Build Beacons

YESreplaces $10/mosaves $120/yrback to the verdict

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Saved on this device only. Tick prerequisites first, then work the phases in order · do not start one until the checks above it pass.

A creator link page with a till and a list: links and products from one JSON file, click tracking through your own redirect, Stripe Payment Links for anything sold (you never touch card data), and an email capture stored locally. Linktree with two honest bolt-ons.

estimated effort one sittingthe files for this build are in the project pack

RuntimeNode 22, node:http and node:sqlitePaymentsStripe Payment LinksHostingA VPS behind Caddy

Before step 1

Everything below is assumed from the first step. Tick each one when you actually have it, not when you plan to.

installfree
Why Everything in this build runs on it: the server, the scripts, the tests.
Get it Download the LTS installer from nodejs.org, or install with your package manager (brew install node, or nvm install 22). Restart the terminal afterwards. open ↗
Verify node --version prints v22 or higher
installfree
Why Every step below is a command you type or a file you edit.
Get it VS Code (code.visualstudio.com), Cursor or Zed. Open a folder for the project and use the editor's built-in terminal. open ↗
Verify You can open a folder and run a command in its terminal
installfree
Why History for your code, and the way most hosts deploy.
Get it Install from git-scm.com or with your package manager, then run git init in the project folder once it exists. open ↗
Verify git --version prints a version
have readyfree
Why page.json renders exactly this.
Get it Titles, URLs, a one-line bio, a square avatar, and each product's name, price and file.
API keyfree; fees per sale
Why Every product card opens a Payment Link. Enable the send-a-link option so Stripe delivers the file.
Get it dashboard.stripe.com > Payment Links > New. Test mode first. Copy each link URL into page.json. open ↗
decidefree
Why Click and signup rows store hashes, not addresses.
Get it openssl rand -hex 32 into .env.
accountabout $5 a month
Why This needs one process running all the time with a public address.
Get it Hetzner Cloud (from about 4 EUR), DigitalOcean or Fly.io. Ubuntu 24.04, the smallest size. You need SSH access and a public IP. Only needed for the deploy phase; develop locally first. open ↗
accountroughly $10 a year, or free on an existing domain
Why The page at your address.
Get it Register at Cloudflare Registrar, Porkbun or Namecheap, or use a subdomain of one you already own. You add one DNS record in the deploy phase. open ↗
installfree
Why Automatic HTTPS in front of the Node process. Without TLS the browser features this relies on (and your visitors' trust) do not work.
Get it On the VPS: follow the install steps at caddyserver.com/docs/install for Ubuntu. One Caddyfile with your domain and a reverse_proxy line is the whole config. open ↗
Verify caddy version prints a version on the server

Data model

Create these before the first phase that stores anything. Changing a table later is the expensive kind of change.

- page.json: profile (name, bio, avatar, accent), links (slug, title, url, emoji, enabled), products (slug, title, price_text, payment_link_url, image)
- clicks: id, slug, clicked_at, referer, user_agent_class, ip_hash
- signups: id, email (unique), created_at, ip_hash

Environment variables

These go in a .env file the app reads at startup. The pack's .env.example is this table as a file · copy it, never commit the filled-in version.

Variable	Needed	Example	Where the value comes from
`PORT`	required	`3000`	Any free port.
`DATABASE_PATH`	required	`./data/page.db`	SQLite for clicks and signups.
`SITE_URL`	required	`https://you.yourdomain.com`	Public base URL.
`IP_SALT`secret	required	`hex`	openssl rand -hex 32.
`ADMIN_USER`	required	`admin`	Any username for the basic-auth admin pages.
`ADMIN_PASS`secret	required	`change-me-to-a-long-random-string`	Generate one: openssl rand -base64 24. Never reuse a real password.

The build, in order

1
The page
Profile, links and products from page.json; JavaScript-free; refuses to boot on a broken file.
1. profile (name, bio, avatar, accent), links (slug, title, url, emoji, enabled), products (slug, title, price_text, payment_link_url, image).
  terminal
  mkdir creator-page && cd creator-page && git init && npm init -y && npm pkg set type=module mkdir -p data public && cp .env.example .env
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
2
Design
Tap targets, accent, dark mode, focus rings, no external requests.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
3
Click tracking
/go/:slug records after redirecting; bots bucketed; /stats private.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
4
The store
Product cards open Stripe Payment Links; delivery is Stripe's job.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
5
Email capture
Signups stored locally, no sending.
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
6
Cards and deploy
OG image, healthz, service, backup, README.
2. Files README.md
done when · tick each as it passes
next phase
7
Operate it like a productproduct builder
Only for the product-builder path: know when the page is down, never lose the database, and keep the server patched.
1. Answer 200 with the build id and a quick database read. Point a free uptime monitor (or your own, from the Healthchecks entry on this site) at it so an outage is noticed before a user notices.
2. One JSON line per request: method, path, status, duration, no raw IPs. Rotate weekly with logrotate, keep eight.
3. SQLite's .backup command makes a consistent copy while the app runs. Copy it to object storage or a second machine; then, once, restore it into a fresh checkout and confirm the app reads it.
  terminal
  sqlite3 data/app.db ".backup '/tmp/app-$(date +%F).db'" rclone copy /tmp/app-$(date +%F).db remote:backups/
4. Firewall allowing only 22, 80 and 443; unattended security updates on; the app running as an unprivileged user under systemd with Restart=on-failure.
done when · tick each as it passes

what this build does not replace

Sending email; export into a real sender.
The media kit, brand-deal tooling and the editor.
hosted checkout with digital delivery done for you
email sending to your list
the media kit and brand-deal tooling
templates and the editor

after v1, if you want it

A tiny editor for page.json
Per-link QR codes

Need the files? The project pack on the verdict page hands your agent the whole brief · more link in bio.