Pennypost

This repository contains the starter code for running your own version of Pennypost — a simple writing tool that empowers any writer to add a $0.25 paywall to their content using the Code SDK and app.

Pennypost is intentionally simple. There were a lot of features we decided to leave out in order to make it easier to use as a foundation. We hope that this project will inspire the community to build new ways for content creators to monetize their work.

What is Code?

Code is a mobile app that leverages self custodial blockchain technology to deliver a seamless payments experience that is instant, global, and private.

Development

The codebase is split into the following packages:

• api - The binary network protocol between the frontend and backend
• database - The database schema, models, and queries
• backend - The glue between the database, the Code SDK, and the frontend
• frontend - The UI/UX components live here

The project itself is designed so that you can replace any of the packages with your own implementation and language if you'd like.

Quick Start

To run Pennypost locally, you will need to have the following dependencies:

• Docker
• Node.js
• Bun.js
• Sharp (no manual steps should be required here for most people, the codebase will install this automatically)

Additionally, you will need a postgres database running somewhere. You can use the following command to start a postgres database using docker:

docker run --name my-postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=mysecretpassword -p 5432:5432 -d postgres

Before you run the project, you will need to create a .env file in the backend directory. You can copy the example.env file and fill in the necessary values.

cp backend/example.env backend/.env

To run Pennypost, use the following commands:

make install
make dev

Deployment

To deploy Pennypost, you will need to compile the frontend assets and optionally build a docker image containing everything. You can do all of this by running the following command:

make build

Then you can run the docker image you've just created using the following command:

make run-local

Additionally, you'll need your own verifier key. This is a private key value. This key is used to sign the payment requests that are sent to the Code services. It allows us to verify that you actually own the domain name from where the request is coming from.

This codebase ships with the example-getcode.com verifier key. You should replace this key with your own key once you have a domain name and have the ability to host a json file at https://example.com/.well-known/code-payments.json. This codebase will automatically do this for you.

Important: The https is required for security reasons, so make sure you have an SSL certificate installed on your server. Additionally, subdomains are not supported.

You can generate a verifier key by running the following command:

make verifier-key

Getting Help

If you have any questions or need help integrating Code into your website or application, please reach out to us on Discord or Twitter.

Contributing

For now the best way to contribute is to share feedback on Discord. This will evolve as we continue to build out the platform and open up more ways to contribute.