Day 2: PromptLoop Studio - Laying the Foundation

Wow, Day 2 felt like a blur, but in a good way. A ton of foundational work got done, which is less visually exciting but absolutely critical. Feels good to have these core pieces in place.

Infra & Auth: The biggest lift today was getting the user infrastructure properly hooked up. Integrating Clerk for managed auth (sign-up, login, profile management) is a massive time-saver, but still requires wiring it into the backend and frontend correctly. Successfully got users into their own private workspace environment. This is fundamental for handling user data, saving workflows, tracking usage, and eventually billing. It's the plumbing that makes everything else possible. Acknowledging the ease Clerk provides, but also the inevitable tiny config quirks that pop up.

UI & Canvas: The other major push was getting the basic visual workflow builder live using React Flow. Spent a significant chunk of time getting the canvas set up – enabling drag-and-drop functionality, defining the initial node types (Input, Prompt, Output), and allowing basic connections between them. Right now, it's a simple linear flow capability, but seeing nodes appear and connect on screen felt like a real step forward. It's the core visual interface where users will build their workflows, so getting this basic interaction right was key. Still miles to go with node properties, complex connections, and real data flow, but the skeleton is there.

Wins: Successfully shipped core user authentication and workspace provisioning. This feels huge for Day 2 – users can now technically 'exist' within the application. Also, got the very basic visual canvas working with initial node types. This is the heart of the product's UI. Having both the user shell and the core builder interface started makes the project feel much more concrete. Next up: making these nodes actually do something and persist workflow state.

Reflections: Progress feels good, but it's a stark reminder of how much invisible infrastructure is needed before the flashy parts work. Auth and the basic canvas are solid wins, even if they just scratch the surface of the planned features. Staying focused on shipping core functionality first is the goal.