YouTube Coach
2025archivedA structured weekly workflow app that turns YouTube video production into a repeatable system with daily tasks, auto-save fields, and contextual coaching.
// GitHub
// Problem
YouTube content creation is overwhelming. Most creators know they need to post consistently, but the sheer number of steps—research, scripting, filming, editing, optimization, publishing—makes it easy to drop the ball. There's no structured workflow to follow, so creators end up reinventing the process every time. After making daily videos for my channel and learning from successful creators what makes a good video, I realized the knowledge existed but the execution framework didn't. The best creators had SOPs, but those were trapped in their heads or scattered across Notion docs.
// Solution
A productivity app that encodes the entire YouTube production workflow into a structured weekly cadence. Each day of the week maps to a specific phase: Monday for research and scripting, Tuesday for filming, Wednesday for long-form editing, Thursday for short-form editing, Friday for optimization (titles, thumbnails, descriptions), Saturday for publishing the main video, and Sunday for shorts and weekly review. The app puts guardrails around the process—you can't skip ahead to days that haven't arrived, and completion indicators show at a glance whether you've finished each phase.
// What I Built
A full-stack Next.js app with a visual week tracker that shows your progress across all seven days. Each day expands into task sections with checkboxes (like 'Setup lighting' or 'Write hook') and input fields (like 'Video Idea' or 'Target Audience') that auto-save with debounce to Supabase. A completion indicator appears when all tasks and fields for a day are done. The right sidebar shows contextual help—checklists for title optimization, embedded YouTube tutorials, and best practices—that updates based on which field you're working on. Week navigation lets you review past weeks or plan ahead, with Framer Motion animations making the whole experience feel responsive. Authentication via Supabase means your progress persists across devices.
// Technologies
Next.js 15 + React 19
App Router with React Server Components for secure data fetching, server actions for task/field mutations, and client components for interactive UI elements like checkboxes and auto-save inputs
Supabase
PostgreSQL database storing daily tasks and fields by week, with RPC functions for completion checks, Row Level Security for multi-user support, and SSR auth integration via @supabase/ssr
Framer Motion
Smooth animations throughout—day buttons slide in on mount, content fades between days with spring physics, and the help panel animates contextual content changes
shadcn/ui + Radix
50+ accessible UI components including scroll areas, cards, buttons, toasts, and checkboxes—styled with Tailwind CSS for a cohesive green-themed aesthetic
nuqs + date-fns
URL-based state management for selected day and date (nuqs) combined with robust date manipulation (date-fns) for week navigation, preventing future dates and maintaining history across sessions
// Lessons Learned
- 01This project taught me how to combine agentic AI capabilities with traditional UI. The help panel was designed to eventually show AI-generated suggestions based on your content, but even without AI, the structured workflow created real value. The lesson: start with the workflow, add intelligence later.
- 02Auto-save with debounce is more nuanced than it seems. Users need immediate feedback that their input is being captured (optimistic UI), but you also can't spam the database. The debounce pattern with toast confirmations hit the right balance.
- 03Week-based navigation with URL state (nuqs) was the right call. Users could bookmark specific days, share links to their workflow state, and the browser back button actually worked. Small UX details like this make tools feel native.
- 04I ultimately stopped making YouTube videos, so the tool became obsolete for me personally. But the architecture—a structured workflow with daily phases, completion tracking, and contextual help—is a pattern I'd reuse for any multi-day creative process.