Vibecode Paddle
track this build5 steps, step by step0%NOT REALLY · don't bother
price variesbuild time closest consolation build: one sittingcategory 🛍️ creator commercereplaced by 0 people
A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Paddle, build a product catalog and entitlement layer around a normal payment provider. The hard boundary is merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance, plus payments, tax, distribution, and operations.
the project pack4 files · fastest path to a working personal build
You are building a lean indie version of Paddle. 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 ===== # Paddle indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Paddle workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. ## 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: - merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance - marketplace discovery - tax remittance - fraud operations - advanced course and community tooling If those capabilities are essential, use Medusa 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 a closest honest personal substitute for Paddle in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Stripe Checkout, and S3-compatible storage; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Implement products, variants, prices, files or lessons, coupons, customers, orders, and entitlements. Use Stripe-hosted Checkout and verify every webhook signature and idempotency key. Grant access only after confirmed payment and revoke it on refund or chargeback. Create a customer library with signed short-lived download or lesson URLs. Add order search, resend receipt, refund handoff, export, and an immutable event log. Document taxes as the creator's responsibility and do not calculate unsupported jurisdictions. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure. Deliberately leave out merchant-of-record tax remittance. Deliberately leave out a buyer marketplace or affiliate network. Deliberately leave out advanced communities, certificates, mobile apps, and enterprise learning features. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Stripe account - PostgreSQL - S3-compatible storage - public HTTPS deployment - email provider ## 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 Paddle. 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 ===== # Paddle indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Paddle workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. ## 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: - merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance - marketplace discovery - tax remittance - fraud operations - advanced course and community tooling If those capabilities are essential, use Medusa 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 a closest honest personal substitute for Paddle in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Stripe Checkout, and S3-compatible storage; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Implement products, variants, prices, files or lessons, coupons, customers, orders, and entitlements. Use Stripe-hosted Checkout and verify every webhook signature and idempotency key. Grant access only after confirmed payment and revoke it on refund or chargeback. Create a customer library with signed short-lived download or lesson URLs. Add order search, resend receipt, refund handoff, export, and an immutable event log. Document taxes as the creator's responsibility and do not calculate unsupported jurisdictions. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure. Deliberately leave out merchant-of-record tax remittance. Deliberately leave out a buyer marketplace or affiliate network. Deliberately leave out advanced communities, certificates, mobile apps, and enterprise learning features. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Stripe account - PostgreSQL - S3-compatible storage - public HTTPS deployment - email provider ## 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 Paddle. 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 ===== # Paddle product brief ## Problem A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Paddle, build a product catalog and entitlement layer around a normal payment provider. The hard boundary is merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance, plus payments, tax, distribution, and operations. ## Product outcome Sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Stripe account - PostgreSQL - S3-compatible storage - public HTTPS deployment - email provider ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance - marketplace discovery - tax remittance - fraud operations - advanced course and community tooling ## 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 a closest honest personal substitute for Paddle in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Stripe Checkout, and S3-compatible storage; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Implement products, variants, prices, files or lessons, coupons, customers, orders, and entitlements. Use Stripe-hosted Checkout and verify every webhook signature and idempotency key. Grant access only after confirmed payment and revoke it on refund or chargeback. Create a customer library with signed short-lived download or lesson URLs. Add order search, resend receipt, refund handoff, export, and an immutable event log. Document taxes as the creator's responsibility and do not calculate unsupported jurisdictions. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure. Deliberately leave out merchant-of-record tax remittance. Deliberately leave out a buyer marketplace or affiliate network. Deliberately leave out advanced communities, certificates, mobile apps, and enterprise learning features. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## 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 Paddle capabilities as implemented. The v1 non-goals in `PRODUCT.md` remain user-visible limitations until they are deliberately delivered.
README.md
# Paddle indie build ## Goal Build the smallest trustworthy replacement for the core Paddle workflow for one developer or a tiny team. ## Scope Sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. ## 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: - merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance - marketplace discovery - tax remittance - fraud operations - advanced course and community tooling If those capabilities are essential, use Medusa 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 a closest honest personal substitute for Paddle in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Stripe Checkout, and S3-compatible storage; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Implement products, variants, prices, files or lessons, coupons, customers, orders, and entitlements. Use Stripe-hosted Checkout and verify every webhook signature and idempotency key. Grant access only after confirmed payment and revoke it on refund or chargeback. Create a customer library with signed short-lived download or lesson URLs. Add order search, resend receipt, refund handoff, export, and an immutable event log. Document taxes as the creator's responsibility and do not calculate unsupported jurisdictions. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure. Deliberately leave out merchant-of-record tax remittance. Deliberately leave out a buyer marketplace or affiliate network. Deliberately leave out advanced communities, certificates, mobile apps, and enterprise learning features. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Required capabilities - Stripe account - PostgreSQL - S3-compatible storage - public HTTPS deployment - email provider ## 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.
PRODUCT.md
# Paddle product brief ## Problem A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Paddle, build a product catalog and entitlement layer around a normal payment provider. The hard boundary is merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance, plus payments, tax, distribution, and operations. ## Product outcome Sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. ## Target user A serious builder who needs a maintainable product foundation rather than a one-off demo. ## Required capabilities - Stripe account - PostgreSQL - S3-compatible storage - public HTTPS deployment - email provider ## Explicit non-goals for v1 - merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance - marketplace discovery - tax remittance - fraud operations - advanced course and community tooling ## 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 a closest honest personal substitute for Paddle in an empty repository. Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, Stripe Checkout, and S3-compatible storage; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: sell a small product catalog through a normal payment provider, deliver purchased files or lessons via an entitlement layer, and manage customers from a user-owned storefront. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Implement products, variants, prices, files or lessons, coupons, customers, orders, and entitlements. Use Stripe-hosted Checkout and verify every webhook signature and idempotency key. Grant access only after confirmed payment and revoke it on refund or chargeback. Create a customer library with signed short-lived download or lesson URLs. Add order search, resend receipt, refund handoff, export, and an immutable event log. Document taxes as the creator's responsibility and do not calculate unsupported jurisdictions. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure. Deliberately leave out merchant-of-record tax remittance. Deliberately leave out a buyer marketplace or affiliate network. Deliberately leave out advanced communities, certificates, mobile apps, and enterprise learning features. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## 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 Paddle 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
People still pay for Paddle because creators pay to outsource the dangerous and tedious parts around money, delivery, tax, and customer access. The recurring cost buys checkout, webhooks, tax, refunds, fraud, entitlements, storage, email, accessibility, backups, and customer support, not just the visible interface.
xmerchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance
xmarketplace discovery
xtax remittance
xfraud operations
xadvanced course and community tooling
share on X ↗"I just replaced Paddle with one prompt"
Paddle pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| pay as you go | $0 | $0 | No published product or revenue cap; 5% + $0.50 per checkout; payments, billing, tax, fraud and chargeback handling included. |
| custom | custom | — | Custom volume rates and commercial terms; 0 self-serve prices published. |
free tierNo monthly fee and no published usage cap; Paddle charges 5% + $0.50 per checkout
billingtransaction-only pricing; no monthly or annual subscription
hidden costsChargebacks cost $15 for cards or $20 for PayPal; Paddle itself adds no payout fee beyond the base rate, but the receiving bank or Payoneer can charge one.
verified 2026-08-14 · source ↗
Vibecode Paddle
Not really. Paddle's value is not the code: Recheck price before merge. See the honest breakdown above.
How much does Paddle cost?
Paddle's pricing is usage-based or varies by plan · No stable monthly plan; pricing is transaction based..
What do I lose by replacing Paddle?
Honestly: merchant-of-record tax, billing, fraud, subscriptions, global payments, and compliance; marketplace discovery; tax remittance; fraud operations; advanced course and community tooling. If any of those are load-bearing for you, keep paying.
Is there an open-source alternative to Paddle?
Yes: Medusa (Active open-source commerce platform with modular checkout and fulfillment primitives.). Using prior art is also vibecoding; the prompt is for when you want it exactly your way.