The story behind the app
How a Secret Santa app became an entire platform — built in spare time, by a single person.
Code found me early — I was eleven, and I never put it down. I taught myself, reinvented my craft with each turn of the internet, and along the way played almost every role there is in software: from the front line of the code to the table where the decisions are made. Today, I lead technology for a living. But O Amigo Secreto wasn't born at work — it was born in my spare time, out of a good kind of stubbornness: proving, to myself, that one person can still take a real product from zero to live. It started small, almost an experiment, and grew without asking permission. In the end, I understood it had never been about the draw — it was about what the draw sets in motion: people drawing closer.
How it all happened
Dec 2025
Day one
In a single day, the backend and the app were already live — the whole skeleton working. Within 48 hours there was a website, email and the first features. From the start I adopted a slightly radical rule: everything is production. No fake environment; whatever I built went live and was actually used. Fail fast, fix fast.
Dec 2025
More than Christmas
It became clear early on that Secret Santa isn't just for Christmas — it's all year round: parties, children's day, the office get-together, birthdays. The product grew to embrace all of those.
Jan–Feb 2026
Ready for the world
Time to open the doors. iPhone, Android and right in the browser; three languages (Portuguese, English and Spanish); sign-in with Google, Apple and Facebook. And, above all, privacy and safety treated as a priority, not an afterthought.
May 2026
The turning point: the 30 Magic Days
The app was mature, but it lacked a reason to come back every day. That's when the project's best idea was born: a calendar of surprises that runs from the draw to the reveal. Each day opens a little door — a hint, a quiz, an anonymous confession. Secret Santa stopped being a one-click event and became a 30-day experience.
May 2026
Fairness and trust
A draw has to be, above all, fair — and verifiable. I invested in a draw anyone can audit, with clear rules (couples never draw each other, for instance) and moderation to keep everything safe. Trust isn't asked for; it's built.
Jun 2026
Today
What started as an app became an ecosystem: app, website, installable web version, gift store, a blog in three languages — eight fronts talking to each other. And one promise that does not change: the essentials are, and will remain, free — without that invasive ad in the middle of the fun.
How it was built
All of this came from a single person, working in spare time — pair-programming with AI. AI became my constant partner: it speeds up the repetitive parts, helps reason about architecture, reviews, documents. The result is a pace that, alone and in free time, would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
- ~6 months from first commit to live
- 8 integrated platforms
- ~1,700 commits
- 1,200+ automated tests
- 3 languages
Why I'm telling you this
If a product this size could come from a single person, in spare time, with AI alongside — imagine what you can build. That, in the end, is the best part of the story.
Be part of it
Download it free and organize your Secret Santa in minutes. And if you're a partner, press, or just want to chat, reach out.