ServerlessAI – Build, scale, and monetize AI apps without back end
Hello HN, I’ve always loved building frontend-only apps—those you can prototype over a weekend, host for free on GitHub Pages, and scale to millions of users. Unfortunately, AI-enabled apps complicate things, as exposing your OpenAI key to the world is obviously a no-go. This also means mobile developers often have to run their own servers. That’s why I built ServerlessAI, an API gateway that lets you securely call multiple AI providers directly from client side using OpenAI-compatible APIs. You can authenticate users through any identity provider, like Google or Apple, and set per-user…
ServerlessAI – Build, scale, and monetize AI apps without back end launched on October 7, 2024 with 86 votes, #583 of 5,185 launches that month and more than 90% of that year's launches. The site was still online in September 2026, 2 years on.
In plain words
ServerlessAI is an API gateway that enables developers to build AI-powered applications without requiring backend infrastructure. It securely routes requests to multiple AI providers directly from client-side code using OpenAI-compatible APIs, eliminating the need to expose API keys. The platform supports user authentication through providers like Google and Apple, includes per-user quotas and spending limits, and allows endpoint and model allowlisting. Developers can monetize apps by setting different quota tiers for various user levels, making it suitable for frontend developers and mobile app creators.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
ServerlessAI allows you to build, scale, monetize AI apps without backend
Call AI APIs directly from the client side without exposing secret keys. Monitor usage, prevent abuse, and enforce quotas for different user tiers. ServerlessAI is the comprehensive solution to build, scale, and monetize AI apps without backend. ServerlessAI provides an OpenAI-compatible API safe for client-side use. Authenticate users via any OpenID Connect provider, including Google or Apple. Set the OpenAI SDK's base URL to ServerlessAI, and include your Project ID and the user's JWT token. Guest users and machine-to-machine scenarios are also supported. Step 2. Create a client with the project ID and the user's JWT token from your authentication provider. Step 2: Create a client with…from serverlessai.dev
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hello HN, I’ve always loved building frontend-only apps—those you can prototype over a weekend, host for free on GitHub Pages, and scale to millions of users. Unfortunately, AI-enabled apps complicate things, as exposing your OpenAI key to the world is obviously a no-go. This also means mobile developers often have…
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Airbolt AI2025 · airbolt.ai · ▲79Hi HN! We love the "backend-less" stack: Stripe for payments, Supabase for data, Clerk for auth. But the moment we add AI features, we're forced to spin up a backend to hide API keys, implement per-user token-based rate limits and graceful degradation, etc. So we built Airbolt. What it does: Drop in our SDK and start making OpenAI calls directly from your frontend. Your keys are AES-256-GCM encrypted on our servers, never exposed to the client. We provide token-based per-user rate limits and origin allow lists to address inference abuse. Short-lived JWTs and bring-your-own-auth are coming…
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