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When Technology Feels Human – Inner Journey’s First MVP 🌟

· 4 min read
Joel Kvarnsmyr
Joel Kvarnsmyr
Founder of Inner Journey

Hello Inner Journey friends! 👋

Imagine a line of code suddenly saying “Hi” and guiding you on your path to personal growth. That’s pretty close to what happened when we tested Inner Journey’s first MVP (Minimum Viable Product). It was late one evening in March, the coffee had gone cold ☕, and we had just connected Google Gemini to our backend.

When we ran the /gemini/getActivation endpoint and received a response guiding us to "Take three deep breaths and set an intention for the day", we paused. It felt less like technology and more like a meaningful first step toward connecting users with our supportive coaches and community – alive and encouraging ✨.

Here’s the story of how we went from pure code to a platform designed to foster human connection and build the heart of Inner Journey.

🚀 From Code to Connection: The MVP’s First Words​

It all started with key technical decisions to build a stable, scalable platform supporting our vision: connecting users with coaches and a vibrant community. To achieve this, we chose:

  • Backend: FastAPI (Python) for robust performance.
  • Frontend: React with TypeScript for a modern user experience.
  • Infrastructure: Firebase for authentication/data storage, hosted on Google Cloud (Cloud Run for backend, Firebase Hosting for frontend).

This foundation lets us focus on creating a personal and supportive experience.

The real magic happened when we tested the Gemini integration. After feeding it a mood and a goal via the /gemini/getActivation endpoint, we received that personal insight: "Take three deep breaths and set an intention for the day." It felt like hearing Inner Journey speak for the first time—a digital compass guiding users toward meaningful self-development steps, setting the stage for deeper connections with our coaches and community.

💪 Overcoming Challenges: A Triumph of Connection​

The journey wasn't always smooth sailing. We grappled with tricky CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) issues between frontend and backend, accidentally forgot a crucial API key in Secret Manager (oops! 🔑), and dedicated long nights to stabilizing an external astrology service (VedAstro) on Google Cloud Engine (though it's not a core feature currently).

But every bug fixed and API endpoint polished – like the central /gemini/getActivation – brought us closer to our goal: a platform that feels like a supportive friend, not just another app. When we could log in using Firebase Authentication, input our mood and goals, and see the platform respond with something relevant and genuinely helpful, we knew we were on the right track. It wasn't just technology anymore; it was becoming a tool to facilitate real human connections with our coaches and community—a triumph we’re incredibly proud of. ❤️

🤔 What’s Next: Enhancing Your Journey with Coaches and Community​

We're far from finished; the journey has only just begun! Right now, we're brainstorming the next exciting steps to make Inner Journey even more valuable for your personal growth, focusing on enhancing the human connection at our platform's core:

  • 🤝 Smarter Coach Matching: Exploring how AI can help match you with the perfect coach based on your unique needs and goals, ensuring truly personalized support.
  • 📝 Dynamic Journaling with Community Insights: Creating a journaling feature that suggests relevant reflection prompts based on your mood or recent activities, with options to share insights within our supportive community for encouragement.

The heart of Inner Journey is beating, and we want it to beat even stronger for you, our users, by fostering deeper connections with coaches and our community.

What do you think? What do you want technology to do for your inner journey? Send your ideas and thoughts to contact@innerjourney.kvarnsmyr.se – we're building this together! 🤝

With code and feeling, Team Inner Journey 💻❤️