How to vibe codeRiverside
All-in-one AI platform for remote podcasting, video interviews, and webinars
riverside.fm ↗Video & Audio Production SaaS
The verdict: can you vibe code Riverside?
Keep paying for Riverside unless you have a multi-year background in WebRTC and browser-native media streaming engineering.
Building a functional clone of Riverside's core differentiator—reliable client-side 4K local recording with multi-track sync over unstable web connections—is an extreme systems engineering challenge. Browser APIs like MediaRecorder and WebCodecs are notoriously fragile under heavy load, and managing raw video chunk buffering in IndexedDB while avoiding out-of-memory crashes requires expert-level frontend architecture. While you can build a basic wrapper around WebRTC video calls, replicating pristine uncompressed local recording and automated AI video editing makes this a dont_bother project for a solo developer.
Estimated effort: 6+ months of full-time work
What you can't replicate
- Bulletproof client-side local recording engine that survives browser crashes and memory spikes
- Advanced multi-track clock-drift correction across remote participant machines
- Enterprise compliance framework (SOC2, ISO27001)
Founded
2019
Raised
$77M - $80M
Team
201-500
Cheapest paid tier
$0
What Riverside does
Riverside provides local 4K video recording, uncompressed audio tracks, text-based video editing, AI transcriptions, magic clips, and live streaming tools.
Core features
- Browser-based local multi-track recording using MediaRecorder and WebCodecs APIs
- Resilient background chunk uploads to object storage
- Multi-participant WebRTC signaling and real-time video preview grid
- Text-based video editor synchronizing transcripts with media timelines
- AI transcription, filler-word removal, and automated short clip generation
- Podcast hosting and RSS feed publishing
The business
Pricing
- Free$0
- Pro$29/mo
- BusinessCustom
Funding
$77M - $80M from Zeev Ventures, Seven Seven Six, Alexis Ohanian, Lachy Groom, Elad Gil
Pay vs build, cumulative
Break-even at month 2 — after that, every month is money kept.
The hard parts of vibe coding Riverside
- Client-side 4K video and raw audio capture without browser tab crashes or memory leaks
- Re-syncing separate local tracks in the cloud after long recording sessions with clock drift
- Coordinating low-latency WebRTC media streams across varying participant network conditions
- Processing compute-heavy AI tasks like transcription, automated clipping, and video dubbing at scale
How to vibecode Riverside
Prerequisites
Node.jsfree
Required runtime for the local development environment
GitHubfree
Code repository hosting and version control
AI coding tools
Recommended stack
| Frontend | Next.js |
|---|---|
| Backend | Next.js API routes with LiveKit for WebRTC |
| Database | Turso |
| Auth | better-auth |
| Payments | Stripe |
| Other | OpenAI API, Tailwind CSS, LiveKit |
Hosting & infrastructure
| Cloudflare | Edge hosting and R2 storage for recorded media chunks | $5/mo |
Build guide
01Project Scaffolding & Database Setup
Initialize the Next.js project with Tailwind CSS, configure Turso database schema for studios, participants, and recordings, and set up better-auth.
Initialize a Next.js full-stack application using App Router, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Configure better-auth with email/password authentication backed by a Turso SQLite database using the libSQL client. Create database tables for 'studios' (id, name, host_id, created_at), 'participants' (id, studio_id, name, role), and 'recordings' (id, studio_id, participant_id, file_url, duration, created_at). Set up clean error handling and environment validation.02WebRTC Video Room Infrastructure
Implement a real-time video conferencing room using LiveKit or custom WebRTC signaling for host and participant video previews.
Implement a video room component in Next.js using LiveKit components or WebRTC APIs. Create a studio dashboard page where a host can generate a unique invite link, and participants can join after granting camera and microphone permissions. Display a responsive grid of video tiles with mute/unmute audio and video toggle controls, connection status indicators, and active speaker highlighting.03Client-Side Local Recording Pipeline
Build the client-side MediaRecorder pipeline that records raw video and uncompressed audio locally into chunks stored in IndexedDB.
Build a client-side local recording manager using the MediaRecorder API and WebCodecs where supported. The system must capture raw video streams from the local camera and uncompressed audio tracks, buffering data chunks into IndexedDB in real time during the interview session to prevent data loss on network drops.04Background Chunk Upload & Storage
Implement resilient background chunk uploading from IndexedDB to Cloudflare R2 object storage with retry logic.
Implement a background upload queue in TypeScript that reads recorded chunks from IndexedDB and uploads them sequentially to Cloudflare R2 via presigned URLs. Include robust exponential backoff retry mechanisms for handling unstable internet connections, progress indicators for the user, and an API endpoint to finalize and merge chunks once the recording session ends.05AI Transcription & Text-Based Editor
Integrate OpenAI Whisper for audio transcription and build a text-based document editor interface for video trimming.
Create a text-based video editor interface in Next.js. Build an API route that sends completed audio tracks to the OpenAI Whisper API to generate a timestamped JSON transcript. Render the transcript as an interactive document where users can select and delete text blocks, which automatically updates the corresponding video timeline cut points for export.
Cost vs paying for Riverside
What will you build it with?
Starting total with Claude Code$0 one-time
Starting costs (one-time)
- Domain registration$12
Total~$12 one-time
Ongoing costs (monthly)
- Cloudflare Workers & R2 storage$5/mo
- OpenAI Whisper & LLM API usage$15/mo
Total~$20/mo
Paying for Riverside
$29/mo
Your time to build
160+ hours
AI tool credits
$20/mo
Break-even
Never (subscription is cheaper than your engineering time)
Vibe code Riverside: FAQ
- Can you vibe code Riverside yourself?
- Don't bother — 18/100 vibecodeable. Keep paying for Riverside unless you have a multi-year background in WebRTC and browser-native media streaming engineering.
- How long does it take to vibe code Riverside?
- 6+ months of full-time work — roughly 160+ hours of hands-on time with an AI coding agent.
- How do you build your own Riverside?
- Scoped to personal use: Next.js on the front, Next.js API routes with LiveKit for WebRTC behind it, Turso for data. Follow the 5-step build guide on this page — each step has a paste-ready prompt for an AI coding agent.
- How do you code your own Riverside without being an expert?
- Use an AI coding tool (Claude Code) and work in small steps: scaffold, data model, core screens, then deploy. Realistic effort: 6+ months of full-time work. The prompts on this page are written so the AI does the heavy lifting.
- How much does it cost to vibe code Riverside instead of paying?
- About ~$12 one-time to start and ~$20/mo to run, versus $29/mo for Riverside. Break-even: Never (subscription is cheaper than your engineering time).
- What stack should you use to vibe code Riverside?
- Next.js; Next.js API routes with LiveKit for WebRTC; Turso; plus OpenAI API, Tailwind CSS, LiveKit.