From Railway Prototype to Platform Ownership
I built Digital Technology GCSE Guru to generate instant AI‑powered MCQs and explanations for classroom starters and self‑study. Railway helped me ship a working prototype fast. But once real students and teachers started using it, the hosted constraints became a ceiling I didn’t want to keep bumping into.
Why move on?
- Auto rotating URLs and port reassignment risked CORS/CSP issues and downtime during redeploys.
- Build pipelines dictated structure; environment variables were tightly coupled to the platform.
- Authentication and CDN policies felt like workarounds rather than architecture.
What I wanted
- Stable backend endpoints with my own domain and routing.
- Front and backend independence for clear deployment control.
- Room to scale features without platform limits or lock‑in.
The Teacher‑Hosted Stack (on HostGator)
Migrating off the prototype and into my own infrastructure gave me clarity and control. The mental model is simple — and robust.
Frontend
- React (Vite) compiled locally, deployed directly.
- Lucide icons, minimal runtime JS, mobile‑first UI.
- Classroom‑ready on whiteboard or phone in under 30 seconds.
Backend
- FastAPI served with predictable routing (no port juggling).
- OpenAI integration on my domain with stable keys.
- Clerk authentication without CSP/CDN friction.
What the App Actually Does
Topic Selection
A clean six‑topic start screen for GCSE Digital Technology. Choose and start, no clutter.
AI Questions
MCQs generated on demand with 1 correct answer, 3 distractors, and instant explanations.
XP & Leaderboard
Earn XP for correct answers and track progress. Lightweight motivation, classroom friendly.
No paywalls, no licence hurdles. Sign up with Clerk in seconds and have privacy‑first and minimal data.
Why This Matters for Educators and Tech Leads
Teacher‑built tools often stall at forms or no‑code prototypes. This shows an alternative: an educator can build and host a secure, scalable platform with authentication, instant feedback, and data capture without vendor lock‑in.
- Ownership: your domain, your routing, your uptime.
- Interoperability: clean APIs for future integrations.
- Performance: remove platform overhead and hidden proxies.
Try the live app
Use it as a starter, a revision sprint, or a quick confidence check. Works great on mobile and whiteboards.