Jay Gould

Another project I began working on over the Easter break is Get Pronto. It’s a platform designed to simplify how developers store, transform, and deliver digital assets like images, videos, and JSON files.

The inspiration for Get Pronto came from a recurring challenge I observed in the developer tooling landscape. Powerful asset management services, such as Cloudinary, offer excellent capabilities. However, I noticed a significant pricing disparity between their free tiers and their entry-level paid plans. This can be a substantial hurdle for solo developers or small teams whose needs exceed the free limits but don’t justify the cost of higher-tier plans. My aim was to bridge this gap.

My primary goal with Get Pronto was to create an alternative that specifically caters to these “smaller” users – independent developers and compact teams. I focused on providing a service with generous resource limits and transparent, affordable pricing. The objective was to build a tool that I, as a developer, would find practical and cost-effective for my own projects, without the anxiety of restrictive caps or unexpected charges.

From a technical perspective, building Get Pronto has been an engaging endeavor. The backend is predominantly built with Node.js and TypeScript, utilizing Express.js to power the API. For efficient image and video processing, I’ve integrated a selection of optimized libraries. The platform incorporates robust storage solutions and a global Content Delivery Network (CDN) to ensure fast and reliable asset delivery to users worldwide. The user dashboard, designed for an intuitive experience, is a React application (developed with Next.js) and styled using Tailwind CSS.

Currently, Get Pronto’s core functionality is centered on simplifying essential asset management tasks. This includes straightforward asset uploads via an API or the dashboard, powerful on-the-fly image transformations (such as resizing, cropping, and format conversion through URL parameters), and consistently fast delivery.

While Get Pronto is in its early stages, with more features planned for the future, I believe it already offers a compelling solution. If you’re a developer seeking an efficient, budget-friendly approach to managing your application’s digital assets, I invite you to explore Get Pronto and share your feedback.