One of the first medium-sized Hotwire apps

Remember the pandemic when we were all stuck at home? That's when I built the first version of Avo.

It started as a challenge to see if I could do it. A Vue.js frontend with a Rails API backend. Nothing fancy, just me experimenting during lockdown.

Then in December 2020, DHH released Hotwire. And some stranger on Twitter told me he'd never use Avo because it used Vue.js, calling it "the worst thing ever." He said the only thing worth using was Hotwire.

You know what I did? I took a few months off work and rebuilt the entire project from scratch just to prove it could be done.

I was probably one of the first medium-sized projects to use Hotwire from day one. Avo v1 launched in February 2021.

Looking back, that random Twitter comment ended up being one of the best things that happened to the project. Sometimes the harshest feedback pushes you to build something better.

Have you ever had a critic accidentally help you improve your work?