Judge Tunes

A reason to build

Sharing music with friends often means sending individual links through messaging apps, where recommendations become difficult to revisit. Judge Tunes was created to give groups a dedicated space to collect and share songs, particularly for shared experiences like road trips.

What I worked on

Independently conceptualized, designed, developed, and deployed Judge Tunes as one of my earliest web development projects. Implemented the core group-based recommendation experience, integrated Clerk for authentication, and used MongoDB for application data.

How the pieces fit

1. Built the application using Next.js and JavaScript.
2. Integrated Clerk to handle user authentication.
3. Used MongoDB and Mongoose for data persistence.
4. Developed group creation and joining functionality.
5. Implemented song-link sharing within groups.
6. Designed the interface using Tailwind CSS.
7. Deployed the prototype on Vercel.

The detail that matters

Chose to focus on music recommendations within private communities rather than developing a full music streaming platform. Used Clerk for authentication to concentrate development effort on the application's core features.

Where it stands

Built and deployed a functional early-stage prototype that demonstrates group-based music sharing. The project represents an early milestone in my journey from experimenting with web technologies to developing complete applications.

Gained foundational experience in full-stack development, authentication, database integration, and deployment. More importantly, learned how to turn a simple idea into a usable product by prioritizing essential features and keeping the initial scope manageable.