Problem
The team ran retros on a paid service with limits on boards and features, when all it really needed was three columns, text cards and a timer. Paying per seat for that — and putting the team’s candid feedback on someone else’s server — didn’t add up.
Approach
- One binary, started at retro time: a Go server with plain JS front end and SQLite runs on the facilitator’s laptop. A Cloudflare quick tunnel gives the team an HTTPS link; when the retro ends, the binary stops and nothing stays online.
- Hidden cards for real: everyone writes without seeing the others — the server doesn’t even send hidden text until the facilitator reveals, with a “3, 2, 1” countdown and cards unblurring column by column.
- Facilitation tools: spotlight one card at a time on everyone’s screen, drag cards together to merge repeated topics, a shared timer with a bell, and synced background music.
- Live and fun: who’s online, “typing” hints, emoji reactions and confetti show up on every screen at once.
- Wrap-up: a summary with cards per column, participation and the most-reacted card; export to PNG, JPEG, Markdown or CSV. Every retro stays in history.
- English and Portuguese, light and dark, works on a phone.
Why it matters
It’s a small tool with an outsized effect on a recurring team ritual: free, private by default, and shaped around how this team actually runs retros. It’s also a reminder that a lot of SaaS can be one binary and a tunnel.
What’s next
- Retro-game music from SNES
.spcrips, played in the browser — a spike showed it works