About the Project
This website is currently hosted on my personal work PC.
I created this project on my own under the pseudonym Nachitima.
This is my independent project aimed at addressing the video discovery problem within the network of PeerTube instances — specifically, the difficulty of finding interesting content inside a federated video ecosystem.
About the Author and Context
I am from Ukraine, from Kyiv.
I created the project during the war as a way not to lose my sanity and as an attempt to find some meaning and occupation in conditions where it is not really possible to freely go outside because of mobilization and the general situation around. In this sense, the project is a way to keep myself busy while a lot of terrible things are happening around.
How and in What Timeframe the Project Was Made
I built the project almost entirely using vibe-coding and a ChatGPT Plus subscription. This is not advertising — it is simply a fact. From the beginning to the current state, I built it in roughly two weeks — essentially two weeks of full-time work.
I did not really touch the code directly. The technologies used here — HTML, CSS, TypeScript, JavaScript — were either unfamiliar to me or something I had only minimal experience with before. I am not a programmer, I have never worked as one, and I never wanted to be one.
I primarily see myself as a content creator. I am interested in animation, 3D, audiovisual content, journalism, maker culture, and hackerspaces. I do like programming in general, but not as a profession. My very first attempt at programming was an attempt to make a computer write code for me, because I did not really want to write it myself. In this sense, vibe-coding turned out to be exactly the way of programming that always felt closest to me.
The simple fact is that this approach is fast. I made this project in two weeks. I believe that even a very experienced programmer, doing this manually, would have spent significantly more time on it.
Why This Project Exists at All
I like the idea of federated social networks. I started working on this project almost on the same day I first learned about federated social networks as a phenomenon.
When I first visited PeerTube, the problem was immediately obvious: it is very hard to find videos that genuinely interest you. I thought it would be cool if it were easier to discover content — roughly as convenient as YouTube is in terms of discovery and finding something new and interesting.
At the same time, it is important to me that all of this is based on community rather than on a large corporation making money off users. I like the idea of an alternative to YouTube.
Money and Reality
The reality is that development costs money, time, and energy. Even a ChatGPT subscription is not free, and without it I probably would not have even started implementing this project.
On top of that, the situation in my country is difficult — economically and in general. I have been without stable work for quite a long time now and am actively looking for something I can do that could potentially bring income.
This project was made because it interested me and because I have ideas for how it could be developed further. But further development directly depends on funding. Without money, nothing will happen — at least in my case.
Why This Project Might Be Useful
I believe this platform can be useful for:
- people who already watch content on PeerTube;
- those who host PeerTube instances;
- content creators who publish their videos on PeerTube.
It can simplify discovery, lower the barrier to entry, and help people find interesting content more quickly. Potentially, it could attract new users to PeerTube and to federated social networks in general — because, frankly, it is currently quite hard to find anything interesting on PeerTube, and not many people are willing to push through that difficulty.
For content creators, this also matters: everyone wants their content to be seen and discovered. A platform like this can help viewers find creators’ videos faster and more easily.
Support
The future development of the project depends entirely on people who are interested in it. If you want to support the development of this project, there are links below where you can financially support me and, by extension, support further development.