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Full App in 30 days with Claude AI—Part 2: Advanced Features & Production Performance ✨

Light. Speed.✨: Claude AI Development in Action

Light. Speed.✨: Advanced Features & Production Excellence

Welcome to part two of my journey building Midjourney Prompt Manager (MPM) with Claude AI!

In part one, I covered the 30-day development sprint, the partnership with Claude AI, and the foundation of the application. Now let's dive deep into the advanced features, production deployment strategies, and the impressive performance metrics achieved.

1. Advanced Features Built with Claude AI

Beyond the core functionality described in part one, Claude AI helped me implement several sophisticated features that truly set MPM apart as a professional-grade SaaS platform.

Advanced Image Management & CDN Integration

MPM handles massive image libraries for creative professionals. Claude AI helped implement a sophisticated image management system with AWS CloudFront CDN integration:

Advanced image management system with automatic WebP conversion and CDN delivery

Image System Features:

  • Automatic WebP Conversion: 40-60% file size reduction using AWS Serverless Image Handler
  • Smart Compression: Quality optimization based on image size and use case
  • Thumbnail Generation: Multiple sizes for gallery views and cards
  • Global CDN: CloudFront delivery for sub-200ms image loading worldwide
// Smart image optimization system
const getOptimizedImageUrl = (originalUrl, options = {}) => {
  const { width = 800, quality = 85, format = 'auto' } = options;
  
  // Base64 encode transformation parameters
  const transformations = btoa(JSON.stringify({
    resize: { width, fit: 'inside', withoutEnlargement: true },
    webp: { quality },
    jpeg: { quality }
  }));
  
  return `https://cdn.midjourneypromptmanager.com/${transformations}/${originalUrl}`;
}

Advanced Search & Discovery Engine

For power users managing thousands of prompts, I implemented a sophisticated search system using Fuse.js for fuzzy matching and advanced filtering:

Advanced search interface with filters, fuzzy matching, and real-time results

Search Features:

  • Real-time Results: Search results update as you type
  • Fuzzy Text Search: Find prompts even with typos or partial matches
  • Dropdown Filter (Projects): Filtered results for four project states, recent, a-z, z-a
  • Dropdown Filter (Gallery): Filtered results for most recent, top rated and most popular prompts

Team Collaboration & Workspace Management

One of the most complex features I developed was the complete team collaboration system. Claude AI helped architect a sophisticated multi-tenant workspace with activity tracking, role-based permissions, and shared prompt libraries:

Team collaboration dashboard showing shared projects and activity tracking

Key Team Features:

  • Shared Workspaces: Teams access the same prompt library with role-based permissions
  • Team Prompt Management: Team members can edit, clone, and iterate on prompts within shared team projects
  • Activity Tracking: Real-time feed showing who changed what and when
  • Role Management: Owner and member roles with appropriate access controls
  • Email Invitations: Seamless team member onboarding workflow

Claude AI's expertise in database relationships helped design the team system architecture:

// Team collaboration data model Claude helped design
const teamSchema = {
  id: 'uuid',
  name: 'Creative Agency Team',
  owner: 'user_123',
  subscription_tier: 'team',
  created: '2025-07-15T10:00:00Z',
  
  // Related collections
  members: [
    { user: 'user_456', role: 'admin', joined: '2025-07-16T14:30:00Z' },
    { user: 'user_789', role: 'member', joined: '2025-07-18T09:15:00Z' }
  ],
  
  projects: [
    { id: 'proj_abc', name: 'Product Launch Campaign', team_only: true },
    { id: 'proj_def', name: 'Brand Guidelines', team_only: true }
  ]
}

2. Production Deployment Strategy

Deploying MPM to production required balancing cost-effectiveness with functionality during the validation phase. Claude AI helped design a pragmatic infrastructure approach that prioritizes affordability while maintaining a clear path to scale.

Modern Infrastructure Stack

I chose a modern, Jamstack infrastructure that prioritizes performance and developer experience:

MPM infrastructure diagram showing Astro frontend, PocketBase backend, and AWS services

Infrastructure Components:

  • Frontend: Astro deployed on Netlify with global edge functions
  • Backend: PocketBase on PocketHost for cost-effective validation (with migration plan for scale)
  • CDN: AWS CloudFront for image delivery and static asset caching
  • Authentication: PocketBase Auth with Google OAuth integration
  • Payments: Stripe with webhook handling for subscription management

Database Strategy: Cost-Effective Validation

Claude AI helped design a pragmatic database approach prioritizing cost-effectiveness during validation phase:

PocketBase/PocketHost Strategy:

  • Cost-First Approach: Open source PocketBase on PocketHost for minimal monthly costs
  • Integrated Backend: PocketBase provides database, authentication, file storage, and real-time subscriptions in a single Go binary - eliminating complex backend architecture while enabling live team collaboration
  • Performance Monitoring: Built tracking system for query performance and rate limits
  • Rate limit Management: Optimized API calls (~70% reduction) to stay within PocketHost limits
  • Migration Planning: Ready to scale to Railway or Supabase when performance demands require it

3. Performance Metrics & Results

The numbers speak for themselves. Here's what I achieved in production with Claude AI's optimization guidance:

Lighthouse Performance Scores

Lighthouse performance scores showing 76/94/96/100 across Performance, Accessibility, Best Practices, and SEO

Achievement: Professional-Grade Performance

  • Performance: 76/100 (excellent for a complex SaaS application)
  • Accessibility: 94/100 (WCAG 2.1 AA compliant)
  • Best Practices: 96/100 (security and modern web standards)
  • SEO: 100/100 (perfect search engine optimization)

Real-World Performance Metrics

Speed & Responsiveness:

  • Initial Page Load: 0.8s average (95th percentile: 1.2s)
  • Search Response: Less than 50ms for databases with 5,000+ prompts
  • Image Loading: 200-400ms average with CloudFront CDN
  • Navigation: Less than 100ms with Astro View Transitions
  • Database Monitoring: Performance tracking system with alerts for queries >2s

Reliability & Uptime:

  • Uptime: 99.96% over the first 2 months
  • Error Rate: Less than 0.05% of all requests
  • Recovery Time: Less than 30s for automatic failover
  • Data Integrity: Zero data loss incidents

4. Social Sharing & Dub.co Integration

One of the most sophisticated features Claude AI helped implement was the branded social sharing system. I needed a way for users to share their prompts professionally while maintaining MPM branding and tracking engagement.

Branded Short Link System

Dub.com integration showing branded short links and social media preview generation

Claude AI helped design a comprehensive sharing system that creates professional, trackable links for every prompt:

Share Link Features:

  • Branded Domain: Custom mpm-midjourney.link domain for professional appearance
  • Auto-Generated Codes: Clean, short links without complex URL structures
  • UTM Tracking: Comprehensive analytics on sharing performance
  • Persistent Links: One link per prompt, stored in database for efficiency
  • Fallback System: Graceful handling when Dub.co is unavailable

Dynamic Social Media Previews

The real magic happens when these links are shared on social media. Claude AI helped implement dynamic Open Graph meta tag generation that creates beautiful previews:

// Dynamic OG meta tag generation for social sharing
const generateSocialPreview = (prompt) => {
  return {
    title: prompt.title || 'Key Prompt Ninja in Kyoto',
    description: truncate(prompt.text, 160),
    image: prompt.primaryImage || '/default-og-image.jpg',
    url: `https://mpm-midjourney.link/${prompt.shareCode}`,
    type: 'website',
    site_name: 'Midjourney Prompt Manager',
    twitter: {
      card: 'summary_large_image',
      creator: '@keypromptninja'
    }
  }
}

5. Business Model & Subscription Pricing Alignment

Claude AI helped design a subscription model that aligns user value with business model sustainability:

Usage-Based Pricing Strategy

MPM pricing tiers showing Free, Creator, Team Leader, and Founder plans

Subscription Tiers:

  • Free Forever: 50 projects, 10GB storage, public gallery access
  • Creator ($15/month): Unlimited projects, 250GB storage, team creation up to 5 members
  • Team Leader ($29/month): Everything in Creator + 500GB storage + unlimited team members
  • Founder ($199 one-time): Lifetime Creator access + exclusive benefits

Key Takeaways: The Claude AI Advantage

Building MPM with Claude AI taught me invaluable lessons about the future of software development:

What Claude AI Excelled At

  1. Architectural Thinking: Claude didn't just write code—it understood complex system relationships and helped design scalable solutions.
  2. Problem Solving: When faced with performance issues or user experience challenges, Claude provided creative, well-researched solutions.
  3. Code Quality: For the most part, Claude generated code that consistently followed best practices and included proper error handling.
  4. Documentation: Claude created comprehensive documentation alongside every feature, improving debugging and future maintenance.
  5. Performance Optimization: Claude understood modern web performance principles and applied them throughout development.

The Human-AI Partnership Model

The most important insight: Claude AI wasn't replacing developer skills—it was amplifying them. I remained the architect, product designer, and quality control. Claude provided the implementation expertise and infinite patience for iteration.

My role evolved to:

  • Product Vision: Defining what to build and how it worked
  • User Experience: Ensuring features improved workflow
  • Technical Strategy: Making architectural and tool decisions
  • Quality Assurance: Testing and refining implementations

Development Velocity Impact

Chart showing 3-4x development velocity improvement with Claude AI partnership

Productivity Metrics:

  • Feature Development: 2-4x faster than traditional coding
  • Bug Resolution: 4x faster with AI-assisted debugging
  • Documentation: Docs created as the app features were built
  • Testing: More testing conducted due to the ease of implementing tests

Final Thoughts: The Future is Collaborative

The journey from basic prompt editor to production-ready SaaS platform in 30 days was intense, educational, and ultimately transformative. MPM now serves hundreds of creative professionals, helping them manage their AI art generation workflow more effectively.

Claude AI proved that AI-assisted development isn't just about writing code faster—it's about building better software through intelligent collaboration. The combination of human creativity, business acumen, and AI implementation capability created something neither could have achieved alone.

For Solopreneurs & Developers

If you're considering AI for your next project, my advice is simple: embrace the partnership model. Don't just use AI for code completion—use it as a thought partner, architect, and implementation specialist. The results might surprise you.

Key Success Factors:

  • Iterative approach: Build, test, refine, repeat (no one shots)
  • Have Sonnet 4 code review: I found it helpful to use Opus 4 in the terminal and Sonnet 4 in the browser reviewing
  • Use screenshots: Using screenshots with Sonnet 4 in the browser helped with both design and debugging guidance
  • Update project knowledge: Document changes/fixes and refresh project knowledge regularly for AI context awareness (no MCP server)
  • Use CLI tools: While no MCP server was used, I relied heavily on CLI control of Git, GitHub, Astro, PocketBase, Stripe and NPM

The Broader Impact

We're at the beginning of a fundamental shift in how software is built. AI-assisted development will democratize complex software creation, allowing more of us solopreneurs to bring their ideas to life without massive technical teams.

But this doesn't diminish the importance of human expertise—it amplifies it. The developers who thrive will be those who learn to work effectively with AI, focusing on strategy, user experience, and business value while leveraging AI for implementation excellence.

Want to experience the power of Midjourney prompt management? Try MPM yourself at midjourneypromptmanager.com and see how it enhances your creative workflow.

Summary

Building MPM from editor improvements to advanced features to live production platform demonstrates how an AI partnership can deliver production-ready software with complex features rapidly. Part 2 covered the sophisticated features, production deployment, and remarkable metrics achieved.

Key Highlights from Part 2:

Advanced Features:

  • Sophisticated image management with AWS CloudFront CDN and automatic WebP optimization
  • Real-time search engine with Fuse.js fuzzy matching and advanced filtering
  • Complete team collaboration system with multi-tenant workspaces
  • Branded social sharing with Dub.co integration and dynamic OG meta tags

Production Excellence:

  • Modern Jamstack infrastructure with Astro SSR on Netlify edge functions
  • PocketBase backend with optimized database schema and real-time subscriptions
  • Rigorous deployment safety protocols with feature flags and manual approval workflows

Performance & Scale:

  • Lighthouse scores: 76/100 Performance, 94/100 Accessibility, 96/100 Best Practices, 100/100 SEO
  • Sub-second page loads and less than 50ms search response times
  • 99.96% uptime with less than 0.05% error rate

AI Partnership Success:

  • Up to 4x development velocity achieved through human-AI collaboration
  • Complex features like team workspaces built in days instead of weeks
  • AI excelled at architecture design, problem solving, and documentation
  • Human expertise amplified for product vision, UX, and business strategy

The 30-day journey from concept to production proved that AI-assisted development isn't just faster—it produces better software through intelligent collaboration between human vision and AI implementation.

What’s Next in the Light. Speed.✨ Series?

Stay tuned for more in the Light. Speed. series—where I look at advanced techniques for using AI tools in parallel and integrating bash tools, MCP servers, custom slash commands and headless automation!

About the Light. Speed.✨ Series: This series documents real-world experiences building fast websites and applications with AI. Each article shares practical insights, tools & techniques, and lessons learned from shipping actual products that serve real users.

Connect with me: Follow my journey on LinkedIn and X, or reach out through my contact form to discuss your own AI-assisted development projects.