I agree, this opens up really interesting possibilities.

Here's my understanding of how it works, based on the puter.js docs [1]:

If I'm developing a frontend app that could benefit from cloud storage, I can load in puter.js as my "backend". I don't need to worry about user auth because puter.js will automatically ask the user to create an account or log in. I also don't need to worry about managing & paying for cloud storage because puter.js will take care of that on a user-by-user basis - including asking the user for payment if they go over their free limits.

I haven't actually used puter.js yet. But if I understand correctly, this could be a really powerful model. As the developer of a niche app whose purpose is not to bring in revenue, puter.js seems like a very reasonable way to pass on cloud storage costs to end users, while also reducing development effort!

[1] https://docs.puter.com/

Interesting! What's the advantage of Puter in this scenario compared to, say, Google Drive, or Dropbox?

As lavrton said in a sibling comment - simpler integration.

I can't speak to Dropbox integration, but every time I've looked at integrating with Google Drive I have felt my development effort growing, not shrinking.

Puter also seems to place a high value on privacy, which I like.

I would say much simpler integration. puter.js SDK is super straightforward and fast to integrate.

Could you elaborate on how Puter helped?

Polotno Studio is a free app. And for a long time, it didn't even have the ability to signup and save created designs into a cloud.

I didn't want to invest my resources into "cloud saving" feature (as it is a free app). Setup full authorization, setup database, setup servers and tons of other work to finish the cycle.

https://docs.puter.com/ gives a very simple, yet powerful client-side js SDK to enable full cloud saving and loading of data for my users. I spent a couple of days for integration. Doing everything by myself with full hosting would take weeks, if not months.

Sounds good, but it seems the sign-in feature pops open a new window to the puter.com domain. Does the SDK provide any means of avoiding this and keeping everything integrated on your app without pop-up windows?

Also I'm confused about how you pay puter for the service. What if a million people suddenly use your app, and sign-up? As the app owner, do you have access to the users who signed up? Can you export those members in case you wanted to import them somewhere else if you moved your app?

I am not in puter team, so I may not know some details.

But.

I don't really care how sign-in is implemented. If it is a popup, but simple for the user - that is ok for me. Probably they will change how it works in the feature because they Puter team was listening for my feedback with puter.js SDK.

Right now, I don't pay Puter. As I understand their long-term plan, eventually, they will monetize the users directly, for example, users will pay for bigger cloud storage.

For now, I don't have access to users. But I already spoke with Puter team about, and they told me they will have a full user management dashboard.

Thanks for that information, very useful.

Puter should provide more details, it seems lacking on their side given it's been around for a bit.

I'm someone who, like you, doesn't want to mess around with user management and authenticating, but I probably should grow a pair and learn how to do it properly using Amazon services or something.

Thank you, Anton! Polotno is incredible. I recommend everybody to check it out!

I like this thinking.

If someone could combine Supabase + Postgrest or Hasura with an easy visual admin dashboard for them inside this, this could be a complete easy to access, easy to deploy platform.