Building a Rating Platform We Actually Wanted to Use
wtchd.it started in late 2021 when a simple question, what is your favourite movie, turned into longer conversations about how we rate and compare films. No existing platform quite fit how my friend and I wanted to track and discuss what we watch. We wanted granular ratings, personal stats, collaborative watchlists and a space that felt like ours. So we built it.
Users score titles on a 1-10 scale with optional sub-ratings for more depth. The rating form is context-aware. When you select a score, it shows you other titles you’ve previously rated at that same value, helping you calibrate whether a film really deserves that 8 or if it’s more of a 7. For TV shows, ratings work per season with the option to rate multiple seasons at once.
The discover page is built around TMDB integration with extensive filters like genres, year ranges, runtime, language and rating ranges. The entire filter state lives in the URL so discovery sessions can be shared. A global search via Ctrl+K is available from anywhere in the app with keyboard navigation and recent search history.
Every user has a public profile with their rating history, personal lists and a stats dashboard covering average scores, genre preferences, decade analysis and activity trends. A community page adds a member directory, recent activity feed and recommendations. Lists support four visibility levels: private, friends, unlisted and public, with individual read or write access per user.
Tech Stack
The frontend is SvelteKit 2 with Svelte 5 runes for state management, shadcn-svelte components and Tailwind CSS 4. Sensitive API calls are routed through SvelteKit server endpoints so tokens never reach the client.
The backend is a Node.js/Express REST API with MariaDB. TMDB responses are cached in-memory with rule-based TTLs and request de-duplication. Private comments are encrypted with AES-256-GCM. The API is documented with a modular OpenAPI spec that auto-bundles on commit.
The Result
wtchd.it has been running since late 2021 and is still actively developed. What started as a side project between two people has grown into a platform we use daily to track, rate and discuss everything we watch.