5 walls I hit shipping an AI reading app from West Africa (and what I'd tell past-me)

May 29, 2026 · 9:32 PM UTC ·6 min read · 0 reactions · 0 comments · 32 views

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The article discusses the challenges faced by a self-taught developer in shipping an AI reading app from West Africa. It highlights specific technical issues encountered during development, including problems with streaming and network calls. The author shares lessons learned to help others avoid similar pitfalls in their projects.

Key facts

▪The author is a maxillofacial surgeon who developed an AI reading app called Readium in Burkina Faso.
▪One major issue was related to streaming, where buffering in the request path caused delays in the user interface.
▪Another challenge involved network calls hanging due to undici's handling of IPv6 addresses, which was not documented.
▪The author also encountered a problem with product publishing on Gumroad, where the dashboard indicated products were published while they were functionally empty.

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Original publisher	DEV.to (Top)
Canonical URL	https://dev.to/limack0/5-walls-i-hit-shipping-an-ai-reading-app-from-west-africa-and-what-id-tell-past-me-published-4ikh
Publication time	Fri, 29 May 2026 21:32:58 +0000
Retrieval time	2026-05-29T21:50:35.556Z
Last seen	2026-05-29T21:50:35.556Z
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand

try { if(localStorage) { let currentUser = localStorage.getItem('current_user'); if (currentUser) { currentUser = JSON.parse(currentUser); if (currentUser.id === 3959116) { document.getElementById('article-show-container').classList.add('current-user-is-article-author'); } } } } catch (e) { console.error(e); } limack0 Posted on May 29 5 walls I hit shipping an AI reading app from West Africa (and what I'd tell past-me) #ai #llm #nextjs #webdev I'm a maxillofacial surgeon in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso — and a self-taught builder who's been coding since medical school. Over evenings and weekends, I shipped Readium — a production AI reading app that lets you discuss books with Claude while you read them, in any language. Built AI-paired with Claude, reviewed and deployed by me.

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