OGLixel

A quick milestone update on my side project, OGLixel (a lightweight dynamic OG image API built with Node and Sharp to avoid heavy headless browsers).

I spent the last couple of days trying to get production billing ready. Originally, I went with Lemon Squeezy, but their review flagged the project as a "design service" and gave me a final rejection. Since it's a 100% automated server-side API, trying to argue with their support felt like a dead end.

Instead of losing momentum, I decided to pivot to Polar.sh. The setup was incredibly frictionless for a developer tool, and the integration went through without any compliance issues.

With the live checkout now active, the premium tier is officially live. For $5/mo, it removes the watermark and unlocks custom background image fetching directly via URL parameters. The core engine still handles everything under 40ms with a tiny 15MB RAM footprint on the server.

The sandbox testing went smoothly, and the live checkout links are now updated on the landing page.

If anyone else here is building dev tools or micro-SaaS, I highly recommend checking out Polar if you ever get stuck in Lemon Squeezy review limbo.

The live playground is here if you want to play around with the performance: https://oglixel.tarius.my.id

Would love to get some feedback on the current feature set or hear how others are handling MoR alternatives lately.

Every time I launched a side project, I hit the same wall: Open Graph (OG) images.

The old workflow was terrible:

• The Manual Way: Open Figma, type the title, export PNG, upload → Takes 5 minutes per image, completely impossible to scale.

• The Heavy Way: Spin up Puppeteer on a $5 VPS → 300-600ms render time, consumes 300MB RAM, and triggers OOM (Out of Memory) kills every other day.

I wanted something that worked instantly via a simple URL parameter:

?title=Hello&from=6366f1&to=d946ef → JPEG in under 40ms.

So I built OGLixel — a dynamic OG image API with zero browser overhead.

The Tech Stack

Node.js + Express → SVG Templating → Sharp → JPEG (1200×630)

No Chromium. No GPU. No massive RAM spikes. Just raw SVG strings manipulated in-memory and converted to JPEG using native C++ bindings. Total RAM usage per request sits at a beautiful ~15MB.

The Stats That Matter

• Render Time: 300 - 600ms (Puppeteer) vs 19 - 38ms (OGLixel)

• RAM per Request: 150 - 300MB (Puppeteer) vs ~15MB (OGLixel)

• VPS Infrastructure Cost: $20+/month (Puppeteer) vs $0/month (OGLixel Free Tier)

Free Tier (No API Key Needed)

I wanted zero friction for the developer community to try it out. You can fire up your terminal and test it right now:

Bash

curl -s -o og.jpg "https://oglixel.tarius.my.id/api/og?title=Hello+World&bg=gradient&from=6366f1&to=d946ef"

• Custom Gradient Colors: Full Hex support via ?from=6366f1&to=d946ef to match your brand.

• Rate Limit: 60 requests/hour per IP — generous enough for local development and low-traffic sites.

• Watermark: A small, non-intrusive "OGLixel" watermark at the bottom center.

Premium Tier ($5/mo — via Lemon Squeezy)

Built for production websites that need full branding control:

• Custom Background Images: Pass &bg_url=https://... — the engine automatically fetches, applies a smart cover resize (1200×630), and composites your text on top.

• No Watermark: Clean, fully white-labeled images for your production platform.

• Secure Domain Binding: Lock your license key to your specific production domain.

• Unlimited Performance: No strict rate limits.

💬 I Need Your Brutal Feedback!

The playground is fully live and interactive. You can tweak titles, play with custom hex gradients, and watch it render instantly in the browser:

Live Playground: https://oglixel.tarius.my.id

A few questions for the community:

1. Is the free tier useful enough as-is? Or should I add more features before asking for payment?

2. The playground renders SVG client-side for instant feedback — does this feel seamless to you?

3. What is the one feature you would happily pay $5/mo for that I am currently missing?

Try it with your actual blog title or product name and tell me what you think in the comments