Show HN: SafeRequest – How we built E2E encryption in a file transfer service
In this technical retrospective (2020), @sebastiaands shares practical architectural lessons learned from running, scaling, or migrating production software under lean constraints.
Core Principles for Independent Builders:
Defaulting to simpler architectures (such as monolithic frameworks, SQLite, or managed VPS) prevents early engineering bankruptcy.
Evaluating true compute and egress costs reveals that high cloud bills can often be slashed by 80%+ through judicious re-platforming.
Code you write at 2 AM as a solo engineer must be easy to debug six months later without complex microservice dependencies.
Community Debate Themes:
HN engineers debated the tradeoffs between cloud convenience and raw server economics, database indexing strategies, and resisting premature architectural complexity.
CATEGORY Frugal Engineering →
HISTORICAL ERA Pandemic Bubble (2020–2022)
COMMUNITY SCORE ★ 4 points
TOTAL DISCUSSIONS 1 comments
We've built an end-to-end encrypted file transfer service. It is different than other file transfer services: you send a person a request to deliver files. When you for example need privacy sensitive documents from your clients, you can provide them with a secure solution. This way you are sure your documents end up at the right person. We would love to hear your feedback!