Dream Maker

dream maker homepage
dream example
multi dream example
focused dream journey

Inspiration

The inspiration for Dream Maker came from a simple observation: many people struggle to articulate their dreams clearly, and even fewer take concrete steps toward achieving them. I wanted to create something that bridges the gap between aspiration and action. I also like Cloud Run so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

What it does

Dream Maker is a full-stack application that helps users visualize and plan their dreams using Google's Gemini AI models.

How it was built

The web app is built and deployed on Cloud Run:

Frontend: React SPA deployed as a Cloud Run service with Nginx
Backend: Express.js API running on Cloud Run with autoscaling
Reminder Job: Scheduled Cloud Run Job for weekly dream reminders

The initial version was built using AI Studio and deployed full-stack on Cloud Run.

Challenges

Querying Firestore's hierarchical structure. For example, initially tried to query /users collection, but it appeared empty even though data existed. The cause was subcollections.
Faced general permission errors between cloud services and cross projects (firebase and regular project)
Rate limiting

Accomplishments

Finishing the app in less that a week after quite some time it was in my head.

Note: Diagrams can be found on the Github link.

What was learned

AI Studio is very useful to start new apps.
Using Firebase features like authentication, storage and Firestore.
Cloud Run works nice for full stack apps.
Don't keep dreams in our heads - visualize them and take the first step.

What's next for Dream Maker

When you combine powerful infrastructure (Cloud Run) with AI (Gemini, Nano Banana, Veo), you can create experiences that weren't possible even a year ago. Dreams don't have to stay in our heads—with the right tools, we can make them visible, actionable, and shareable. The app can be further develop to include a wall of shared dreams by users, user stories and notifications via messaging apps or email.