One month in: the AI API was the easy part

Since my first update, I’ve spent less time adding new AI models and more time turning a working API into a product I can actually trust.

I originally thought model integration would be the hardest part of building Image to Video AI. It wasn’t.

The harder work was handling everything around the API:

• calculating credits on the server instead of trusting the client

• recovering generation tasks after a refresh

• preventing duplicate charges and refunds

• keeping model capabilities, displayed prices, and actual billing aligned

• separating provider costs from customer pricing

• removing inherited template pages and logic that did not belong to the product

The biggest lesson is that a successful API response does not mean the product is reliable.

And a reliable product does not mean the market has validated it.

The product can now handle the complete flow from image upload and generation to task recovery, billing, refunds, and saved results. That is meaningful progress, but I’m not treating it as proof of success.

The next stage is less comfortable: finding stable acquisition channels, understanding repeat usage, and learning whether users are genuinely willing to pay.

Development creates visible progress. Market validation may create silence.

I’ll keep using this product page as an honest record of both.