In this extensive tutorial series, we’re embarking on an ambitious journey: building a complete SaaS application using Bolt. Our project? An interactive GitHub tutorial platform designed to help users master Git and GitHub through hands-on exercises. In this first part, we’ll lay the groundwork for our application, setting up everything from the basic structure to user authentication.
Project Overview
We’re building a full-featured SaaS platform that will include:
- Interactive Git tutorials
- User authentication
- Payment processing
- Progress tracking
- Real-time updates
With 10 million tokens at our disposal (8 million from a regular subscription plus 2 million gifted tokens from Bolt), we’ll see just how far we can push this AI development tool.
Version Control Strategy
Since Bolt doesn’t have native GitHub integration, I’ve developed a Chrome extension called “Bolt to GitHub” that adds a GitHub button directly in the Bolt interface. After adding your GitHub Personal Access Token in the settings, you can push changes to GitHub with a single click. The extension automatically creates a new repository on your first push.
Initial Setup and Challenges
Project Initialization
Our first step was setting up a Next.js application with a comprehensive set of requirements. As expected, we hit some initial hurdles:
- Multiple dependency issues
- Missing component errors
- Runtime errors
It’s worth noting that attempting this project with Bolt’s free plan (limited daily tokens) would be challenging. A paid plan is recommended for projects of this scale.
Database Integration
For our database layer, we chose Firebase with the following collections:
- Users
- Tutorials
- Progress
- Subscriptions
Setting up Firebase integration proved to be one of our first major challenges. Here’s what we learned:
- Firebase Configuration
- Created a new Firebase project
- Set up Cloud Firestore
- Generated necessary service account credentials
- Configured environment variables
- Key Learnings
- Manual database creation in Firebase Console is necessary
- Proper error handling is crucial
- Firebase Admin initialization requires careful configuration
Frontend Development
Landing Page
We implemented a responsive landing page with:
- Dark/light mode toggle using Tailwind CSS
- Hero section
- Feature highlights
- Clear call-to-action elements
Authentication System
Successfully implemented Firebase authentication with:
- Email/password provider
- User profile management
- Sign-in/sign-out functionality
- Dashboard access control
Challenges and Solutions
Throughout this first part, we encountered several challenges:
- Token Management
- Started with 2 million tokens
- Careful monitoring of token usage
- Strategic prompt planning to optimize token consumption
- Firebase Integration
- Initial configuration issues
- Database initialization challenges
- Authentication setup complexities
- Development Workflow
- Implementing proper error handling
- Managing component dependencies
- Coordinating frontend and backend integration
Current Status
By the end of Part 1, we’ve successfully:
- Set up the project foundation
- Implemented the database schema
- Configured Firebase authentication
- Created user dashboard and profile pages
- Established version control workflow
Next Steps
In Part 2, we’ll focus on:
- Building the tutorial content system
- Implementing interactive exercises
- Setting up progress tracking
- Enhancing user experience
Conclusion
While we’ve made significant progress, this first part has revealed both the capabilities and limitations of using Bolt for complex SaaS development. The tool shows promise, but requires careful planning and sometimes manual intervention, especially for third-party integrations.
Stay tuned for Part 2, where we’ll dive into building the core functionality of our interactive tutorial platform!
Want to follow along? Find the complete code in our GitHub repository.