Traffic Note

A website analytics summary app idea: your site analytics, explained in a short note. Weekend build with Next.js, Supabase and Claude API, for site owners who rarely open their analytics.

See the spec
Why now

Why now

People are questioning their analytics numbers: Dev.to posts on Oct 10 and Oct 30 found counts that were far too high, one of them because of bots. Meanwhile open-source tools like Talivia have drawn thousands of GitHub stars. A short note you can sanity-check fits that mood.

Checked at the source on Nov 2, 2026. Points, comments, and stars are from that day. GitHub counts are keyword matches, so treat them as a rough guide.

The spec

The spec

Export your site numbers and get a short weekly note on what changed, which pages drove it, and what might be worth doing next.

Build time

WeekendBasic logic / CRUD · Level 2 of 5

Audience

Site owners who rarely open their analytics.

Stack

  • Next.js
  • Supabase
  • Claude API

Fun factor

You finally read your analytics, because it fits in one email.

Core features

  • CSV import from your analytics tool
  • This week against last week
  • Biggest changes by page and source
  • A saved archive of past notes

AI features

  • Writes the weekly note from your numbers
  • Suggests a next step, marked clearly as a suggestion

Stretch goals

  • Direct analytics connection
  • Monday email delivery
  • Annotations for launches and posts

First version

Upload two weeks of page data and get a note on the biggest changes.

Build plan

Build plan

4 milestones, in the order you would build them. Saved ideas get this plan with checkboxes and notes.

Import dataPages, sources, visits, and dates.
Start here
Compare weeksFind the largest ups and downs.
Write the noteA few plain sentences from the numbers.
Keep an archiveEvery note, in date order.
The build prompt

The build prompt

Paste this into ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, or Cursor, then build the first version before anything else.

traffic-note.prompt.md
# Build Traffic Note

You are a senior full-stack engineer pairing with me on a side project. Build a working first version of the product described below. Read the whole brief before writing any code, then follow "How to work" at the end.

## The idea

**Traffic Note.** Export your site numbers and get a short weekly note on what changed, which pages drove it, and what might be worth doing next.

**Why now:** People are questioning their analytics numbers: Dev.to posts on Oct 10 and Oct 30 found counts that were far too high, one of them because of bots. Meanwhile open-source tools like Talivia have drawn thousands of GitHub stars. A short note you can sanity-check fits that mood.

**Who it is for:** Site owners who rarely open their analytics

**What makes it fun:** You finally read your analytics, because it fits in one email.

## Scope

- **Build time:** Weekend. Size every decision to ship a working first version inside this window.
- **Technical ambition:** Level 2 of 5, "Basic logic / CRUD". A few screens over a simple data model with create, read, update, and delete. One lightweight persistence layer, no heavy infrastructure.
- **First version only.** Ship the core features below end to end. Stretch goals are listed so you can design around them, not build them.

## Core features (each must work end to end in the first version)

1. CSV import from your analytics tool
2. This week against last week
3. Biggest changes by page and source
4. A saved archive of past notes

## AI features

- Writes the weekly note from your numbers
- Suggests a next step, marked clearly as a suggestion

How to build them:
- Put every model call behind one server-side module with a typed interface, so the provider can change without touching the UI.
- Read API keys from environment variables only, and document each one in `.env.example`.
- Write prompts as versioned constants with clear instructions and an example of the expected output; parse and validate responses before using them.
- Handle timeouts, rate limits, and malformed output with a graceful fallback the user can understand. Stream responses where a wait would exceed a couple of seconds.
- Never let a feature depend on the model being perfect. Show the result, let the user edit or retry.

## Stretch goals (later, not in the first version)

- Direct analytics connection
- Monday email delivery
- Annotations for launches and posts

Leave clean seams for these (a module boundary, a nullable column, a feature flag), but do not implement them unless I ask.

## Tech stack

Use exactly: Next.js, Supabase, Claude.

Stay on current stable versions, follow each tool's official conventions, and add a library only when the standard library or the chosen stack cannot do the job cleanly. If part of this stack is a poor fit for a specific requirement, say so and propose the smallest change.

## Owner's notes

Written by me, the project owner. Treat these as requirements and preferences that override the generated material above when they conflict.

The first version should be exactly this, and no bigger: Upload two weeks of page data and get a note on the biggest changes.

## Build plan (with saved progress)

0 of 4 steps complete. Resume at step 1: Import data. Before you start it, check what is already implemented so you do not repeat finished work.

1. **Import data** [not started]
   Pages, sources, visits, and dates.

2. **Compare weeks** [not started]
   Find the largest ups and downs.

3. **Write the note** [not started]
   A few plain sentences from the numbers.

4. **Keep an archive** [not started]
   Every note, in date order.

## Definition of done for the first version

- [ ] CSV import from your analytics tool works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] This week against last week works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] Biggest changes by page and source works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] A saved archive of past notes works end to end, with real data, not a placeholder.
- [ ] Every screen handles loading, empty, and error states.
- [ ] Typecheck, lint, and any tests pass, and the main user flow was exercised by hand.
- [ ] A README explains setup, environment variables, and how to run it locally.

## Quality bar

- Responsive from a phone to a desktop, keyboard-accessible, semantic HTML, visible focus states, labelled inputs, and sensible contrast.
- Loading, empty, and error states for every screen that reads or writes data. Errors say what happened and what to do next.
- Validate on the server, never trust the client, and keep secrets in environment variables with a committed `.env.example`.
- Type-safe end to end. No `any` without a comment explaining why.
- Small, readable modules named after what they do. No premature abstraction, no dead code, no TODOs left for later without a note.
- Sensible defaults over settings. If a choice is not in this brief, pick the simplest option that keeps the product coherent and say what you chose.

## How to work

1. **Read, then restate.** Summarize the product in three sentences and list your assumptions. Ask only the questions that block implementation. For everything else, decide and note the decision.
2. **Plan before code.** List the files and modules you will create, in build order, mapped to the core features. If a build plan is included above, use it instead: resume at the first step not marked done and check what already exists before touching it.
3. **Set up.** If a project already exists, inspect its code, instructions, and conventions first and build on them. Otherwise scaffold the stack above with linting, formatting, a typecheck script, `.env.example`, and a README stub.
4. **Model the data first.** Define the types, schema, and any migrations before the UI, so the shape of the product is settled early.
5. **Build in vertical slices.** Finish one core feature end to end (data, logic, UI) before starting the next. Keep the app runnable after every slice and commit each slice with a message that says what changed and why.
6. **Then the interface.** Apply the quality bar above to each screen as it lands, not as a final pass.
7. **Verify.** Run typecheck, lint, and tests. Exercise the main user flow by hand. Check each item in the definition of done and each acceptance criterion.
8. **Report.** Tell me what works, what you tested and how, what is not done, every setup step I must complete myself, and the three most useful next steps. Never claim a service, test, or flow was verified when it was not.

If you can edit and run the project, start implementing right after the short plan. If you cannot, give me concrete code and the exact commands to run for the next step.

Rules: keep the product name and the scope as written, do not invent features, prefer boring and proven choices, and stop to ask me when a decision would be expensive to reverse.

How to use

  1. Copy the prompt above.
  2. Open ChatGPT, Claude, or your AI editor and paste it into a new conversation.
  3. Build milestone one, run it, then move to the next. Add stretch goals only after the first version works.

Want ideas built around you instead? Generate four from your own interests, time, and stack.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Answers on what Traffic Note is, how to build it, and where example ideas come from.

Similar ideas

Similar to Traffic Note

More data & analytics ideas, then a few from other categories.

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