Plan and Execution
Why folksbase is the way it is
When I first received the technical requirements for this challenge, my initial reaction was that they seemed surprisingly simple. However, I quickly realized that this simplicity was a deliberate “open invitation”. The test wasn’t just about parsing a file; it was a blank canvas designed for candidates to demonstrate the full depth of their expertise. While a basic backend and a single upload screen would have technically checked the boxes, I knew that the Resend team looks for “T-shaped” professionals—engineers who don’t just write code, but who can develop products, think like a founder, and build a complete MVP from the ground up. I decided that the only way to truly fulfill the spirit of the test was to build a comprehensive contact management application.
The naming of the project was my first major decision. My initial plan was to call it census. It’s a strong, premium name that sounds like a high-end startup, but as I got deeper into the build, I realized its “premium” feel was also its greatest flaw—it felt a bit too sterile. Since I am a human who loves to create websites, I wanted a name that reflected the human element of the data. I landed on folksbase—where “folks” represents the humans we manage and “base” represents the technical foundation. It’s also a playful pun on Firebase, which fits my personality perfectly.
Choosing the tech stack is usually a long, careful process, but for this project, I took a different approach: I followed yours. I dove into the Resend Handbook and adopted practically every tool in your ecosystem, from Drizzle ORM and Neon to Inngest and Supabase. While the handbook mentions Express, I already opted for Hono for the backend, as I noticed you mentioned planning to start using it—it was a perfect opportunity to show I can already adapt to the future of your infrastructure.
The frontend, however, is where my heart is. I’ve been building for the web since I was eight years old, and I wanted to showcase the “eye” of a lifelong frontender. Without access to your internal design system, I meticulously reconstructed the Resend UI by hand, inspecting your dashboard’s source code, analyzing computed styles, and strictly following your brand guidelines. My goal was to demonstrate an obsessive attention to visual experience and browser performance. For example, bringing complex problems like table virtualization for potentially millions of rows to the frontend requires a deep understanding of memory optimization and rendering cycles—ensuring that even at massive scale, the UI remains fluid and responsive.
Beyond the code, I approached this as an open-source contributor. I wanted folksbase to be a developer-friendly project from day one. This involved designing a clean API, providing detailed public documentation, and establishing clear contribution guidelines, including a robust PR pipeline and issue templates. To demonstrate my understanding of modern CI/CD workflows, I even set up a dedicated pipeline for Storybook. Since the other services I used (like Vercel and Render) connect directly to the repo for automated deployments, the Storybook workflow was my way of showing how I manage automated testing and documentation environments in a professional setting.
Finally, I wanted to show my total immersion in the Resend ecosystem. I didn’t just build an app that “could” use Resend; I built an app that is powered by it. I integrated react-email for all system notifications—like import summaries—and used the Resend API directly. Delivering an ambitious, polished MVP like this using only my hours outside of my full-time job was a challenge, but it was the best way to prove that I can ship high-quality products under pressure while maintaining a clear vision of how AI, performance, and design should intersect in modern software.
PS1: On a more personal note, I have to take a moment to talk about the Resend Handbook. It is, without exaggeration, the clearest and most detailed company guide I’ve ever encountered. The sheer openness and the genuine care for the humans who work there is incredible. Seeing a company value its people with that much intentionality was a massive motivator for me. It’s the reason I decided to give this project that extra push—when you see a culture that grounded, you can’t help but want to match that level of excellence.
PS2: If the title of this page sounds familiar, it is indeed a reference to the Better Call Saul episode “Plan and Execution”.