# Build brief — a focused alternative to Maze

> **Verdict:** Not faithfully · **Buildability:** 11/100 · **Category:** User Research
> **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/maze
> Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Maze. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting.

## Context

**Maze** — Run small unmoderated prototype tasks with consent and basic completion analytics. It currently costs $99/mo.

A consolation build is possible, but the paid product's decisive value sits outside a solo rebuild. For Maze, run small unmoderated prototype tasks with consent and basic completion analytics. The hard boundary is participant panel, prototype integrations, testing infrastructure, analytics, and recruitment, plus participant network, synthesis workflow, and collaboration.

This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Maze that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest.

## What you are building

Run small unmoderated prototype tasks with consent, collect structured feedback with basic completion analytics, merge duplicates, connect evidence to themes, and publish a transparent research view.

- Build a focused single-user workflow with real persistence, search, and export.
- A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states.

## Requirements

### Functional

- PostgreSQL.
- Public HTTPS deployment.
- Optional video-call links.

### Data and integrations

- Resend API key.

Each of these needs a real account, credential, or quota. Set them up before writing feature code.

### Non-functional

- Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support.
- Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle.
- Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down.
- Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it.

## Implementation brief

Build a closest honest personal substitute for Maze in an empty repository.
Use Next.js 15, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Drizzle ORM, and Resend; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: run small unmoderated prototype tasks with consent, collect structured feedback with basic completion analytics, merge duplicates, connect evidence to themes, and publish a transparent research view.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Create public and private feedback intake with consent text and optional contact details.
Support posts, votes, comments, tags, statuses, owners, and duplicate merging.
Add a research note type with evidence links, quotes, themes, and confidence.
Build search and filters across feedback, customers, segments, themes, and status.
Provide email notifications, moderation, export, deletion, and an audit log.
Publish a read-only roadmap or findings page using only explicitly public items.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Do not claim to reproduce proprietary data, network liquidity, regulated access, or frontier infrastructure.
Deliberately leave out a paid research-participant marketplace.
Deliberately leave out unlimited video storage and automated transcription.
Deliberately leave out enterprise repositories, SSO, and governance.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used.

## Delivery standard

- Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code.
- Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data.
- Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations.
- Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states.
- Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data.
- Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details.
- Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey.
- Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations.

## Acceptance criteria

- [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example.
- [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable.
- [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state.
- [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control.
- [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures.
- [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified.

## Non-goals

Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them:

- Participant panel, prototype integrations, testing infrastructure, analytics, and recruitment.
- Large participant panel.
- Recording and transcription infrastructure.
- Advanced research repository.
- The value comes from the people already using it.
- Reliability at the vendor's scale is an operations problem, not a prompt.

## What you still own after launch

- Secure credentials, rotate secrets, and handle provider rate limits.
- Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates.
- Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change.
- Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss.

## Risk

**Operational risk.** The code is achievable; dependable data, integrations, and ongoing operations are the real cost.

Editorial confidence in this assessment: high. No independent one-shot implementation is linked yet.

## Prior art

Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting:

- [Fider](https://github.com/getfider/fider) — Open-source customer-feedback portal with voting and status workflows

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Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/maze