Today seems like a good day to emphasize that @taleshape.bsky.social is open source and runs on any hosting provider. Code-driven data dashboards and embedded analytics without vendor lock-in or platform risk.

Updated the @taleshape.bsky.social website: Before: - Overview tried to cover everything. Now: - Overview: Demo + Features (what) - About: Background (who & why) - System Architecture: Tech (how)

CREATE TEMP TABLE and getvariable() are my favorite DuckDB features. Thanks to this DuckDB is a natural fit for interactive data dashboards. Temporary tables allow you to define datasets once and reuse them across a dashboard. Variables make defining dynamic data filters intuitive.

I would probably never have built a data visualisation tool if I knew before how much math it takes. Somehow I imagined charting libraries handle it all. But here I am coming up with algorithms and magic numbers to properly format chart legends and labels no matter what data you throw at Shaper.

Why did I decide to build an embedded analytics product? I was setting up a data platform for a client. The scale and complexity of their data was trivial. But they needed to be able to embed data dashboards into their application. And the solution had to run on premise. 1/2

I am all-in on @duckdb.org. With Shaper you can build data dashboards all in SQL. Powered by DuckDB. Why DuckDB? Because of how much flexibility its simple design enables. My customers use DuckDB extensions to query Postgres, Google Sheets and even trigger webhooks. And we are just getting started.

Didn't expect @taleshape.bsky.social to be mentioned in the NATS newsletter! But yes, Shaper makes heavy use of NATS to replicate @duckdb.org across multiple nodes, schedule tasks, buffer data ingestion and more.

This feedback is the reason I am building @taleshape.bsky.social: I want to create dashboards by simply writing SQL. And I want a tool that feels great to self-host. #duckdb #dataengineering #datanalytics #sql

Are you using Bluesky and want to stay on top of what’s happening? Are you curious how you can use Shaper to pull data from APIs and build interactive dashboards, all in a single tool and with just SQL? I created a little demo project: taleshape.com/blog/build-y... #databs #duckdb

We have a first Youtube walk through to get started with Shaper! And it's even me that recorded it. Thanks a lot @nanovms.bsky.social! Really appreciate the shout out 🙏 Great to see you can also run Shaper as unikernel.

Thanks a lot @nanovms.bsky.social for featuring us! That's a great walk through video!

DuckDB is awesome and it’s a great tool to explore and transform data. But DuckDB doesn’t help you visualize and share data with others. That's why I built Shaper: taleshape.com/blog/turn-yo... #duckdb #databs #dataengineering

Working on a fun demo project 👀 #databs #duckdb #dataengineering

Can you tell that these 2 SQL queries do the same thing? DuckDB comes with lots of conveniences for writing SQL. I don't want to go back to thinking about trailing commas ever again,

I just shipped the biggest update since I started building Shaper. This is why I am excited about Shaper's new Tasks feature: taleshape.com/blog/why-i-a... #buildinpublic #dataengineering #databs #duckdb

Everyone told me how hard it is to make money with open source software. That's why I had to give it a try myself. Starting today, Shaper is not only free to use, but completely open source: taleshape.com/blog/shaper-... #buildinpublic #databs #dataengineering

Eight months ago I set out on my journey as solo developer and started building Shaper because I was frustrated with how complex it is to create data dashboards that you can embed into your application:

Taleshape now has a blog. And I just published the first post! Check it out if you like to know more about what Embedded Analytics is and how Shaper can help you build analytics functionality into your product. The post also comes with a small live demo 👀 taleshape.com/blog/what-is...

When you spend so much time on data analytics, you use SQL to calculate your visa due date

Shaper now supports public dashboard sharing and I added a public demo dashboard to the landing page. I was looking forward to this feature to easily share examples and use Shaper to play around with public datasets. taleshape.com #dataviz #buildinpublic

Shaper now supports a cool DuckDB feature: Temporary Tables. Temporary tables allow you to pre-compute data to reuse within a single dashboard. Seeing how nicely temporary tables integrate into Shaper makes me feel great about the bet to make Shaper dashboards essentially just SQL scripts.

Getting helpful feedback works differently for every product. At my previous job we sold software to hospitals and the stakeholders buying the software were not the same ones using it. You need to talk to all of them. And you want to ask them different questions.

If you want to help your users and make them truly feel heard, spent more time listening. Understand their point of view and their unique problems. We are too quick to think that we understand and jump to solutions.

Don't do this. This is not how you ask for feedback. I won't be reading all this and I definitely won't attempt to fill the form. It's not that hard to show some empathy for your users. Very likely no single person thought this is a good idea, but big corp systems create this.

My main motivation to work on @taleshape.bsky.social is to be the voice that motivates people to take feedback serious. I want to create awareness. I want to support people.

The value prop of @taleshape.bsky.social is that you can start collecting feedback in minutes instead of hours or days. And when you are ready you can take it to the next level - within the same tool. And you will always stay in control with the option to self-host the open-source version.

Adding a feedback form to your product can be very simple. You can do it in a few hours. Everyone should do this. It can be very effective. So why @taleshape.bsky.social? #buildinpublic

One of the biggest advantages a product can have is staying alive. The biggest challenge is not money, but mindset. Can you stay motivated to keep going for years? www.applied-cartography.com/goon-squad #buildinpublic

Taking your time doesn't mean you built something for a year before you talk to anyone about it. Getting feedback from people early and often is crucial to keep going in the right direction. #buildinpublic

I don't know exactly what @taleshape.bsky.social should look like, but I can make a best guess. Once I got something tangible I can talk to people to figure out their actual problems and a solution that creates true value. #buildinpublic

Looking forward to working on @taleshape.bsky.social! I am excited to build better feedback for product teams and their users 🙂