Local Vibes

Local Vibes is a real-time discovery platform that connects music lovers with live, local performances happening around them right now.

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Inspiration

The inspiration for Local Vibes came from recognizing a fundamental gap in how people discover live music in their communities. While major ticketing platforms focus on large venues and advance sales, there's an entire ecosystem of intimate, spontaneous musical experiences happening daily that remains largely invisible to potential audiences.

We observed that amazing live music is everywhere - street corners, coffee shops, bars, restaurants, local venues - but people have no reliable way to discover these performances in real-time. Musicians and venues struggle to reach local audiences without the overhead and complexity of traditional ticketing systems, while music lovers miss countless opportunities to experience authentic, grassroots performances in their neighborhoods.

The vision was to create a platform that captures the vibrant, spontaneous nature of local music scenes and makes them accessible to everyone through real-time discovery and community-driven content.

What it does

Local Vibes is a real-time live music discovery platform that connects performers and venues with local audiences through an interactive map-based interface. The application serves two primary user groups:

For Music Lovers (General Users):

  • Real-time Discovery: View an interactive map showing current and upcoming live music events in their area
  • Community Reporting: Report live music events they encounter, with collaborative verification from other users
  • Social Features: Follow favorite musicians and venues
  • Profile Exploration: Browse detailed profiles of Pro Account holders including their upcoming events

For Musicians and Venues (Pro Accounts):

  • Event Management: Schedule and promote live music events with detailed information including location, time, genre, and descriptions
  • Profile Management: Create comprehensive profiles showcasing their offerings, bio, genres, instruments, and social media presence
  • Audience Engagement: Connect with their local community, view engagement metrics, and build their following

The platform emphasizes real-time updates, geolocation-based discovery, and community-driven verification to ensure accurate, up-to-date information about local live music events.

How we built it

Local Vibes was mostly built on Bolt.new with a comprehensive prompt that included:

  • Core concept and user personas (musicians, venues, music lovers)
  • Feature specifications for event discovery, social engagement, and Pro accounts
  • Technical requirements including real-time geolocation and mobile responsiveness
  • UI/UX design guidelines emphasizing intuitive navigation and visual appeal

The foundation was built on a modern tech stack thanks to Bolt.new:

  • Frontend: React with TypeScript for type safety, Tailwind CSS for rapid UI development, and React Query for efficient server state management
  • Backend: Supabase providing PostgreSQL with PostGIS for geospatial queries, Row Level Security for data protection, and real-time subscriptions
  • Authentication: Supabase Auth with magic links and social providers
  • Maps: Google Maps API for venue search and location services, with custom marker clustering for performance
  • Payments: Stripe integration with subscription management through their Customer Portal

Challenges we ran into

Ran into significant challenges preparing the app for mobile deployment using Expo. While Expo worked well for many components, the map implementation proved particularly problematic. React Native Maps behaves fundamentally differently from the Google Maps JavaScript API - from marker rendering and clustering to gesture handling and performance optimization.

Attempting to maintain a single codebase that worked seamlessly across web and mobile platforms led to increasingly complex conditional logic and platform-specific workarounds. Each fix for mobile seemed to introduce regressions on web. After careful consideration, I made the strategic decision to focus on delivering a polished web experience first, with the plan to revisit native mobile apps using platform-specific implementations rather than trying to force a one-size-fits-all solution.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

With just one week remaining in the hackathon, I took on the ambitious challenge of integrating ElevenLabs' AI voice assistant - a feature I hadn't originally planned. After studying their implementation examples and hackathon resources, I successfully integrated a conversational AI that can:

  • Answer natural language queries about tonight's events ("What's happening near me?")
  • Provide personalized recommendations based on music preferences
  • Offer venue details in a conversational manner
  • Make the app accessible to users who prefer voice interaction

The voice assistant now serves as a unique differentiator, making LocalVibes more accessible and engaging than traditional event discovery apps.

Additionally, we're proud of building a production-ready app with real user accounts and live payment processing.

What we learned

AI-assisted development is transformative. Bolt.new enabled us to build in days what traditionally takes months.

What's next for Local Vibes

Launch native iOS and Android apps using platform-specific approaches for optimal performance.

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