🎬 Building MVW

NOTE: For the context, this blog is about my Movie Review project

How it all started?

It was started because I am in the phase of just graduated.

Wanted to make something in my free time that I could use. So I am determined to build a …

TUI + MOVIE = AMAZING IDEA

In the early build it was supposed to check every movie that I have in the specified directory ~/Videos Then display and let user simply play the movie.

The project itself have 3 names (mvtinul -> mvp -> mvw (latest))

It was almost complete but …

The Turn-of-event

I cannot sleep. Lying in my bed thinking

"Has anyone ever make a TUI + movie before?"

Then, I was stunned …

There are number of projects that have already established, stable like a rock just sitting there in the night sky with hundreds of star in Github.

There was no chance in any universe that my small projects can fight with the behemoth of projects that have thousands of contributions and features.

I don’t want to give up … I have spent plenty of my time in this project.

Then I pull a trigger, I am remaking my project with a fresh idea.

That was the moment that I remembered about my movie catalogue that I made in Obsidian weeks prior. Then I got an idea …

What if I make a movie review post?!

Inspired by letterboxd and fastfetch, I start to create a note in obsidian about my idea.

It just felt so right, I was in my flow state.

Next day, I started from scratch, delete my repo and start fresh. I already know the system, I just need to tweak it a bit.

TMDB vs OMDB API

During mvtinul era, I use TMDB, it was reliable, have many metadata that I want but the registration are quite too specific.

They "ask where you live"

I have already doubted to even implement an API since it will create friction for users, not to mention - Giving my address to a sketchy site that I never heard of … ermm thank you)

After some research, I found another API site for movie, it is free (same to TMDB) but..

It only require my email?! (SIGN ME UP!!)

Then, I immediately change my entire database to accommodate for the new OMDB API.

Sharing on Reddit

After days, my project have reached the MVP stage. Finally, I pushed my Git into the Github (with a huge confidence)

In the early hours, I was feeling a little disappointed knowing that my project is not the best idea or groundbreaking invention humans ever seen.

If the project failed to get some traction, I am planning to add a true-search feature and just calls it a day. However..

The Project BLEW UP! (*according to my standard)

It starts small, one comment and some upvotes, later it slowly but surely grew out of hand. Comments came from out of nowhere to compliment my project.

This is the reddit post link

It was something that I never think it will happen especially in the command line community in reddit … but it did.

What happen to my Github repo?

With the viral content, there should something in return right?

There it is, the stars, it is my personal record for a project.

Of course, it is not that huge but the people that stars often the people that used my project and want to see the progress.

I feel motivated!

Pull Request

With the stars, come the pull request.

I have never expecting anyone to even pull request in my small code but there it is!

It was a little bit nerve wracking and I learned a lot on how to handle pull requests even in a short moment.

Contributions

There are at the time posting, 2 contributors on my project:

• The first one is the email: Fixing Poster Missing error
• The second one: Improving the poster rendering

Both contributions really nail down the features that I want to fix and improve and huge thank you for both of them.

Managing my Repo

I use everything that Github offers in terms of managing the repo:

• Github Actions: Automatically test and Build my package to PyPI.org
• Issues: To keep track with everything regarding bug and new features
• Github CLI: One if not the most performance way to do anything github (really recommend it!)

AUR

One of the most unexpected surprise was there was …

Someone maintain my project in the AUR!?

I have never met or know him but truly a savior for me.

This is the AUR link

What I learned?

1. Ideas don’t have to be “Unique” to be “Valuable”

I almost quit because other movie TUIs existed. I learned that execution and niche matter more than being first.

My project wasn’t just a player; it was a personal movie catalogue inspired by Letterboxd.

That specific "flavor" is what resonated with people.

2. The Power of “Building in Public”

If I had kept the code on my local machine because I was “stunned” by the competition, none of this would have happened.

Sharing it on Reddit even when I felt it wasn’t “groundbreaking” opened doors to …

• External Validation: Realizing people actually wanted this.
• Contributors: People fixed bugs I hadn’t even noticed yet!
• Community Support: Someone I don’t even know is maintaining the AUR package for me.

3. Friction is the Enemy of Adoption

Choosing OMDB over TMDB was also a turning point.

By reducing the “friction” (not asking for a home address), I made it easier for people to actually run the code.

In software, user privacy and easy setup are features.

4. Open Source is a Conversation

Managing a repo isn’t just about writing code …

It's about communication

Learning to handle Pull Requests and using Issues to track features …

Turned my “solo project” into a “community project.”

Checkout the mvw now and don’t forget to star and give feedbacks!