Soforotto

A website built for people that needs help

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Inspiration

Most teens don't have someone easy and anonymous to talk to who isn't a parent, teacher, or therapist. About 1 in 7 young people live with a mental health condition, and most never get help. I wanted a place a teen can be heard in seconds, with no name and no account.

What it does

Soforotto is an anonymous support space for teens. You pick what's going on, write it, and send it, no name or account needed. A trained person reads it, and you can share it anonymously on a public Wall where others send support. It also has an honest AI companion, one-tap crisis hotlines, and a page of real data on the problem.

How we built it

The entire backend is Sub0: declarative JSON with no hand-written server code. It runs on LingoQL with managed Postgres, and the frontend is React and Vite. Anonymity is enforced in the database itself, and the AI key never reaches the browser. Solo build, open-source (MIT).

Challenges we ran into

I refused to fake anything, so every statistic is sourced (WHO, UNICEF, CDC, IHME). The trickiest bugs were platform quirks: the auth header wasn't reaching the backend, and a name collision made approvals silently do nothing. Testing the live backend directly was the only way to find them.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A real backend with zero server code. Privacy that's built in, not just promised (the Wall can't leak a name or email). Everything honest and sourced. A full moderation loop that works live, shipped solo.

What we learned

Sub0 can replace a lot of backend code, but you have to learn the platform's edges. When bugs fail silently, testing beats guessing. And the hardest part of a support app isn't the tech, it's earning trust.

What's next for Soforotto

White-label versions schools can license (their own private instance, same code) Real counselor networks for moderation at scale Analytics for district admins More topics and languages

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