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Devlog 4 - Categorisation!

So in the previous devlog I added the DNS page and made it show records. I decided to add some categorisation tools to help you find important records, such as Mail, Tunnels, and Workers.

I’ll soon work on a search bar and showing details in the dashboard. After that, I’ll finish the other pages and add an onboarding flow.

As I worked on creating lots of elements at the start that follow a consistent design style, I am able to work a lot faster!

Devlog 4 - Categorisation!

So in the previous devlog I added the DNS page and made it show records. I decided to add some categorisation tools to help you find important records, such as Mail, Tunnels, and Workers.

I’ll soon work on a search bar and showing details in the dashboard. After that, I’ll finish the other pages and add an onboarding flow.

As I worked on creating lots of elements at the start that follow a consistent design style, I am able to work a lot faster!

Devlog 3 - Showing Data!

So after doing a bit of research and playing around with Cloudflare, I was able to set up my API key and have it correctly show data when I pulled DNS records.

I also decided to migrate the app over to Electron. I primarily chose this because I was running out of time to complete the project, and didn’t want to add the stress of a database to hold API keys, login systems, and web hosting with so little time before the end of Stardance. However, unlike some of my other projects, this will work across macOS and Windows!

Because the whole point of the dashboard is to display data easily, I decided to show just the Type, Name, TTL and Proxy Status and the content. I used my existing table element I wrote previously and just set up the app so that the data is pulled when you go to the DNS page, and it will auto populate.

I also decided to make the sidebar collapsible to give more space to view things, and the next step I will be working on is building a small view for the DNS details on the dashboard. I’m planning to show how many records you have, the types of records, and have a small dropdown to see the different zones.

After that, I will just be displaying SSL status, Analytics, if available, and hopefully Cloudflare Tunnel details, such as uptime, if they are up or down, and their IPs.

Devlog 3 - Showing Data!

So after doing a bit of research and playing around with Cloudflare, I was able to set up my API key and have it correctly show data when I pulled DNS records.

I also decided to migrate the app over to Electron. I primarily chose this because I was running out of time to complete the project, and didn’t want to add the stress of a database to hold API keys, login systems, and web hosting with so little time before the end of Stardance. However, unlike some of my other projects, this will work across macOS and Windows!

Because the whole point of the dashboard is to display data easily, I decided to show just the Type, Name, TTL and Proxy Status and the content. I used my existing table element I wrote previously and just set up the app so that the data is pulled when you go to the DNS page, and it will auto populate.

I also decided to make the sidebar collapsible to give more space to view things, and the next step I will be working on is building a small view for the DNS details on the dashboard. I’m planning to show how many records you have, the types of records, and have a small dropdown to see the different zones.

After that, I will just be displaying SSL status, Analytics, if available, and hopefully Cloudflare Tunnel details, such as uptime, if they are up or down, and their IPs.

Devlog 7 - Sonora Music

I decided that with so little time left with Stardance, it wasn’t worth migrating to a new audio engine, especially with all the testing that would have to be done. I ended up deciding to just clean up the app, fix some small errors and making general fixes here and there.

Here’s a short list of some bugs I fixed:

• Fixed a loud bang when spamming skip or closing the app with media playing
• The app being unable to select directories with only one file
• Broken UI theme selection

Other than that, I’ve just spent time on rewording the readme and making the DMG background and App logo to prepare for shipping the app.
Of course in typical developer logic, the build command just has to break, only for me to spend time debugging a missing image file.

Devlog 3 - New Assets!

So over the past few days i’ve been working on recreating the assets for breakout, so that the game now has some colour. I also made subtle tweaks to the player, so that it moves a bit slower and smoother.

I made all my assets in aseprite, and will upload the .ase files for people to use. The next steps from here will be looking into creating a multi ball ability that spawns occasionally.

From there the last things I need to complete are the new UI, heavily inspired by my other stardance project, CloudNext. I’ll also unify the push to start screen so that they are all the same.

Devlog 3 - New Assets!

So over the past few days i’ve been working on recreating the assets for breakout, so that the game now has some colour. I also made subtle tweaks to the player, so that it moves a bit slower and smoother.

I made all my assets in aseprite, and will upload the .ase files for people to use. The next steps from here will be looking into creating a multi ball ability that spawns occasionally.

From there the last things I need to complete are the new UI, heavily inspired by my other stardance project, CloudNext. I’ll also unify the push to start screen so that they are all the same.

Devlog 6 - Sonora Music

So I left this project alone for a while to focus on other things, but i’m back!

I ended up fixing a few bugs here and there, and removing 2 themes I thought didn’t look great. I also added a fallback for that, so if you were using Sonora with that theme, and updated, your app won’t break.

I fixed a few memory leaks, mostly because I fell victim to a bunch of them while writing code and testing things. From what I can tell, it was because AVAudioPlayer wasn’t properly releasing itself. This meant that more instances accumulated over time, eating up more RAM and CPU.

I also did some visual polishing, by cleaning up unnecessary icons I added, and also just making the UI more refined. I pinned the playbar and controls to the bottom of the screen so that you can always see the controls, and fixed the broken color swatches for the themes so you can see what you are applying.

I’m getting close to being ready to ship this project, all I really have left to do is to decide if migrating to AVAudioEngine is worth it as it is an extremely intensive task, and will require lots of tedious work and debugging. The other thing I’ll consider is writing a windows build in Symphonia or some other thing so that this can be cross platform.

The main reason I am migrating is so that I can have more refined control of the signal chain and DSP (The chain that your audio passes through and how it is modified, say for an EQ). AVAudioPlayer is designed to just play audio easily, where I want more control and be able to implement the ability to add EQ down the line to further enhance the experience.

Hopefully the migration goes well, and I should be able to ship in the next week or two.

Devlog 6 - Sonora Music

So I left this project alone for a while to focus on other things, but i’m back!

I ended up fixing a few bugs here and there, and removing 2 themes I thought didn’t look great. I also added a fallback for that, so if you were using Sonora with that theme, and updated, your app won’t break.

I fixed a few memory leaks, mostly because I fell victim to a bunch of them while writing code and testing things. From what I can tell, it was because AVAudioPlayer wasn’t properly releasing itself. This meant that more instances accumulated over time, eating up more RAM and CPU.

I also did some visual polishing, by cleaning up unnecessary icons I added, and also just making the UI more refined. I pinned the playbar and controls to the bottom of the screen so that you can always see the controls, and fixed the broken color swatches for the themes so you can see what you are applying.

I’m getting close to being ready to ship this project, all I really have left to do is to decide if migrating to AVAudioEngine is worth it as it is an extremely intensive task, and will require lots of tedious work and debugging. The other thing I’ll consider is writing a windows build in Symphonia or some other thing so that this can be cross platform.

The main reason I am migrating is so that I can have more refined control of the signal chain and DSP (The chain that your audio passes through and how it is modified, say for an EQ). AVAudioPlayer is designed to just play audio easily, where I want more control and be able to implement the ability to add EQ down the line to further enhance the experience.

Hopefully the migration goes well, and I should be able to ship in the next week or two.

Devlog 2 - Cleanup and Optimisations

I honestly took a break from this project because i’ve been really busy at the moment, but I have occasionally been working on cleaning up some unused junk from files and just generally making small optimisations to the site. Most of it has been in Cloudflare to speed up the site a bit to reduce lag when playing games.

Most of the cleanup was reducing visual clutter and just removing dependencies I no longer needed. The site still looks mostly the same, with the exception of some icons being removed. Hopefully by the next devlog, I’m hoping to have these things done:

• Make the loading screens for all games the same to keep a constant theme.

• Make new assets for some games (at the minimum I want breakout done, as that is a quick process)

• Try to make the site look a bit more modern, as right now I’m not too big of a fan of the color scheme.

Devlog 2 - Cleanup and Optimisations

I honestly took a break from this project because i’ve been really busy at the moment, but I have occasionally been working on cleaning up some unused junk from files and just generally making small optimisations to the site. Most of it has been in Cloudflare to speed up the site a bit to reduce lag when playing games.

Most of the cleanup was reducing visual clutter and just removing dependencies I no longer needed. The site still looks mostly the same, with the exception of some icons being removed. Hopefully by the next devlog, I’m hoping to have these things done:

• Make the loading screens for all games the same to keep a constant theme.

• Make new assets for some games (at the minimum I want breakout done, as that is a quick process)

• Try to make the site look a bit more modern, as right now I’m not too big of a fan of the color scheme.

# Devlog 1 - Design and Components

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on designing some custom components for CloudNext, so that I can use them later and save myself some time. I added the following:

• Sidebar - This component is the bar at the side with options to view the specific data pulled from API endpoints.

• Top Bar - This component is at the top, where you can see your authentication status (I added Auth, read more below on that!) and you can switch zones.

• Badge - This component is designed for small little notes, like whether something is active, has an error or another issue. It will also be used for what each DNS Record is for, as well as the type (MX, TXT, Tunnel, A, CNAME, etc.)

• Status Dot - This component is similar to the badge, but is just a small colored dot for lower priority events.

• Card/ZoneCard - This component is a card for details on analytics, and details on zone statuses.

• Table - This component is for DNS Records, so you can see them at a glance.

Authentication

So because it is of the utmost importance to keep your API keys safe, especially as I want to add DNS editing later, I decided to go with Clerk for handling authentication for the app. rather than designing my own system using Firebase, I wanted something used by large companies that I can trust is secure, and isn’t susceptible to issues I haven’t patched or noticed while configuring the app. 

I’m planning on using Prisma ORM and PostgreSQL with RLS to handle storing the keys, and I will obviously be hashing them so that they are highly secure. I also implemented access control, so you can’t type in certain dashboard details and automatically be into their dash, as you will be redirected to the login page.

I’ve decided to also integrate the clerk account details into the top bar of the app itself to keep the UI clean, and I’m hoping to adjust the account settings page and recode it to fit the existing design of the app. I attached a simple image of the elements I made so that you can see the design I am going for (kinda similar to Cloudflare and Linear.app).

# Devlog 1 - Design and Components

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been working on designing some custom components for CloudNext, so that I can use them later and save myself some time. I added the following:

• Sidebar - This component is the bar at the side with options to view the specific data pulled from API endpoints.

• Top Bar - This component is at the top, where you can see your authentication status (I added Auth, read more below on that!) and you can switch zones.

• Badge - This component is designed for small little notes, like whether something is active, has an error or another issue. It will also be used for what each DNS Record is for, as well as the type (MX, TXT, Tunnel, A, CNAME, etc.)

• Status Dot - This component is similar to the badge, but is just a small colored dot for lower priority events.

• Card/ZoneCard - This component is a card for details on analytics, and details on zone statuses.

• Table - This component is for DNS Records, so you can see them at a glance.

Authentication

So because it is of the utmost importance to keep your API keys safe, especially as I want to add DNS editing later, I decided to go with Clerk for handling authentication for the app. rather than designing my own system using Firebase, I wanted something used by large companies that I can trust is secure, and isn’t susceptible to issues I haven’t patched or noticed while configuring the app. 

I’m planning on using Prisma ORM and PostgreSQL with RLS to handle storing the keys, and I will obviously be hashing them so that they are highly secure. I also implemented access control, so you can’t type in certain dashboard details and automatically be into their dash, as you will be redirected to the login page.

I’ve decided to also integrate the clerk account details into the top bar of the app itself to keep the UI clean, and I’m hoping to adjust the account settings page and recode it to fit the existing design of the app. I attached a simple image of the elements I made so that you can see the design I am going for (kinda similar to Cloudflare and Linear.app).

Devlog 1 - API Building!

Hey! This is my first devlog for CloudNext, a Next.js-based dashboard using the Cloudflare API. I’m building this because I wanted something simple to check my Cloudflare stats without having to dig through all the menus.

Most of my time was spent creating and debugging the four API endpoints I’ve made so far. The debugging took much longer than expected because, in my infinite wisdom, I created the wrong type of API token (an Account Token instead of a User Token). No matter what I tried, every request was blocked. (I know… I’m so smart.)

The four endpoints I have working at the moment are:

• Zones Endpoint – Shows information about your Cloudflare-managed domains.
• DNS Endpoint – Lists all of your DNS records, and maybe in the future I’ll add the ability to create or edit records.
• Analytics Endpoint – Displays information like DNS query counts and other traffic analytics for your domains.
• SSL Endpoint – Shows your current SSL/TLS encryption mode and whether your certificates are active or valid.

Now that I have a working API, the next step is to build a nice-looking dashboard using placeholder data. Once the UI is finished, I’ll hook everything up to the live Cloudflare data.

The logic itself is actually pretty simple. Each endpoint just makes a request to the Cloudflare API and returns the response as JSON. I tested everything in Insomnia first because it gives really nice output for debugging. Here’s the Zones endpoint:

import { NextResponse } from "next/server";
import cf from "@/lib/cloudflare/client"; // This just imports the Cloudflare API Client 

export async function GET() {
  try {
    const zones = await cf.zones.list();
    return NextResponse.json(zones);
  } catch (error) {
    return NextResponse.json(
      { error: "Failed to fetch zones" },
      { status: 500 }
    );
  }
}

Anyway, thanks for reading this Devlog! Maybe the next one will be a bit shorter lol

Devlog 1 - Apparition Gaming!

So I’m building Apparition Gaming, a site for games that I am building to teach myself Phaser 3 game development. Originally the site was supposed to be a few games I learnt to build and tweaked, but it then became me building more games, and wanting a way to display them.

I built the website so far in next.js, and i’m using iFrame to actually hold the game element. I had to add click to start to all games, as you need to make at least one interaction with the iFrame element in order to control it. However because I coded a lot of this late at night, a few things look a bit different right now.

In the next devlog I’ll hopefully have ironed out a few of those differences however!

For those who want to know how many games I have right now in case I add more, here’s a list!

• Endless Orbit (similar to space invaders in some aspects, made this with my younger cousin as a fun project!)

• Hallucination Highways (My first big project!)

• Ping Pong (This was my first attempt at building a computer to play against you! It has 2 modes, local multiplayer and VS computer)

• Flappy Bird! (Still a bit buggy to be honest, I need to make a few new assets as well)

• Street Obstacle (Endless Runner, again I want to change some elements and create new assets)

• Platformer (Hoping to add a level system here eventually and make the game a bit more engaging)

• Breakout (As the name implies, a version of Atari breakout, my first project! Now that I have some more skills, I am planning on revamping it and adding a few extra elements to make it more engaging again.)

As you just read, I have a lot of tweaks that I am eager to start making, however because Stardance has that 10h limit per devlog, I needed to make this one or I lose hours :((

Started this project finally.
Python is really easy

Devlog 1 - Apparition Gaming!

So I’m building Apparition Gaming, a site for games that I am building to teach myself Phaser 3 game development. Originally the site was supposed to be a few games I learnt to build and tweaked, but it then became me building more games, and wanting a way to display them.

I built the website so far in next.js, and i’m using iFrame to actually hold the game element. I had to add click to start to all games, as you need to make at least one interaction with the iFrame element in order to control it. However because I coded a lot of this late at night, a few things look a bit different right now.

In the next devlog I’ll hopefully have ironed out a few of those differences however!

For those who want to know how many games I have right now in case I add more, here’s a list!

• Endless Orbit (similar to space invaders in some aspects, made this with my younger cousin as a fun project!)

• Hallucination Highways (My first big project!)

• Ping Pong (This was my first attempt at building a computer to play against you! It has 2 modes, local multiplayer and VS computer)

• Flappy Bird! (Still a bit buggy to be honest, I need to make a few new assets as well)

• Street Obstacle (Endless Runner, again I want to change some elements and create new assets)

• Platformer (Hoping to add a level system here eventually and make the game a bit more engaging)

• Breakout (As the name implies, a version of Atari breakout, my first project! Now that I have some more skills, I am planning on revamping it and adding a few extra elements to make it more engaging again.)

As you just read, I have a lot of tweaks that I am eager to start making, however because Stardance has that 10h limit per devlog, I needed to make this one or I lose hours :((

Made a few tweaks behind the scenes, it is now a bit faster and also I rewrote the ReadME (wrote with AI first but changed it to be fully wrote by me!) I also had an issue with the footer occasionally just not showing so I fixed that!