Product Weekend Mar 2026 - Statify

I decided to pivot and rebuild Statify during Product Weekend in March.

The previous version I built last year didn’t really go anywhere. I was trying to do too much — GUI builder, backend engine, pulling external APIs… it felt heavy and not very practical. So this time I stripped it down and focused on something much simpler.

The new direction is to build an open source Filament plugin that extends the existing Stat Widgets, and lets you export the stats as API with minimal changes.

I started by drafting the PRD with ChatGPT to get clear on what I actually want Statify to be. After that, I used Claude to help build the plugin, using an existing Filament plugin as a reference. Honestly, the process was quite smooth — I managed to get the core plugin done within Day 1.

Day 2 was more about figuring out the client side.

Once the API is in place, I need a way to view the data. I explored a few directions, but in the end decided that a Chrome Extension is probably the easiest and most practical starting point. Being able to view your stats directly in the browser just feels right.

I initially experimented with showing the widgets in a sidebar, but after trying it out, it didn’t feel great. The layout was too constrained. So I pivoted again and went with a full-page dashboard view, where all the API widgets can be displayed properly.

That ended up being a much better experience.

By Day 3, it’s mostly about wrapping things up — making both the plugin and extension usable, cleaning things here and there, and getting ready for release. I submitted the plugin to Composer and the Chrome Extension to the store.

After almost 2 years of this idea sitting around as a prototype, it finally becomes something real that other people can actually use.

Open source is definitely harder to monetise, but honestly, this direction feels right. It’s simpler, more useful, and easier to grow from here.