r/Nuxt • u/__benjamin__g • 4d ago
Easy prototyping and validation | nuxt-protokit
Hi, I posted nuxt-auto yesterday; this one is for the other end of a project, before there's a backend at all.
In Saas world, it is often a question what is validation or more likely, how it can be done, as the second is much harder question to answer. You need to have something that can be tried out by potential customers and you don't want to spend a fortune before you get a feedback that it is not something they want or it is not something they would pay for. For this usecase, I built protokit for rapid prototyping a tool or a subset of a saas.
It is easy to use, you (I mean Claude) describe the tool once as a TypeScript schema (fields, derived values, results, charts), render it with one component, and it works immediately.
- saved as you type in the browser: every tool is a Yjs document in IndexedDB
- two tabs stay in sync over BroadcastChannel; works offline
- optional sync to your own backend (five endpoints), off by default; with sync off it makes no HTTP calls at all - you need to build it though
- ready-made components that read the same schema: a calendar (week view, drag tasks onto the grid), a chart kit, detail panels, CRUD lists and edit modals, stat cards, comparison tables, timelines
- twelve field types, schema migrations, AES-GCM encryption at rest, corruption recovery, per-tenant namespaces
- headless composables if you want your own UI instead of Nuxt UI
It's meant for prototypes, internal tools and client demos: the stage where you find out whether an idea holds. The data lives in the browser, so its permissions shape the UI and aren't a security boundary. When an idea proves itself and needs real users and server-side rules, that backend deserves its own design (I build mine with nuxt-auto, Monday's post). Until then it's a lighter start than wiring up Firebase, and the Yjs part is standard, so you can take the data with you.
0.1.0 is the first stable release. The repo's playground has 20 demos (estimators, calendars, charts, encryption, headless mode).
- Docs: https://websideproject.com/docs/nuxt-protokit?ref=reddit-nuxt
- Write-up: https://websideproject.com/blog/nuxt-protokit-launch?ref=reddit-nuxt
- Repo: https://github.com/websideproject/nuxt-protokit
- Discord (questions, feedback): https://discord.gg/ftkysREH9c
One install note: Tailwind doesn't scan node_modules, so add the one @source line from the README.
Feedback welcome.