Can I vibecode Buffer?

KINDA · weekend project

price $6/moyou'd save $72/yrbuild time multi-daycategory 🐦 social mediareplaced by 6 people

Posting to one or two APIs is easy, but maintaining social platform auth, queues, previews, analytics, and API-policy compliance is real ongoing work.

the prompt

Build me a personal social post scheduler to replace Buffer. Requirements:

- Node + Express + better-sqlite3; a localhost page with a compose box,
  image attach, and the queue ordered by send time.
- Two targets only: Mastodon (access token) and Bluesky (app password via
  @atproto/api), creds in .env. One small adapter file per network so a
  third is addable later, but scaffold nothing I don't use.
- Buffer-style slots: I define posting times (say weekdays 09:00 and 17:00
  in my timezone) and new posts fill the next free slot; a post can also be
  pinned to an exact datetime.
- A node-cron tick every minute publishes due posts, marks each row sent or
  failed, retries failures 3 times with backoff, and marks before sending so
  nothing ever double-posts.
- Per-network character counter in the composer; attached images stored in
  media/ next to the database.
- A history page of the last 100 sent posts linking to the live posts.
- Runs on my always-on box; localhost only, no accounts, no telemetry.
- Out of scope: X, Instagram, and LinkedIn (paid, approval-gated, or hostile
  APIs, say so in the README), analytics, and rich post previews.
- README: getting a Mastodon access token and a Bluesky app password.

$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter) or copy it raw · this prompt is generated from the build plan · improve it via PR

why people still pay

They pay because social APIs break and scheduling must be reliable.

what you lose

xmulti-network API maintenance

xpost previews

xanalytics

xapprovals

xmobile apps

xteam queues

xplatform policy changes

share on X ↗"I just replaced Buffer ($6/mo) with one prompt"

the escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These folks already made it free.

PostizThe broadest open scheduler here; free means running PostgreSQL, Redis, Temporal and your own platform credentials.34kaug 2026open source↗

Mixpost LiteA polished single-user scheduler with queues and basic analytics; the serious team features live in the paid edition.3.5kmar 2026open source↗

BrightBean StudioA startlingly complete free scheduler: approvals, inbox, analytics, clients, API and MCP, with someone else running the servers.2.1kjul 2026open source↗

all 8 free alternatives to Buffer →· no votes, no pay-to-list · just what's real

the numbers

Buffer pricing

plan	monthly	annual (per mo)	what you get
free	$0/workspace	$0/workspace	3 channels; 10 scheduled posts/channel; 100 ideas; 1 user; 1 API key; 3,000 API requests/month; 5 AI reply suggestions/week; 1 saved reply; 30-day analytics history.
essentials	$6/workspace	$5/workspace	Per connected channel; up to 5,000 queued posts/channel under fair use; 1 user; 3 API keys; 7,500 API requests/month.
team	$12/workspace	$10/workspace	Per connected channel; up to 5,000 queued posts/channel under fair use; unlimited users; 5 API keys; 15,000 API requests/month.

free tier3 channels; 10 scheduled posts/channel; 100 ideas; 1 user; 1 API key; 3,000 API requests/month; 5 AI reply suggestions/week; 1 saved reply; 30-day analytics history

billingmonthly + annual (2 months free); 14-day no-card trial, then auto-downgrades to Free if not upgraded

hidden costsPricing is per connected channel, and a Start Page counts as a channel. Volume discounts begin after 10 channels, but the full current discount schedule is not publicly itemized.