# How to Vibe Code Your Own VerifiedDR (and Stop Paying for It)

> Grow your visibility in AI answers and Google

- Site: https://verifieddr.com
- Category: SEO / GEO / AEO Platform
- Verdict: **Solid side project** (68/100 vibecodeable)
- Estimated effort: 2-3 weeks part-time

## Verdict

Build a personal subset for yourself, but keep paying if you want the multi-country AI tracking and partner marketplace automated for you.

Writing the TrueDR scoring algorithm and localizing an MCP server for your own codebase is straightforward, but robustly querying ChatGPT and Perplexity daily to parse brand citations without hitting constant rate limits or Cloudflare challenges requires tedious scraper maintenance. If you just want to track your own SaaS metrics, building a personal dashboard is a rewarding weekend project; recreating the full multi-user marketplace and agency tiers is an unnecessary grind.

### What you can't replicate

- The pre-existing network of 320+ verified companies in the partner marketplace
- Historical TrueDR tracking data across thousands of domain records

## What it does

A visibility growth system and SEO/GEO platform that measures website trust with TrueDR, tracks AI assistant citations across ChatGPT and Perplexity, and matches websites for partnership growth.

### Core features

- TrueDR trust-adjusted scoring algorithm factoring traffic, backlinks, spam, and website age
- AI visibility tracking across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI Mode with location targeting
- Automated indexing and backlink gap analysis
- Partner matching and verified website marketplace
- Visibility growth action prioritization engine
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and developer CLI interface

## The business

### Pricing

- Free: $0/mo
- Pro: $39/mo
- Max: $99/mo
- Ultra: $199/mo

### Funding

$0 raised.

Founded 2025.
Team size: 1 (Solo founder Thijs Smudde).

## The hard parts

- Reliably querying AI citation engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity) daily across dozens of countries without getting blocked by bot protections
- Aggregating clean backlink and organic traffic data without expensive enterprise SEO provider APIs
- Designing a deterministic spam-filtering and trust-adjustment scoring matrix that mimics classic DR adjustments
- Building a peer-to-peer directory marketplace with verified ownership claims

## How to vibe code VerifiedDR

### Prerequisites

- Node.js (free): Runtime environment for Next.js app, CLI utility, and MCP server
- GitHub (free): Code hosting and deployment pipeline integration
- OpenAI API Key (pay-as-you-go (~$10/mo)): Required for automated AI visibility prompt execution and analysis

### Recommended AI tools

- Claude Code: Autonomous terminal coding agent capable of scaffolding the full-stack Next.js app, database schema, and MCP server
- Cursor: IDE for inspecting complex dashboard UI components and fine-tuning Tailwind styling

### Stack

- Frontend: Next.js with Tailwind CSS
- Backend: Next.js Server Actions and API Routes
- Database: Turso (SQLite at the edge)
- Auth: better-auth
- Payments: none
- Other: Vercel AI SDK, Perplexity Sonar API, Exa Search API

### Hosting

- Cloudflare (Hosting Next.js frontend and edge API routes): $0/mo
- Turso (Serverless SQLite database for website domains and TrueDR metrics): $0/mo

### Build guide

1. **Project Scaffolding and Database Schema** — Initialize a Next.js project with Tailwind CSS, configure Turso SQLite connection, and set up the core database tables for domains, TrueDR scores, AI prompts, and visibility actions.

```
Create a new Next.js project using TypeScript and Tailwind CSS. Configure a Turso database client using `@libsql/client` with schema definitions for `websites` (id, url, classic_dr, true_dr, traffic, owner_verified, created_at), `ai_prompts` (id, website_id, prompt_text, target_country, last_checked), `citations` (id, prompt_id, engine, cited, source_urls, timestamp), and `visibility_actions` (id, website_id, title, impact, effort, completed, created_at). Set up clean directory structures for server actions and API routes.
```

2. **TrueDR Scoring Logic and Domain Inspector** — Implement the core TrueDR calculation engine that aggregates backlink profile breadth, spam patterns, and traffic validation into a trust-adjusted score.

```
Build a TypeScript service function that calculates 'TrueDR' for a given domain URL. The function must accept raw metrics (classic DR, referring domains count, follow-link ratio, monthly organic traffic, spam backlink count, website age in days, and owner verification status). Implement a deterministic penalty formula that deducts points for high spam ratios and unvalidated traffic, returning an adjusted integer score from 0 to 100 alongside a per-signal breakdown object. Create a dashboard page component that inputs a URL, calls this server action, and displays a clean visual breakdown card comparing classic DR to TrueDR.
```

3. **AI Visibility Prompt Engine** — Implement automated daily checks against AI search and answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity) to verify brand citations and source URLs.

```
Create an API route and background runner that executes tracked buyer-intent prompts across OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Perplexity Sonar API. Each prompt run must pass geographic target parameters where supported, query the LLM for brand recommendations, and parse the returned response and citation URLs to detect whether the target domain is named. Store the result in the `citations` table. Build a corresponding dashboard view showing a 12-week citation progression graph and missing source URL aggregation charts (e.g., tracking which third-party review sites appear when your brand is skipped).
```

4. **Visibility Growth Action Loop** — Build an automated diagnostics engine that aggregates scores, indexing gaps, and citation misses into a prioritized list of actionable growth tasks.

```
Implement a recommendation engine in `lib/actions.ts` that inspects a website's current TrueDR gap, unindexed pages, keyword standing, and AI citation misses. Generate a ranked list of 'Visibility Growth' items scored by expected impact, confidence, and effort. Build a React dashboard component that lists these prioritized tasks with interactive action triggers (e.g., drafting partner outreach emails or previewing indexing fix guides).
```

5. **Partner Marketplace and Directory** — Create a discovery marketplace matching complementary websites by category, traffic, and TrueDR for safe co-marketing and backlink collaborations.

```
Build a peer marketplace interface where verified website owners can browse complementary categories, view TrueDR and monthly traffic metrics, and initiate outreach requests without exposing direct emails. Implement secure message threads and partnership status tracking tables in Turso, ensuring contact details remain private until requests are accepted.
```

6. **Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server and CLI Utility** — Expose core metrics and visibility growth tasks via an MCP server configuration and a local npm CLI (`vdr`) so AI coding agents can fetch insights.

```
Build a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server using the official SDK that exposes tools for fetching a website's TrueDR score, running AI visibility checks, and listing prioritized growth actions. Also create a lightweight CLI script (`bin/vdr.ts`) packaged for local execution that reads configuration files and prints JSON metrics directly to the terminal for Claude Code and Cursor integrations.
```

### Cost vs paying

**Starting costs (one-time):**

- OpenAI / Perplexity API initial credits: $10 one-time
- Total: $10 one-time

**Ongoing costs (monthly):**

- API Usage (OpenAI & Perplexity prompt tracking): ~$12/mo
- Cloudflare & Turso Hosting: $0/mo
- Total: ~$12/mo

- Paying for the SaaS instead: $39/mo (Pro Plan)
- Build time: 18-24 hours
- AI tool credits: $20/mo (Claude Pro / Cursor)
- Break-even: 1 month of Pro subscription

## Sources

- [VerifiedDR Homepage Live Content](https://verifieddr.com)
- [VerifiedDR Pricing Page](https://verifieddr.com/_pricing.md)
- [VerifiedDR About Page](https://verifieddr.com/_about.md)
- [BuildHop Founder Spotlight: Thijs Smudde on VerifiedDR](https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/grounding-api-redirect/AUZIYQERtVsSkHfF-WKA2chiFiXKTYziGMFAlTFssBdMHVUz_amtQrmi1LAdwVj3SKJa8moAadGdeG-tlIhN5ukAA5_PAoh94lhn2PIYPYAWXXpP_uEjemEPdWMT6v09kvM3)