Engineering · June 2026
How We Built
My Sleepy Tale
564 stories, 12 traditions, 9 languages, 59 series — and the technology that makes it all work. A transparent look at our stack.
The Numbers
| Metric | Count |
|---|
| Total content pieces | 564 |
| Standalone stories | 211 |
| Story series | 59 |
| Series episodes | 305 |
| Collections | 48 |
| Cultural traditions | 12 |
| Languages (multilingual demo) | 9 |
| Blog posts | 36+ |
| Email notification types | 15 |
| API endpoints | 20+ |
The Stack
Frontend
- React — Single-page application with Vite bundler
- Tailwind CSS — Utility-first styling with CSS variables for dark/light theme
- Framer Motion — Page transitions and animations
- i18next — Internationalization (EN/FR/ES)
- PWA — Installable on mobile with offline manifest
Backend
- AWS Lambda — Serverless API (20+ endpoints)
- AWS S3 + CloudFront — Static hosting with global CDN
- Firebase Firestore — Real-time database for user data
- Firebase Auth — Google sign-in authentication
- Firebase Storage — Audio files, images, receipts
AI & Content
- OpenAI GPT-4o — Story generation with cultural context
- OpenAI gpt-image-1 — Cover art for every story
- OpenAI TTS — English narration (sage, coral, echo voices)
- ElevenLabs — Multilingual narration (9 languages)
- Claude AI (Anthropic) — Translation, content writing
- Gemini (Google) — Image generation for social media
Infrastructure
- GitHub Actions — CI/CD pipeline on push to main
- AWS SES — 15 email notification types with throttling
- Stripe — Subscription payments (Pro/Family tiers)
- CloudFront — Security headers (HSTS, CSP, nosniff)
- IndexNow — Instant search engine notification
How a Story Gets Made
Here is what happens when a parent taps "play" on a bedtime story:
- Content — 211 stories are handwritten and stored in the codebase. Each has a `{childName}` placeholder that gets replaced with the child's real name.
- Personalization — The story text is filled with the child's name, family members, pet, and cultural context from their profile.
- Audio — If pre-generated audio exists (cached in Firebase), it plays instantly. If not, OpenAI TTS generates it in real-time with the selected narrator voice.
- Images — Each story has a unique image prompt. OpenAI gpt-image-1 generates cover art that matches the story — no stock photos, no generic teddy bears.
- Caching — Audio is cached in IndexedDB locally + Firebase Storage globally. Second plays are instant.
How We Keep It Efficient
Smart caching
Pre-generate, don't live-generate. We generate audio and images once per story, cache them globally. A million users playing the same story uses the same cached file — not a million API calls. Personalized audio (with the child's name) is a Pro feature that generates on-demand and caches per child.
Security & Privacy
We take your family's data seriously. Here is what we do:
What We Do
- HSTS + security headers on every response
- Stripe webhook signature verification
- HTML sanitization on all email content
- Email throttling (5 activity/day, 1 marketing/week)
- No child names in Google Analytics
- Admin authentication on all sensitive endpoints
What We Never Do
- Never sell your data to third parties
- Never send child PII to analytics
- Never store passwords (Google Auth only)
- Never show religious content without consent
- Never spam (throttle layer enforced)
- Never hardcode secrets in source code
Features We Built
| Feature | Details |
|---|
| Belief filtering | 12 traditions. Universal by default. Parents choose in Settings. |
| Private series | Create personal stories, share with family, let them contribute episodes. |
| Contributor flow | Submit episodes → owner reviews → approve/reject → publish. |
| Multilingual | 9 languages with culture-specific illustrations. |
| Personalized audio | Pro subscribers hear their child's actual name narrated. |
| Dark/Light theme | Toggle in Settings. CSS variables + Tailwind. |
| Creator program | Write stories/series, earn credits, community publishing. |
| Outreach CRM | 1,243 leads, admin panel, email tracking. |
| Expense tracker | Monthly costs with receipt uploads. |
| 15 email types | Welcome, contributions, sharing, newsletters, subscriptions. |
Open Source Spirit
While our codebase is private, we believe in transparency. This blog, our security audit, our email throttling guide, and our belief system documentation are all public. We build in the open because we believe parents should know exactly how the platform their children use is built.
Built by Parents, for Parents
We are Prat and Deepti — a small team in Toronto who built My Sleepy Tale for our son Veda. Every decision we make starts with one question: would we want our child to use this?
Explore My Sleepy Tale →