Shipping Side Projects That Survive Sleeping Backends

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How I built Supabase-dependent tools that keep working when the database pauses itself, including logging fallbacks and graceful UX patterns.

Supabase is a brilliant accelerator, but if you spend enough time on the free tier you learn a painful truth: sleepy projects nap. When the database idles, your side project face-plants. I wanted a pattern that kept visitors in flow, captured intent, and recovered automatically once the backend woke up.

Principle 1: degrade, don’t deflect

Instead of slapping up a maintenance banner, I wrapped critical actions with client-first fallbacks. For logs—like the desktop prompt telemetry on this site—the API returns a `503` with a semantic payload (`logging-unavailable`). The UI interprets that as “record locally and move on.”

  • Persist intent: store queued events in `sessionStorage` with a timestamp so you can replay them later.
  • Surface empathy: concise toasts tell the user the system is catching up instead of making them guess.
  • Avoid modal lock-ins: allow the user to continue browsing; the fallback should feel like a whisper, not a wall.

Principle 2: ship observable frontends

When you cannot rely on backend metrics, the UI needs its own diagnostics. I lean on lightweight client logs that only fire in development mode. For production, a `console.info` namespaced with feature tags keeps the noise minimal while still offering insight through browser devtools.

The key is consistency: emit a structured object whenever you take a fallback branch. Later, if Supabase metrics show a spike, you can correlate it with real user behavior captured in the client.

Principle 3: design onboarding for outages

If someone lands on a dormant project, they should still feel invited. That’s why the blog here is entirely file-backed. Visitors can read essays, explore experiments, and even copy curl commands without touching a paused backend.

  • Keep content static-first: Markdown/JSON sources render instantly and can be cached at the edge.
  • Delay authentication: only request sign-in when a live action is required.
  • Instrument wake-ups: the moment Supabase returns, replay queued tasks and show a success toast.

A portable checklist

  1. Wrap network calls with semantic error codes (`logging-unavailable`, `auth-snoozed`).
  2. Store fallbacks and user intent in the browser, encrypted if sensitive.
  3. Do a dry run with the backend disabled before launch.
  4. Automate wake-up pings on a cron so the first visitor isn’t the guinea pig.
  5. Document the behavior in your quickstart so collaborators know what “sleep mode” looks like.

Shipping resilient side projects is about humility. Assume the glamorous services will nap and design an experience that keeps humans in momentum anyway. You can always upgrade the backend later; you do not get a second chance at first impressions.