BubbleCheck's New Tech Stack
Last post, I talked about my legacy app's old, outdated tech stack. Now, let's look at the new stack I hope to use as I rewrite BubbleCheck.
Goals of BubbleCheck's revamp
I have two main goals for this app rewrite:
- To make BubbleCheck production-ready, which means usable, maintainable, and scalable, using modern technologies.
- To learn about frameworks and technologies that I'm not terribly familiar with.
New frameworks and technologies
I spent some time researching frameworks and libraries that developers in 2024 are fond of. The StackOverflow 2024 Survey was particularly helpful in identifying systems that would be helpful to learn, and would fit in nicely with my needs.
Some of these decisions might change as I dig in, but I'm trying my hardest to avoid analysis paralysis.
| Component | Technology |
|---|---|
| Backend Language | Node.js (TypeScript) |
| Backend ORM | Prisma |
| Backend API Type | GraphQL (graphql-yoga) |
| Web Server | Likely express with nginx behind some API gateway |
| Backend Compute | Google Cloud Run? Containers? TBD |
| Database | PostgreSQL |
| Frontend Framework | Svelte |
| Frontend UI | Tailwind CSS |
| Frontend API Client | Some GraphQL library (graphql-request or Apollo) |
| Frontend Hosting | Static files in a bucket behind an API gateway |
| CI/CD Deployment | GitHub Actions running Terraform |
| Infrastructure Management | Terraform on GCP |
| Mobile App | React Native |
Backend language
In my current line of work, I work almost exclusively in TypeScript and I've grown fond of typed languages. While other web backend languages like PHP and Python have made strides towards typing in recent years, the TypeScript ecosystem is where I'm most comfortable.
Backend ORM
The two big players in TypeScript ORMs are Prisma and TypeORM. I experimented with both, and both seemed to solve the problem I needed solved. Both offered native database migrations, great docs, and an "ejector seat" so I can write my own SQL or extend the ORM as needed.
Prisma "felt" a little more intuitive. With almost near-identical usage and both solving my problem, I selected Prisma (again, avoiding analysis paralysis).
Backend API type
I've build REST APIs before. And, since this is a learning exercise I want to get out of my comfort zone.
I've been a consumer of GraphQL APIs before, but have done very little authoring of them.
Typically, GraphQL APIs are advantageous when you don't know your data access pattern ahead of time. I know mine, so I could just as easily build a REST API to solve my problems, but I'm excited about the prospect of being able to build my frontend, backend, and mobile apps independently of one another. It'll be nice to be able to make a change to the way I fetch data in my mobile apps, without needing to push a backend change.
Backend compute
I'm pretty keen to save money, at least for this first iteration. Google cloud offers a pretty reasonable free tier for their Cloud Run service (similar to AWS Lambda).
I've been working in the AWS ecosystem for the better part of a decade, and I want to learn something new. So, I'd like to give Google Cloud a try.
I imagine I'll start in a serverless environment, and migrate to something more robust if I ever have enough users to scale.
Database
This is a category where I'm leaning on a technology that I'm already really familiar with. I've was a PostgreSQL DBA for a few years as devops engineer.
PostgreSQL is the most popular database according to StackOverflow's 2024 survey for a reason - it's fast and extensible.
One thing I want to learn about, though, is row-level security (RLS).
My goal is to leverage RLS so that all data in all tables is tenantized.
By default, if you SELECT * FROM courses, RLS rules will prevent you from seeing any records.
If you have a tenant ID in hand (after auth), you'll see only the courses you own.
I'm excited about RLS - my having an "opt-in" rather than "opt-out" security posture for the database, I'll be able to avoid annoying WHERE tenant_id='....'; clauses on every query I make.
Frontend framework
I've done very little research on this category. I'm pretty comfortable with React, but want to branch out.
People who use Svelte seem to really like it. I might build a POC with Svelte first, and if it goes well, use it for my frontend.
Frontend UI
Along those same lines, I'm very familiar with Material UI (particularly the React implementation of MUI). But, people seem hot about Tailwind, so I want to see what all the fuss is about.
Infrastructure management
I've used CloudFormation for AWS, and Terraform for AWS and Azure resources. There's a great Terraform provider for Google Cloud -- might as well give that a whirl.
Mobile app
I'm not building two mobile apps. So, the big players here are React Native, Flutter, Kotlin Multiplatform, and .NET MAUI.
I'm undecided here, but leaning towards React Native since I want to stay in the TypeScript ecosystem if I can.
Regardless of which framework I choose, I'll likely need an "ejector seat" so that I can pull in native OpenCV bindings so I can process live video for real-time exam grading.
Let's go!
Like I noted, I did some due diligence but tried to avoid analysis paralysis. I might end up grabbing some framework, just to throw it away a few days later if it's not a good fit.
Let's get building!