The Cat Lovers
A free online community forum for cat owners and cat fans that we built and still operate today. Members can ask questions, share photos, read cat care articles, earn badges, and raise a virtual pet cat that levels up through forum activity. Built with Next.js and Supabase.
The project
The Cat Lovers is our own project: a free, friendly online community forum for cat owners and cat fans that we designed, built, and still operate to this day. Members can ask cat questions, share photos and stories, reply to posts, read cat care articles, earn badges, and raise a virtual pet cat that levels up through forum activity. The site is open to read by anyone, and signing up is free. This was a full-stack build requiring authentication, database design, real-time interactions, and a gamification system.
What we built
- Full-stack Next.js web application with Supabase backend and PostgreSQL database
- User authentication with email and password registration
- Community forum with posts, threaded comments, likes, and photo uploads (up to 4 per post)
- Community directory with topic-based forums (cat care, memes, health, photos, and more)
- Gamification system with member badges computed from real activity
- Virtual pet system called Nine Lives where members adopt and level up a cat through forum participation
- Article section with in-depth cat care guides covering health, behavior, and nutrition
How we approached it
A community site is a different kind of build because it has to remember people. Members sign up with an email and password and get a profile, and everything they do, including posts, threaded comments, likes, and photo uploads, is stored in a Supabase PostgreSQL database.
To give people a reason to come back, we added a gamification layer. Badges are computed from real activity rather than assigned manually, and a virtual pet called Nine Lives levels up as a member takes part in the forum. Topic-based communities and an article section of in-depth cat care guides keep new visitors reading even before they sign up.
A feed that feels like an app
The home page is a live feed called All Cat Feed that shows the newest posts first and can be sorted by popular or new. Each post card shows the author's avatar, the community it was posted in, how long ago it went up, a photo carousel when there are several pictures, and like and save controls, with a Load more button to keep reading.
On a phone the feed supports pull to refresh, the gesture people already know from other apps, so the site feels at home on a small screen. The navigation stays minimal with Home, Communities, Members, and Articles.
Communities, members, and articles
Posts are organized into topic communities, so a question about health does not get buried under photos and memes. A members directory shows who is taking part, and each member has a profile page.
The articles section holds in-depth cat care guides on health, behavior, and nutrition, which gives search visitors a reason to arrive before they ever sign up. Reading is open to everyone, and signing up is free.
Badges and the Nine Lives pet
To keep members coming back, the site rewards participation. Badges are computed from real activity, and a virtual pet called Nine Lives gives every member a cat to adopt and level up through forum participation.
Because this is our own project, we get to run it the way a client's platform would be run: real members, real posts, and a real database behind it. It is the clearest example of what a Next.js and Supabase build can do when a site needs accounts, saved data, and interaction.
Built to the same standards as every project
Every Ctrl Shift Run website is custom built from the ground up in Next.js and TypeScript, with no templates or page builders. Each build targets green PageSpeed Insights scores on mobile and desktop, plus 3/3 on the agentic browsing check, and is structured so search engines and AI assistants can read it. Because this is our own project, the code stays with us.