GradFlow — Turn a GitHub Profile Into a Job-Ready Portfolio Site in 90 Seconds

Q: Who can build GradFlow — Turn a GitHub Profile Into a Job-Ready Portfolio Site in 90 Seconds?

This is a beginner level project. Bootcamp graduates and CS seniors actively job hunting — estimated 150,000 bootcamp grads per year in the US plus 500,000 CS seniors, all needing portfolios but lacking design skills.

Q: How does GradFlow — Turn a GitHub Profile Into a Job-Ready Portfolio Site in 90 Seconds make money?

Freemium with one-time payment. Free: portfolio site on gradflow.io/username. Paid $19 one-time: custom domain, dark mode theme, and contact form. Recurring $5/month: portfolio analytics showing recruiter visit data.

Bootcamp grads and CS students build projects but have no polished portfolio — their GitHub is a graveyard of half-finished repos with no README. GradFlow reads their GitHub, picks the best projects using AI, writes human-readable project descriptions, and deploys a personal portfolio site with a custom domain in 90 seconds.

𝕏 Post Reddit HN

Difficulty

beginner

What is it?

Every hiring manager at a tech company says the same thing: GitHub profiles are unreadable to non-technical recruiters, and most junior developers never invest the time to write project summaries. GradFlow authenticates with GitHub, fetches the user's repos and READMEs, uses GPT-4o to score each repo for impressiveness and write a recruiter-friendly 3-sentence description, then auto-generates and deploys a clean portfolio site to Vercel with a custom slug. The whole flow from GitHub connect to live site takes under 2 minutes. Buildable now because the GitHub REST API, GPT-4o, and Vercel Deploy API are all stable and the combination is genuinely novel at this price point.

Why now?

The May 2026 vibe-coding wave has produced a record number of bootcamp grads and self-taught developers who built real projects with Cursor and Lovable but have zero polished portfolio presence — the gap between shipped projects and hireable profile has never been larger.

▸GitHub OAuth repo fetch with GPT-4o scoring that ranks repos by technical impressiveness and filters out forks and toy projects.
▸AI-generated 3-sentence recruiter-friendly project description for each selected repo.
▸One-click Vercel Deploy API publish that produces a live URL at username.gradflow.io in under 60 seconds.
▸Paid upgrade unlocks custom domain CNAME setup, dark mode, and a recruiter visit analytics dashboard.

Target Audience

Bootcamp graduates and CS seniors actively job hunting — estimated 150,000 bootcamp grads per year in the US plus 500,000 CS seniors, all needing portfolios but lacking design skills.

Example Use Case

Priya, a bootcamp grad applying to her first dev job, connects GitHub, GradFlow picks her 4 best projects, writes polished descriptions, and her live portfolio at priya.gradflow.io is live in 90 seconds — she pastes the link in every job application.

User Stories

▸As a bootcamp graduate, I want my GitHub repos automatically turned into a live portfolio site, so that I can share a professional URL on job applications without spending a weekend on Webflow.
▸As a CS senior, I want AI-written project descriptions that non-technical recruiters can understand, so that my side projects actually help me get interviews.
▸As a junior developer, I want to see how many recruiters visited my portfolio, so that I know which job applications are getting traction.

Done When

✓GitHub connect: done when clicking Connect GitHub, authorizing, and being redirected back shows a list of the user's public repos within 10 seconds.
✓AI scoring: done when the app automatically selects and displays the top 4 repos with a 3-sentence description for each that accurately reflects the project.
✓Deploy: done when clicking Publish produces a live URL at username.gradflow.io that loads a working portfolio page within 90 seconds.
✓Upgrade: done when completing Stripe checkout unlocks a custom domain setup panel and a dark mode toggle visible in the portfolio editor.

Is it worth building?

$19 one-time x 200 students/month = $3,800 MRR equivalent. Optional $5/month for custom domain and analytics adds recurring layer.

Unit Economics

CAC: $2 via Reddit organic. LTV: $24 ($19 one-time plus 1 month analytics at $5). Payback: immediate. Gross margin: 82%.

Business Model

Freemium with one-time payment

Monetization Path

Free: portfolio site on gradflow.io/username. Paid $19 one-time: custom domain, dark mode theme, and contact form. Recurring $5/month: portfolio analytics showing recruiter visit data.

Revenue Timeline

First dollar: week 1 via Discord beta upgrade. $1k MRR: month 2. $5k MRR: month 6.

Estimated Monthly Cost

OpenAI API: $25, Vercel Pro for deploy API access: $20, Supabase: $25, Stripe fees: $15. Total: ~$85/month at launch.

Profit Potential

High volume consumer play — $3k-$8k MRR is achievable via Reddit and bootcamp partnership channels.

Scalability

Can add LinkedIn import, AI-generated cover letter matched to job description, and team plans for bootcamp instructors to deploy cohort portfolios in bulk.

Success Metrics

Week 1: 500 free portfolios created via Reddit and bootcamp Discord posts. Week 3: 50 paid upgrades at $19. Month 2: 200 paid upgrades.

Launch & Validation Plan

Post a screen recording on r/learnprogramming and r/cscareerquestions showing 90-second GitHub to live site and count upvotes before writing code.

Customer Acquisition Strategy

First customer: post the demo video in 5 bootcamp Discord servers and r/learnprogramming offering free accounts in exchange for feedback. Ongoing: bootcamp partnership referrals, r/cscareerquestions, ProductHunt, Twitter/X coding community.

What's the competition?

Competition Level

Medium

What's the roadmap?

Feature Roadmap

V1 (launch): GitHub OAuth, AI scoring, 90-second deploy, free URL. V2 (month 2-3): custom domain, recruiter analytics, 2 themes. V3 (month 4+): LinkedIn import, AI cover letter, bootcamp bulk plans.

Milestone Plan

Phase 1 (Week 1-2): GitHub OAuth, GPT-4o scoring, portfolio template, Vercel deploy done. Phase 2 (Week 3-4): Stripe upgrade, analytics, Reddit and Discord launch. Phase 3 (Month 2): 500 free users, 100 paid upgrades.

How do you build it?

Tech Stack

Next.js, GitHub REST API, GPT-4o API, Vercel Deploy API, Supabase, Stripe — build with Lovable for the portfolio template UI, Cursor for GitHub fetch and AI scoring logic

Suggested Frameworks

Next.js App Router, Octokit, OpenAI Node SDK

Time to Ship

10 days

Required Skills

GitHub OAuth, GPT-4o prompt engineering, Vercel Deploy API, Next.js.

Resources

GitHub REST API docs, Octokit SDK, OpenAI Node SDK, Vercel Deploy API docs.

MVP Scope

app/page.tsx (landing with GitHub connect CTA), app/api/auth/github/route.ts (GitHub OAuth), app/api/repos/route.ts (fetch and score repos via GPT-4o), app/api/deploy/route.ts (Vercel Deploy API trigger), app/portfolio/[username]/page.tsx (generated portfolio template), components/ProjectCard.tsx (repo display card), lib/db/schema.ts (users, portfolios, repos), stripe/upgrade/route.ts (one-time payment), .env.example (GitHub OAuth, OpenAI, Vercel token, Stripe key)

Core User Journey

Connect GitHub -> AI selects and describes top projects -> preview portfolio -> publish live URL in 90 seconds -> share link on job applications.

Architecture Pattern

GitHub OAuth -> Octokit fetches repos and READMEs -> GPT-4o scores and describes top 4 repos -> portfolio template hydrated with AI output -> Vercel Deploy API creates site -> URL returned to user.

Data Model

User has one Portfolio. Portfolio has many SelectedRepos. SelectedRepo has one AIDescription and one impressiveness score. Portfolio has one DeploymentURL.

Integration Points

GitHub REST API via Octokit for repo data, GPT-4o for project scoring and description, Vercel Deploy API for site publishing, Supabase for user and portfolio storage, Stripe for one-time upgrade payment.

V1 Scope Boundaries

V1 excludes: LinkedIn import, custom portfolio themes beyond 2 presets, team bootcamp plans, AI cover letter generator, mobile app.

Success Definition

A bootcamp grad connects GitHub, gets a live portfolio URL in 90 seconds, pastes it on a job application, and a recruiter visits the page — all without any founder involvement.

Challenges

The hardest non-technical problem is conversion — free portfolio sites are everywhere, so the one-time $19 upgrade must be compelling enough that students pay before they land a job, when they are most motivated.

Avoid These Pitfalls

Do not let users edit AI descriptions in V1 — the magic is zero friction and editing adds a blank page problem that kills conversion. Do not use Vercel Deploy API on the free tier — it requires Pro and the rate limits will kill the launch day spike. Finding first 500 free users is easy but converting to $19 paid requires showing recruiter visit proof — build the analytics dashboard early.

Security Requirements

GitHub OAuth with public repo read scope only, Supabase Auth, RLS on portfolio tables, Stripe webhook HMAC verified, no private repo data ever requested or stored.

Infrastructure Plan

Vercel Pro for hosting and Deploy API, Supabase for Postgres and auth, Sentry for error tracking, GitHub Actions for CI, no separate CDN needed.

Performance Targets

Portfolio deploy under 90s end-to-end, GPT-4o scoring response under 10s, portfolio page load under 1.5s, 200 DAU at launch.

Go-Live Checklist

☐Security audit complete.
☐Payment flow tested end-to-end.
☐Sentry error tracking live.
☐Vercel Deploy API tested with 10 real GitHub accounts.
☐Custom domain configured.
☐Privacy policy and GitHub OAuth scope disclosure published.
☐10 beta users confirmed live portfolio URL.
☐Rollback plan documented.
☐Reddit and Discord launch posts drafted.

First Run Experience

On first run: a demo portfolio for a fictional grad named Alex Chen is pre-loaded showing 4 AI-described projects and a live preview. User can click Browse Demo Portfolio to see exactly what their site will look like before connecting GitHub. Connect GitHub button is the single primary CTA.

How to build it, step by step

1. Define the SelectedRepo schema and the GPT-4o scoring prompt contract before any UI. 2. Scaffold Next.js app with GitHub OAuth using next-auth and public repo read scope only. 3. Build the repo fetch API route using Octokit to pull all public repos with star count, language, and README. 4. Build the GPT-4o scoring route that ranks repos by impressiveness and returns top 4 with AI-written descriptions in JSON. 5. Build the portfolio template page at app/portfolio/[username]/page.tsx with ProjectCards and a clean hero section. 6. Integrate Vercel Deploy API to clone the template, inject the user data, and deploy to username.gradflow.io. 7. Store the deployed URL and repo data in Supabase for the user dashboard. 8. Add Stripe one-time payment at $19 that unlocks custom domain CNAME instructions and a dark mode toggle. 9. Add a recruiter visit counter using Supabase edge functions that increments on portfolio page load for paid users. 10. Verify: connect a real GitHub account, get a live portfolio URL, and confirm the site loads with accurate AI project descriptions within 90 seconds.

Generated

May 6, 2026

Model

claude-sonnet-4-6

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Disclaimer: Ideas on this site are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies. Revenue estimates, market demand figures, and financial projections are illustrative assumptions only — not financial advice. Do your own research before making any business or investment decisions. Technology availability, pricing, and market conditions change rapidly; always verify details independently.