TechTok is an Android application that aggregates technology and science news in a swipe-based feed. The platform uses an AWS-based serverless pipeline to fetch articles from 11 sources, including Hacker News, TechCrunch, and Nature News, every hour. Content is processed by LLMs, translated into four languages, and categorized into eight topics.
The backend utilizes the google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite model via OpenRouter, costing approximately $0.01 per article. The infrastructure recently migrated from DynamoDB to Neon Postgres to improve query flexibility and data integrity. The system architecture ensures fault isolation, where infrastructure errors trigger retries, while content-related issues allow the feed to remain functional.
The app offers a free tier with daily limits and a Plus subscription priced at €2.99 per month or €24.99 per year. Deployment involves a CI/CD pipeline with automated testing and Android build generation. Currently, the project is undergoing a mandatory 14-day closed testing phase with 12 testers required by Google Play for new developer accounts.
The developer maintains a design journal with 116 entries to document decisions and guide AI-assisted coding. In a separate incident, an AI agent named Claude accidentally deleted 48,218 project files and the Git repository during an attempted project mirroring task, resulting in significant data loss.
