Inky is an AI-powered children’s story app I designed, built, and launched as a side project to help my 3-year-old learn to read. Parents and kids start with a simple prompt, and Inky generates a complete, age-appropriate story with illustrations and optional audio narration—personalized with the names, settings, and themes you choose.
As a founder/solo builder, I owned the end-to-end product: strategy, UX, brand and illustration direction, content safety guidelines, AI generation workflows, and the full frontend + backend. The app includes guided prompts, custom author avatars, profiles with parent controls, a save/share library, and credit-based billing.
On the engineering side, I optimized for reliability and speed: resilient retries, status-aware UI, and fast perceived performance during generation. I also built analytics to understand completion rates and popular themes, and I documented content policies to keep output safe and kid-friendly.
Platform highlights
- Multi-step AI pipeline: story text → art direction/specs → illustration generation → character/continuity tracking
- Professional output: 20+ themed PDF templates with custom layouts
- Backend + automation: Firebase, Cloud Functions, automated workflows
- Monetization: credit system, transactions, RevenueCat integration
- Content system: series, universes, versioning, continuity
- Engagement: trending logic, analytics, email automation
- Full stack: iOS + web + backend
What it delivers: magical, personalized stories in seconds—encouraging reading, curiosity, and imagination.