Building an AI SaaS Product from Scratch

Overview

Building an AI SaaS requires architecture planning, UX design, cost management, and scalability.

Architecture

1. Frontend (Next.js)
2. API Layer (Node.js)
3. Queue (Redis/BullMQ)
4. Database (Postgres)
5. AI Provider (Abstrakt API)

Implementation

Step 1: Setup

Next.js + TypeScript + Tailwind + Abstrakt SDK + Prisma + BullMQ

Step 2: Database

User and Job models with credits tracking

Step 3: API

Check credits, create jobs, queue work, deduct credits

Step 4: Workers

Process queued jobs and update status

Cost Management

Credit costs: Fast (1), Quality (5), Video (20) Tier limits: Free (100/mo), Pro (2000/mo), Enterprise (unlimited)

Launch Checklist

• Error handling
• Rate limiting
• Content moderation
• Authentication
• Payment integration
• Analytics
• Documentation

Next Steps

• Webhooks
• Content safety