Founder, PixelDrive — bulk on-brand images from one template via API/MCP/CSV. Also run SynthCoder, AI automation & dev agency. Building in public.
India
Joined February 2017
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I'm Rutvik. I run two things:
SynthCoder: we build AI automations, apps and custom software for businesses.
PixelDrive: our own product. Design an image once, then get thousands of on-brand variations from one API call, a CSV, or your AI agent.
From today I'm posting what we build, what breaks, and what it costs. Fewer posts, more useful ones.
What's one task in your business you'd automate tomorrow if you could?
Building in public, day 16/78.
The PixelDrive step I'd explain first: mark what changes.
Click an element in the template, like the headline or the product photo, and mark it as a variable. Everything else stays locked, so the brand survives whatever is in the spreadsheet. Each variable becomes an API parameter on its own, no schema to write.
Every save is checkpointed too: 30 versions per template.
What usually breaks your design templates?
#buildinpublic
Speaker cards for an event, without opening a design tool:
1. Design one card in PixelDrive
2. Mark the name, title, photo and talk time as variables
3. Upload a CSV with one row per speaker
Every speaker gets an on-brand card, in every size you need.
What's the last graphic you made 20 versions of by hand?
Building in public, day 15/78.
How we start automation work at SynthCoder: not with tools. We start with how decisions get made in the business and where the process leaks hours.
Then we automate the part that matters, and build it to hold up when the data is messy and the team improvises. A workflow that only works in the demo isn't done.
If you could hand one repetitive task in your business to an automation tomorrow, which one would it be?
#buildinpublic
Three questions I ask before quoting any automation project:
1. How often does this task happen?
2. What happens today when it goes wrong?
3. Who has to trust the output?
The answers decide whether it's a simple script, a workflow in a tool like n8n, or an AI agent.
Most of the time, it isn't an agent.
Building in public, day 14/78.
A privacy rule in NotchDesk: copies from password managers like 1Password, Bitwarden and Apple Passwords are never recorded in the clipboard history.
There's also no account, no analytics and no NotchDesk server. Your history is a folder on your Mac, and sync, if you turn it on, goes through your own iCloud Drive.
What would you need to see before trusting a clipboard manager with everything you copy?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 13/78.
In PixelDrive, the URL is the API.
Every template has an image URL. Change a value in the query string, like the headline, the price or the language, and you get a new finished image. You can put that URL straight into an img tag or an email. No SDK needed.
When you need more control, there's a POST endpoint too.
If you were wiring this up, would you start with the URL or the API?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 12/78.
The NotchDesk shortcut I reach for most: Control-Command-V.
Press it in any app, type a few letters of something you copied earlier, press Return. It pastes right where your cursor was. Command-1 to 9 picks your latest clips without typing at all.
The whole point is that your hands never leave the keyboard.
Do you use a clipboard manager, or do you just go back and copy the thing again?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 11/78.
Week recap.
This week I wrote about NotchDesk's permissions, meeting Join and screenshot search, PixelDrive's credits and translation, and how SynthCoder fits with the products.
Numbers when the week started: 310 followers on X, 55 on Threads. Best post so far on X: PixelDrive's honest numbers, 106 views.
Next: working out how to move PixelDrive from lifetime deals to monthly plans.
What should I write about next week?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 10/78.
A small NotchDesk detail I care about: the clipboard Library searches text inside screenshots.
Copy a screenshot today, and later you can find it by a word that was in it. The text recognition runs on your Mac, so the image never goes anywhere.
What do you lose most often: a link, a code snippet, or a screenshot?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 9/78.
A PixelDrive feature I don't talk about enough: add a language code to a render and the text comes back translated. 70 languages.
One template, one CSV, and the same post can go out in several languages without anyone redoing the design.
Most real usage I see is social media templates, from agencies and in-house marketing teams.
Do you publish in more than one language? How do you handle the images?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 8/78.
Some context on how I work: I run SynthCoder, a remote-first agency in Ahmedabad. We build AI automations, websites, SaaS, mobile apps and custom software for businesses.
The products are built under SynthCoder too: PixelDrive, NotchDesk, and Trumailo, an email verification API that's in public beta.
If you run an agency and build your own products, how do you protect time for them?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 7/78.
One NotchDesk feature: your next meeting counts down in the notch, with a one-click Join.
It opens the right link for Meet, Zoom, Teams, Webex, FaceTime, Slack huddles and more. Control-Command-J joins without touching the mouse.
No notch on your Mac? It shows up as a small island at the top of the screen.
How do you join calls today: from the calendar, an email link, or Slack?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 6/78.
How PixelDrive charges: 1 credit per fresh render. Previews are free, and so is an image served again from the cache.
That way you can tweak a template, or let an AI agent check its own work, without watching a meter. You only pay when a new image actually gets made.
If you pay for a usage-priced API, which part of the billing bugs you most?
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 5/78.
NotchDesk 1.4 adds tools that need macOS permissions: Screen Recording for screen capture, the camera for the Mirror tab, Accessibility for Lock Screen.
The rule I kept: it asks for a permission only when you turn on the feature that needs it. Never use the Mirror tab, never see a camera prompt.
Better one prompt in context than five on first launch.
What's a permission prompt that made you close an app?
#buildinpublic
Rutvik Panchal retweeted
After 100+ Amazon PPC audits
I finally built the tool I wish every seller had before spending another dollar on ads
The last thing you should be doing with your ad account is:
- Paying for clicks that never turn into orders
- Letting your own keywords bid against each other
- Running ads on products that are out of stock
Guessing where the budget went
And the best part?
Your first audit is free. No login, no API access, and your files never leave your browser
Want to see what your account is leaking?
Comment "AUDIT" and I'll send it over
#AmazonPPC #AmazonAds #AmazonSeller
Building in public, day 4/78.
A choice I made with NotchDesk: no account, no analytics, no NotchDesk server.
Your clipboard history stays in a folder on your Mac. Sync is optional and goes through your own iCloud Drive. Password manager copies are never recorded.
For an app that sees everything you copy, privacy has to be the default.
Would you use a clipboard manager that makes you sign up?
#buildinpublic
Building a paid Mac app on my own, from India, first week after launch.
What I'd tell myself a month ago: ship the boring parts early (signing, notarization, refunds, support email). They take longer than the features.
#buildinpublic
Building in public, day 3/78.
PixelDrive, honest numbers:
- Launched in June
- First paying customer in July
- 7 customers, all on a lifetime deal
- $0 recurring revenue so far
The product works: design an image once, then get every version by URL, API, CSV or from an AI agent over MCP.
The next problem: giving people a reason to pay every month.
Founders who moved from lifetime deals to subscriptions, how did you do it?
#buildinpublic