer. Everything was clunky and slow. Releasy was me saying, “What if this didn’t suck?”

Hardest part? Enterprise sales lol. Trying to get big companies to take a chance on a new product is tough. But I learned that trust takes time.

https://www.releasyapp.io

---

Suparepos (Winter 2023)

Tech: Next.js, Supabase, Stripe, Tailwind

This one’s for devs. You know how many cool repos just sit there collecting dust? Suparepos is a way to turn those side projects into real revenue.

What I realized: Devs aren’t just solving problems... we’re building ecosystems.

https://www.suparepos.dev

---

Reposter (Spring 2024)

Tech: Next.js, MongoDB

Subscriptions drive me nuts. I just wanted to buy a tool once and use it. Reposter lets you manage socials without that monthly fee stress.

It was personal. I was tired of the rent seeking. This was like... my little protest.

https://www.reposter.app

---

Supabugs (Summer 2024)

Tech: Go API, React, Next.js, Strapi, MongoDB, Postgres, Redis

Issue tracking feels like solving a Rubik’s cube blindfolded. Supabugs makes it simple. Not just for devs... for designers, PMs, whoever.

The actual hard part? Making it so intuitive people don’t need a manual.

https://www.supabugs.io

---

Upvoted (Autumn 2024)

Tech: Elixir + Phoenix LiveView, Postgres

I got tired of product teams ignoring what people actually want. Upvoted lets users just tell us what matters. No guessing.

Vulnerable moment. When someone requests a feature, it feels like they’re handing you their trust.

https://upvoted.io

---

NextScribe (Winter 2024)

Tech: Next.js, Supabase, Tailwind CSS

I like to write, but most blogging platforms are either bloated or just ugly. NextScribe is fast, simple, clean. Built for devs who want to write for free.

Why I built it: I wanted a blog that felt like part of my dev toolkit.

https://www.nextscribe.cloud

---

ReplyGeek (Spring 2025)

Tech: Next.js, Postgres, Tailwind

Social media is a fulltime job now. ReplyGeek auto generates smart replies to posts using AI. Yeah, it actually works.

Why it exists: I needed to engage more without it eating my life.

https://www.replygeek.com

---

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Real talk? This path is hard. Some nights I’m hyped out of my mind, thinking I’m onto something big. Other nights, it’s like I dropped a tweet into a void and no one even blinked.

Money-wise? Still got the day job. Not quitting yet. But every product gets me a bit closer. Just not mortgage-paying close... yet.

---

What I’ve Learned

• Coding is the easy part. Marketing and support are the real grind.
• Rejection sucks... but it’s just data. Learn and go again.
• Indie hackers aren’t competitors. We’re all in this weird boat together.

---

Dear New Indie Hackers

If you're reading this and feeling that itch to build... just start. It’ll be messy. It won’t be perfect. That’s fine. Just ship the thing.

---

What’s Next?

No idea, to be honest. But I’m not stopping. Every launch, every bug fix, every random DM... it’s all part of building a life that’s mine.

This isn’t just a dev journey. It’s a life journey.

Alright so if you're like me you've probably noticed dev work ain't what it used to be. We're in the middle of this wild AI boom and honestly it's kinda flipping everything upside down. Thought I’d break it down with some real talk and give ya 10 ways dev life has changed from before AI started showing off.

1. Writing code from scratch vs Just asking the AI

Before You wanted a function you’d crack your knuckles and write that sucker from a blank file. Google was your best friend. Maybe Stack Overflow saved your butt more times than you’d like to admit.

Now You just tell ChatGPT or Copilot “yo make me a function that takes a list of names and returns initials” and BAM done. You barely touched your keyboard. Half the time you don't even read the code until it's broken.

def get_initials(names):
    return [f"{name.split()[0][0]}{name.split()[-1][0]}" for name in names]

see what I mean it’s like magic

---

2. Stack Overflow was king vs kinda irrelevant sometimes now

SO used to be THE PLACE. Now? I barely go unless the AI gives me some garbage code and I gotta fact check it.

---

3. Documentation digging vs "lemme just ask"

Remember spending 45 mins scrolling thru some API docs with no search bar. Yeah me neither. Now it’s like

"Hey AI how do I upload a file with axios in React"

and you get a working snippet and maybe even a lil explanation if the model’s feeling generous.

---

4. Googling 100 times a day vs 10 maybe

Used to live in my browser tabs. Now? Just talk to the AI. Saves me so much context switching and I stay in flow way longer.

---

5. Code reviews were intense vs “did AI write this?”

Code reviews used to be the place to prove you knew your stuff. Now half the time we're like “did you even write this?” And it’s not even an insult anymore just a legit question.

---

6. You had to know the whole stack vs now you just bluff till it works

Not saying you shouldn't know your stack but these days you can fake it till you make it with AI help. Like yeah sure I know GraphQL asks AI what even is graphql again.

---

7. Tests were optional vs now they’re your only hope

AI writes the code cool cool cool but can you trust it?? Nope. So now testing is even more important cause that code might look slick but it's got bugs hiding like gremlins.

---

8. Debugging was skill vs now it’s also detective work

Before you kinda knew where to look. Now? You’re debugging stuff the AI wrote and you didn’t really understand it to begin with. Feels like being in a crime scene with no clues.

---

9. Devs were gatekeepers vs now AI leveled the field

Used to be only folks with CS degrees or years of grind could build stuff. Now folks with zero experience are deploying full apps in a weekend. It’s cool and also scary.

---

10. Burnout was real vs now it's different

Back then burnout was from overwork now it’s like existential. Like will I even have a job if AI keeps getting smarter. Will my skills still matter. What even is programming now.

---

So what do we do?

Honestly just gotta adapt. Keep learning. Learn to ask better questions. Build stuff with AI not just next to it. Stay curious. Get real comfy being uncomfortable.

Anyway if you made it this far congrats you're either nostalgic or slightly freaked out and same tbh.