Diary of an Indie Hacker — Entry 12: We rebuilt the entire UI in a day
Day twelve: sidebar, pricing page, subscription management, and a full light-theme conversion — in one push.
Originally written November 17, 2025
Phase 5, done in one push: a proper sidebar with Pro badges, a real Pricing page, subscription management, and a Calendar page with scheduling modals. The app stopped looking like a hackathon project and started looking like a product someone might pay for.
The risky part wasn't the new pages — it was converting the entire app to a light theme in the same day. Every screen, every component, recolored to match the clean look of the tools we admire. One hydration bug later (date formats rendering differently on server and client — a classic), it held together.
There's an uncomfortable truth in today: the features users will judge us on aren't the AI. They're whether the sidebar feels professional and the pricing page doesn't look sketchy. Trust is built in the chrome, not the engine.
Next entry: the quietest day of the build — and possibly the most important.
Ready to Start Creating?
Turn your long videos into viral clips with AI. Free to start.
Try Atomiser Free