Varun

I build dev tools and ship in public, failures included.

🔮dbdiagramr
pg → er in 10s, your string never stored.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Paste a postgres connection string, get an er diagram in 10 seconds. no signup, no setup.

open source, self-hostable, connection string never stored.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Try out https://t.co/FL4Vwkv3tH to get better visual database before actually generating it.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

been thinking about what actually makes a diagram tool different.

paste SQL, get a diagram.
chartdb does it.
azimutt does it.
liam erd regenerates it in CI.
all good products.

so what is the thing nobody does simply?

i keep coming back to this: showing what a migration DOES to your database, as a picture. not a text diff. a picture.

nothing built yet. just the question i can't shake.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Try out https://t.co/FL4VwkvBjf to get better visual database before actually generating it.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

free tool #2 is live: SQL formatter.

tool #1 was the schema analyzer (grade your schema A-D).
tool #2 formats your SQL and sends it to the visualizer.

each tool targets one exact query.
"sql formatter" gets 55K searches/month.

the flywheel: free tool → search traffic → diagram tool.
no ads. no outreach. just matching what people type.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Try : https://t.co/uf7KU0kbBv

[Varun @im_daedalus]

what your schema scores on my new analyzer?

paste SQL, get 7 checks with fixes
export the report. open the diagram. fix it.

paste SQL → grade A-D → copy-paste fix for each.
free, client-side, no signup.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

asked chatgpt "what is dbdiagramr" it knows me. features, pricing, the works.

ask for "the best postgres erd tool" and it names someone else.

there is a difference between AI knowing your tool
and AI recommending your tool.

2 arrivals from chatgpt[.com] in GA4. first AI traffic ever.
plus the first trickle from bing and duckduckgo.

directories + dev[.to] + comparisons + the analyzer tool
are supposed to close that gap. we will see.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@santoshstack I would not toatally agree. coding did got faster, but you still need to know if the code is right.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@robj3d3 ship small and ship often, is this what you meant?

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@samongaro_ Yeap :)

[Varun @im_daedalus]

2 months of shipping nothing → 5 days to a live tool.

what changed? i stopped building what i thought was cool
and started building what people actually search for.

the problem was never my code.
the problem was my taste in problems.

5 days from empty repo to live.
not because i got faster. because i picked better.

[Base @base_writes]

app founders trying to promote their app on their X feed, which is full of other founders

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@divvsaxena Ok, now that is too good of an animation

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Google Search Console screenshot: https://t.co/jG79CAnt9j average position 8.8, down from 27.5 a week earlier, 17 impressions, 0 clicks. Trend line shows position stuck at 26-27 for a month before dropping into the page 1 zone. https://t.co/40ZTEUWF5O

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@ItsMeBenChan Article

[Rexan Wong @rexan_wong]

everyone's sharing motion graphic videos that Opus 5.5 made, and it's genuinely insane

everyone says they created it with "one prompt", but my one prompt video looked mid

so i went through a bunch of these videos to see how they were actually made, and found the workflow that works

here's how to generate pro level motion graphic videos w/ opus:

1. get reference videos to direct from -> https://t.co/CibWaQ6c9Q

pick 1-2 videos whose style you want and tell opus to match them. naming a style works way better than describing one

without a reference, opus falls back to its default look: centered text, gradient background, everything fading in

that's why so many of these videos look the same. a reference gives it the pacing, the type and the transitions to copy

2. install @HyperFrames_ or @Remotion so opus can build the video

both let opus write every scene as code and render it straight to mp4. no video editor

without one, opus can only describe a video or hand you a rough html page you have to screen record

with it, every frame is exact, and when you ask for a change it edits one line and re-renders instead of starting over

3. install @21st_dev for high quality components in the video

real buttons, cards and UI components made by design engineers, instead of whatever opus invents on the spot

without it, opus draws your product UI from scratch and it looks off. wrong spacing, placeholder boxes, fake-looking buttons

anyone who's used good software can feel it in a second, and the whole video reads as cheap

4. steps 1-3 were context + setup. now dump all of it into opus

your brand (logo, colors, fonts), screenshots of your real product, the reference video, and a quick braindump of how you see the video

then ask for 3 storyboard variants

without this, opus guesses your colors, your font and what your product even does. the video could be for any startup

with it, it could only be yours. and 3 variants means you pick a direction instead of fixing the first idea it had

5. pick the storyboard you like

ask for one still frame per scene before anything moves. fixing a storyboard is way cheaper than fixing a render

without this step, you only find out scene 4 is wrong after the whole thing is animated, and every fix means re-rendering. a still frame takes seconds to change

6. let claude cook

then give notes like a director: "slow every zoom to 0.7x", "hard cut here", "push in on the button"

without notes, the first render is usually 80% there, and that last 20% is what makes it look pro. vague notes like "make it better" get random changes. camera words get exactly the change you want

everyone has the same model. the context you give it is what makes it look pro

let it cooookk

[Varun @im_daedalus]

https://t.co/JWc2RUNcGC

[Ann Nguyen @ann_nnng]

this is my version, and it's straight up disruptive 😱

one prompt with claude opus 5.5, almost an hour, and it cooked the whole thing

I used to spend nearly 4 weeks going back and forth with 2 freelancers just to get videos like this

[Varun @im_daedalus]

Claude Opus 5.5 just created a motion design 15s video.

This is next level stuff!!
I am pinning this post for sure.
All I had to type was a simple prompt 👇

[Varun @im_daedalus]

"Make a dynamic 15-second motion graphics video that shows what an incredible motion designer you are. The content should focus on [product name]. You should visit the pages first to learn about the product, then write the video content yourself."

[Varun @im_daedalus]

hot take: 0% CTR on every query is better than it sounds.

ran a full GSC audit. every query: 0% CTR.

335 impressions at position 66.
google is showing my site. nobody is clicking.
the gap between ranking and clicking is the title.

my titles don't match what people type.
"database tool" vs "supabase schema diagram"
the second one answers a question.

built 5 pages this week that match exact queries.
the CTR problem is a copy problem, not a ranking problem.

[Varun @im_daedalus]

@robj3d3 Yes...