AutoDonut

Secure log in with email or through gmail authentication
Add customers to your database
Power Vector Search to easily find campaigns and designs
Edit designs in canva at a click of a button
Bird's eye view of your entire operation
Powerful analytics
Generate multiple campaigns at once
Custom instructions for LLMS and Image generating AI
Add multiple customers to your database with your CSV
Add new team members and customize your brand, brand products and more.
Create custom designs on Canva and add your template here
Add new team members and customize your brand, brand products and more. (dark)
Vector search (dark)
powerful analytics (dark)
manage muliple customers (dark)
Bulk customer upload (dark)

Inspiration

The idea for DonutAuto was born out of frustration with existing marketing tools. As a marketer, I often found myself spending hours creating personalized content for each client and scheduling emails manually. I thought, "What if there was a way to automate this process without losing the personal touch?" This question led me down the path of exploring AI, design automation, data integration, and email scheduling.

What I Learned

Throughout this project, I gained invaluable insights into:

AI Integration: I learned how to leverage OpenAI's language models and DALL-E for image generation to create personalized content based on customer data stored in the CRM. This involved crafting effective prompts and managing API interactions to generate relevant text and visuals for each customer.

API Management: Integrating with Canva's API, Resend's email API, and OpenAI's APIs was a steep learning curve, but it taught me a lot about working with multiple third-party services and managing their interactions within a single application.

Real-time Collaboration: Implementing real-time features using Convex was challenging but rewarding. It allowed for seamless team collaboration and instant updates across the platform.

User Experience Design: Balancing automation with user control was crucial for creating a tool that marketers would actually want to use. This involved designing intuitive interfaces for complex processes.

Email Automation: Implementing email scheduling and tracking opened up a new world of possibilities for marketing automation.

How I Built It

DonutAuto was built using a stack of modern technologies:

Frontend: Next.js with React for a responsive and dynamic user interface

Backend: Convex for real-time data synchronization and backend logic

Authentication: Clerk for secure user management

Design Integration: Canva API for accessing design templates and tools

AI: OpenAI's GPT models for text generation and DALL-E for image creation, tailored to customer data

Email Automation: Resend for reliable email scheduling and delivery

Database: Convex's built-in database for storing customer information and campaign data

The development process was iterative, starting with a basic prototype and gradually adding features based on user feedback. I began by integrating the CRM functionality, then added the AI-powered content generation. The Canva integration came next, followed by the email automation with Resend.

Challenges and issues

Due to time constraints even though I have functionality, I still haven't created templates with the design quality that I would like. At this point in time I would describe DonuteAuto more as a Proof of Concept as opposed to an MVP.

I originally envisioned auto scheduling to Twitter (X), Instagram and TikTok. But have not implemented it.

I planned on using the canva folder API for smarter organization but have yet to do so.

Error handling and progress update leaves much to be desired. It takes time to generate the background images, videos etc but currently there's no way to update the user on progress.

Currently I only support the following platforms: Myth content Quiz content IG Reels TikTok Videos

Trying to use another will result i an error.

Certain branding and AI instructions are hard coded.