I open-sourced ArtistPass instead of turning it into SaaS (for now)

I built ArtistPass, a portfolio website for actors and other performers, after noticing how often their professional material is scattered across Instagram, Drive folders, YouTube links, PDFs and old website pages.

The first version solves a deliberately narrow job: put the showreel, role clips, headshots, resume, casting card, contact details and sharing tools into one polished link.

What I underestimated was not the visual design. It was onboarding.

I originally treated the Vercel clone flow like a normal "make it yours" button. Technically it worked. In practice, a non-technical artist had to move through GitHub and Vercel logins, choose a Git provider and account, approve permissions, connect storage and set an environment password.

That is reasonable for a developer. It is not honest self-serve onboarding for everyone else.

So I split the product into two clear paths:

1. Developer: clone the MIT-licensed GitHub template, deploy it to Vercel, connect Blob storage and adapt it.
2. Assisted setup: someone technical launches the first version, organises the approved material and hands over the site plus the browser Admin.

After setup, the artist can handle routine text, image, PDF and reel-link changes from the website Admin. The site remains a small static/Vercel project rather than a full CMS.

The current architecture is intentionally compact:

• one static portfolio and browser Admin;
• Vercel Functions for config, publishing and uploads;
• Vercel Blob for shared config, images and PDFs;
• one private Admin publishing password per deployment;
• video links instead of building a video-hosting platform;
• no database, accounts, billing or multi-tenant SaaS layer.

I considered pushing immediately into category-specific templates, theme selection and a Lovable-style builder. But a finished website is not evidence of demand, and a feature-rich builder would create a lot of product surface before I know which part people value.

So the current bet is smaller:

• release the working code;
• make the constraints and security limits clear;
• publish the build story;
• let developers fork it;
• offer assisted setup to people who want the result without the infrastructure;
• watch for actual deployments, questions and contributions before expanding.

ArtistPass v0.1.0 is now public. The repository has screenshots, one-click developer deployment, a fictional demo profile, contribution guidance and a browser Admin backed by Vercel Blob.

Live demo: https://artistpass.vercel.app

GitHub: https://github.com/eyeinthesky6/artistpass

DEV build story: https://dev.to/6edroid/meet-artistpass-an-open-source-portfolio-template-for-actors-and-artists-4od6

I am curious how other indie hackers would handle the next step: keep it as a focused open-source template, add category-specific layouts slowly, or only build a hosted product after assisted setups reveal repeated demand?