EchoTrail is a memory capsule platform that allows users to capture thoughts, experiences, and media as digital capsules — with the ability to unlock them in the future or share them publicly. It combines the essence of journaling, blogging, and digital time-travel into a powerful full-stack product.
We live in a fast-paced world where personal reflections, memories, and emotions often get buried. EchoTrail offers:
- A place to record private thoughts and reflections that can be unlocked in the future
- A way to publicly share thoughts in a structured, creative format
- Time-based capsule locking that creates anticipation and value
- A journaling platform that is built for self-reflection, personal growth, and storytelling
Unlike Instagram or blogging platforms, EchoTrail emphasizes time, privacy control, and emotional value.
| Feature/Philosophy | EchoTrail | Instagram / Facebook / Blogs |
|---|---|---|
| Core Purpose | Time-based personal reflection & memory capsules | Social sharing, instant gratification, engagement |
| Time Capsules | Yes – capsules can be locked until a future date | No – all content is instantly visible |
| Lock/Unlock Mechanism | Built-in support for unlockAt datetime | Not available |
| Fine-grained Privacy | Private / Friends-only / Public with lock options | Public or friends; no timed visibility |
| Content Format | Markdown with preview support | Mostly visual content (photos/videos) |
| Long-form Storytelling | Yes – ideal for deep thoughts, retrospection | Limited; typically short captions or posts |
| Friend-Based Sharing | Yes – capsule visibility can be friend-restricted | Yes – but no content-level control |
| Scheduled Release | Yes – capsules become visible in future | No – must post in real-time |
| Public Feed | Optional – user decides what becomes public | Default – everything posted is public/friends |
| Capsule Chaining | Yes – sequence capsules like journal series | No – content not inherently linkable in order |
| Media Storage | Yes – attach files, media (S3/Supabase support) | Yes – but locked media or timed visibility isn't native |
| Targeted Audience | Journaling enthusiasts, reflective users | General-purpose users, creators, influencers |
| Mindful Usage | Encouraged – content is written for self/future | Addictive scrolling and validation loop |
- Individuals who love journaling, time-capsules, or reflective writing
- Writers, bloggers, and memory-keepers looking for a unique publishing style
- Users who want to store digital memories for future reflection or sharing
- Social users who want to share moments selectively with friends or the world
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Create Capsules | Users can write rich content (Markdown supported) and upload media |
| Capsule Chaining | Capsules can be connected like a series — enabling sequenced storytelling |
| Lock & Unlock Capsules | Capsules can be locked until a future date (unlockAt) |
| Private, Friend, or Public View | Capsules can be private, shared with friends, or made public |
| Friend System | Users can send/accept friend requests like Facebook |
| Public Feed | View capsules shared by others when they are unlocked |
| Background Unlocker | Scheduled task/service unlocks public capsules when unlockAt time is reached |
| Markdown Support | Rich content editing using markdown with preview rendering |
| JWT Auth + Gateway | Token-based authentication & validation at API Gateway |
| Microservices Architecture | Independent services for scalability and clean domain separation |
- UserMS – User registration, login, JWT, profile
- CapsuleMS – Create, lock, unlock capsules
- FriendshipMS – Friend request, friend list
- Gateway – Token validation and routing
- FeedService – Public feed aggregation (Maybe using Bloom Filters)
- SchedulerService – Unlock public capsules automatically in background
- UploaderService – Used to upload images/videos to blob store and get the mediaUrl
- NotificationService – To notify users regarding updates from other services
- User Santhosh creates a capsule today and locks it for December 2026.
- Capsule remains invisible to others until unlock time.
- Unlocking can be done after unlockAt time by:
- Only the user (if private)
- Friends (if shared)
- Everyone (if public -- unlocked automatically)
- User browses the feed to see unlocked public capsules / locked public capsules that can be saved for future.
- All capsules are markdown-based and may contain text + images/videos.
| Layer | Tech |
|---|---|
| Frontend | React Native / React.js |
| Backend | Spring Boot |
| API Gateway | Spring Cloud Gateway |
| Service Registry | Eureka |
| Database | PostgreSQL & Cassandra (NoSql use case) |
| Caching | Redis |
| Auth | JWT & Oauth with Spring Security |
| Message Queue | Kafka or RabbitMQ |
| Storage | Supabase / S3 (for media) |