pixelo

Implementation Notes

Pixelo uses Twilio to send real time SMS messages to admins when requests are made by users to join groups or set up accounts. This allows tight control over who has access, but without causing unnecessary delays while requests are awaiting review.

The message feature uses Pusher API to maintain an open connection (via websockets) for users to message each other back and forth without needing to trigger content refresh.

Images are handled by Cloudinary, a service that allows dynamic transformation of images with S3 storage and low-latency caching.

The Future

We'll be adding new features if they seem useful, but for the most part we want to keep this whole thing pretty lean so we can optimize what's already here and provide the best social media experience we can!

Infrastructure Notes

-> Pixelo is built on Rails 6.0.3/Ruby 2.6.3
-> Security is handled by Google OAuth2 / Omniauth
-> Images are handled by Cloudinary
-> Database is MariaDB
-> Caching is brought to you by Memcached via Memcached Cloud on AWS
-> SMS is managed by Twilio
-> Emoji implementation by gemoji
-> App uses Pusher API for real-time communications (via webSockets)
-> Pixelo was designed with a "mobile first" philosophy for key features to be used primarily on phones and tablets
-> Code is managed via git on GitHub
-> Logs are managed by Papertrail
-> App was originally built in 2020 and needs a few minor updates
-> The app runs on Heroku 'hobby' dynos on a tiered plan shared with a custom decision engine called Is That What You're Wearing?. Pixelo currently has 5 active users, but is likely not scalable beyond a few dozen