This whole journey started with me trying to build a local AI server for my wife. I just wanted something fun and private for us to use at home. But that simple idea ended up teaching me everything I needed to create my first real AI app: AI-NotepadPlus.
Small Models Work — Big Models Don’t (On My PC)
My PC is pretty good. It runs every game on max settings, so I assumed it could handle any AI model.
It did not.
- Big LLMs froze or crashed.
- My system tapped out fast.
- I realized AI is way more demanding than gaming.
What is the cool part?
Small LLMs ran fast and smooth.
They just weren’t as accurate and needed improvement.
This helped me understand how AI actually thinks and behaves.
Switching to Cloud AI: Grok + OpenAI
Because my PC couldn’t handle bigger models, I switched to cloud AI for my app.
- Grok API → creative, conversational responses
- OpenAI API → clean summaries, organized text
Using both gave me exactly what I needed.
Hosting on Railway (Super Easy)
To deploy the app, I chose Railway.
It was perfect because:
- It handles front-end and back-end
- Environment variables are simple
- Database is a tap away
- Deployments take seconds
- Great for beginners and solo devs
In no time, my app was live.
Try the Test Version (Warning)
You can try the test version of AI-NotepadPlus here:
👉 https://ai-notepadplus-production.up.railway.app
Warning:
This is a test environment.
All data you create may be reset, cleared, or wiped at any time.
Please do not store anything important.
What I Built: AI-NotepadPlus
It lets you:
- Summarize notes with AI
- Record and transcribe audio (including meetings from MS Teams, Zoom, Slack, Discord, Google Meets)
- Organize meeting notes
- Generate action items and key decisions from the discussions
Simple. Fast. Useful.
Final Thoughts
What started as a small experiment with local AI became my first complete AI app.
I learned:
- What my hardware can and can’t do
- How small LLMs behave
- How to use Grok and OpenAI
- How to deploy on Railway
All from just trying something new.
If you want to build something, start small.
You never know where it will take you.