Diary of an Indie Hacker — Entry 15: We became a business today
Day fifteen: a full credit system with a visible ledger, API key management, and two payment gateways instead of one.
Originally written November 20, 2025
Today the product got a ledger. A full credit system: schema, deduction logic, renewal jobs, and a history page where users can see exactly where every credit went. If you're going to charge people, transparency isn't a feature — it's table stakes.
Also shipped: API key management, end to end — because eventually other products will want to build on top of this pipeline — and payment integration with two gateways, not one. An international processor and a domestic one. That dual setup looks like over-engineering until you remember that payments fail at the worst moments, and a customer willing to pay shouldn't be turned away because one provider is having a bad day.
Honest admission: half these pages still run on mock data — real auth doesn't land until tomorrow. Building the skeleton before the nervous system isn't ideal, but it's how you keep momentum when each piece depends on the next.
Next entry: real authentication arrives — and with it, real users become possible.
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