TLDR
Pantry is a cloud data-storage service that provides free perishable data storage for small projects. Data is securely stored for as long as you and your users need it and is deleted after a period of inactivity. Simply use the Pantry API to post JSON objects and we’ll take care of the rest.
Why I built Pantry
When I started learning how to code, I focused my efforts on the front-end. Building small projects was not only very exciting and new for me, but it was also a great learning experience. From building TODO lists to calendars and address books, there wasn’t a single project where I didn’t learn something new, and where data-storage was not a concern. Since these projects were all fairly small and were never meant to be used by actual users, I never felt the need to spin up a data-storage solution to store user data. I simply wanted to focus my time on building a creative UI/UX.
Today, many new developers are continuing this trend by learning how to code by doing. They are pushing themselves further, not just by reading and learning via tutorials, but by actually building things on their own.
Pantry was built to provide a simple, re-usable NoSQL storage solution for smaller sized projects. It was built to help developers rapidly prototype their next project by taking care of the storage portion. It was built to help them move fast by allowing them to store user data quickly, and securely on the cloud.
Backend development is a fun and very rewarding, especially if a project revolves around some complex business logic. However, there may be situations where the backend may take a back seat in the development process. Perhaps time-constraints don’t allow for a backend data-storage solution to be built, or it simply may not be the focus of your project.I hope Pantry can fill in the gaps for now.
Technology
Pantry is written in Typescript. It is hosted in AWS Lightsail, and uses Redis to store data. There is some business logic that refresh’s an account’s TTL’s when data is modified and some encryption logic that handles storing and retrieving data securely.
Feel free to contribute to Pantry, I’ve set up a Slack to handle logging and user events, as well as GitHub actions for CI/CD workflows. I hope this project will be useful to many future developers and wish to keep building features that users deem necessary.