Project Cradle · 2022, revived
In 2022 Rin Huang and Jiahong Zheng built Cradle, a members' hub with one rule: nobody gets in without a code, and every member holds just two codes to hand out. Here it is again, rebuilt as one Next.js app with a real database behind it.
Got a code already? Join with it Watch the guided tour
Newest member: @bea · see where they sit in the tree
How it works
Someone already inside gives you an eight-character invite code. There is no other way in.
Signing up uses the code up and files you under the member who invited you, so the tree grows a branch.
Every member can hold two unused codes at a time. When a friend joins with one, that slot frees up again.
Ported, not reinvented
The quota, the order of the sign-up checks, the code alphabet, the form limits and every status message come straight from the original controllers. Tests read the preserved 2022 files and fail if the port drifts. Errors in the app still carry their csc number.
| csc | message (verbatim) |
|---|---|
| 102 | Invalid invitation code! |
| 103 | Duplicate account! |
| 104 | Invitation code does not exist! |
| 105 | You have successfully create a new account! |
// a user can only create 2 invitation codes
const codes = await InvitationCode.find({ inviter: user.username }).lean();
if (codes.length >= 2) {
return res.json({ ...csc.invitation(101) });
}// if valid, remove the invitation code from the invitationCode collection
if (code.inviter !== "Cradle") {
await InvitationCode.deleteOne({ code: req.body.invitation });
}Because used codes were deleted, the quota really capped the codes a member was holding: two at a time. The revival keeps used codes (it needs them to draw the tree) and counts only unused ones, which gives the same behaviour.
Then and now
| Part | 2022 (cradle-octo + cradle-waddle) | 2026 (this site) |
|---|---|---|
| API | Express + TypeScript, Mongoose models | Next.js 16 route handlers and server actions |
| Database | MongoDB Atlas (gone) | SQLite via libSQL + Drizzle; Turso in production |
| Sign-in | bcrypt + a JWT the browser could read | argon2id + a signed httpOnly cookie for a hashed, rotating server-side session |
| nodemailer through Gmail, never wired up | A demo inbox that stores every message | |
| Front end | Next.js 12, Chakra UI, Formik + Yup, SCSS | React 19, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, zod |
| Tests | none | Vitest unit, parity and integration tests |
About this project
Project Cradle was a personal learning project, not coursework. Between January – March 2022 two friends set out to build “a technology stacking station” from scratch: a back end in one repository (cradle-octo) and a front end in another (cradle-waddle). It reached invite codes, sign-up, sign-in and a first dashboard before life got busy.
Provenance. Revived in October 2026. The 2022 code is preserved unchanged in the repository's legacy/ folder, with one database password removed. Everything on this site is new code that follows those files; the photos are the Unsplash images the 2022 sign-in page used.
The member account makes, copies and emails invite codes under the same two-at-a-time quota, shared with every visitor. The admin account opens every table in the database.