Building a SaaS App with AI: A Look at Tempo, Superbase, and Stripe

SaaS has been a popular way to build and sell applications as a service. Even now, with new AI models, there are plenty of fresh ideas you can use to create or improve SaaS applications. One simple example is the new ChatGPT-4o image generation model. You can take the API for that and offer it at a lower price. If the full ChatGPT solution costs $50, you could offer just the image generation part for much less. This is why SaaS applications continue to be profitable.

Tools like Cursor still involve some hassle, especially when dealing with the core components.

The Core Components of a SaaS App

A proper SaaS app needs three core parts: * Authentication: Controls who can access the app. * Authorization: Controls what authenticated users can access. * Database: You need a database to store things, even for something simple like saving generated images. * Payments: The most important part, because if you can't get paid, the rest doesn't matter.

Introducing Tempo Labs

This is where Tempo Labs comes in. I'm using Superbase for authentication and the database as well, and I'm using Stripe for handling payments. Building this with Tempo takes way less time. You can set up all these integrations in under a minute. It shows how much progress we've made from doing everything manually to having tools that optimize the entire process.

When you open up Tempo, you'll see an interface where you can connect it to an existing repository or create a brand new app. I'm choosing to create a new app. Once you're in the menu, you'll see the prompt box at the top and options for frameworks, authentication, and payments below. You can select what you need and set them up before starting the build.

I'm going with Next.js for the framework, and here I'm going to select Superbase. When you pick a database or payment option, a setup menu appears. Other options are available too, but I'm sticking with Superbase and Stripe.

Setting Up the Integrations

Let's set up the integrations one by one.

1. Superbase Setup

Since we selected Superbase for authentication and database, I'm now in Superbase creating a new project that will be linked to Tempo.

1. If you're using Superbase for the first time, it will automatically ask you to create an organization.
2. Under that organization, you can create different projects. I'm creating a new project under the same organization.
3. I'll fill out all the required fields. I've named my project "test".
4. Once you've filled in the details, you'll see the project status section showing different setup stages. Once everything is ready, the project will be fully set up and appear in Tempo for integration.

Since the project is set up in Superbase, we can now connect it to Tempo Labs.

1. Click the "connect Superbase" button, and you'll see a prompt asking for several permissions. It requests read and write access, which is actually pretty useful. When using Superbase MCP with tools like Cursor or Windsurf, you only get read access. That means it can view existing databases but can't create new ones automatically.
2. You'll be asked to select your organization name to continue.
3. Authorize Tempo Labs.
4. Once authorized, you'll be prompted to select a project. You'll see that its status is marked as "active and healthy." That confirms the setup was successful and the project is ready to use.

Now Superbase is connected. All the components, like tables and the SQL editor, are now accessible from Tempo.

2. Stripe Integration

The Stripe integration is ready to be set up. We can add in our API keys and our Stripe webhook secret, and we'll be good to go. Let me show you where you can get these.

Note: You'll need a Stripe business account. This won't work with a personal account.

1. The first thing you're going to do is turn on test mode. Test mode lets you simulate transactions, and no real transactions can be made when this mode is turned on.
2. Now you need to enter your API keys and webhook secret. If you don't want to navigate, just search for the developers API section.
3. You'll see the publishable key and the secret key. You're going to copy both of them and place them into Tempo.
4. Then you need your webhook secret. Go into Webhooks and create an event destination.
5. Here you need to give your endpoint URL, and you can get that from Tempo. In Tempo, you see the URL right there, so just copy it.
6. Back in Stripe, just paste in your endpoint URL and move on to selecting events. Select all of them, since that's the easiest way.
7. Once they're selected, add the events and then add the endpoint.
8. To get the webhook secret, reveal it and copy it. Go to Tempo and paste it along with the API keys.

You can look in Tempo and see that it shows one Stripe plan is set up in the project. This refers to the products we've added, and Tempo will automatically take them and place them into the pricing page, whether it's on the landing page or inside the app. All of the products and subscription options we create will be placed there.

To add a product, go back into Stripe and open the product catalog. Add a new product by entering the name, the type of the payment, and then the amount. If we go back and refresh Tempo, we can see that two Stripe plans are now set up in this project.

Once we've verified that all the events were selected from the Stripe webhook, we can continue with setting up the integrations. The project is now using these settings, and everything is ready for building.

Building the App with a Prompt

The best part is that anything Tempo generates will keep all integrations in mind. It sets up the database alongside everything else. Wherever payment setup is needed, it's already included. Half the work is already done. You can now build whatever you want just by prompting it.

We'll create a gradient wallpaper app. You might have seen these before; there are many apps that generate these beautiful wallpapers with solid customization options. Let's get started by giving it the prompt.

First, it begins with the PRD (product requirements document) and generates the user flow using a mermaid diagram. At the same time, it sets up the Superbase project components. This includes the initial migration, edge functions for the payment plans, and the checkout feature. While that runs, it also loads the project and starts the development server.

After setting up the basic database structure, it gives us a template prompt. It first asks to read and understand the codebase, then it begins with the landing page, which makes sense for a SaaS app. Using the PRD and the diagram, it begins generating the landing page.

Once it finishes the initial tasks, it asks to continue with the next set of subtasks. We'll build the app first and handle testing later. Let's see how far it gets.

Many online code editors aren't preferred because they don't offer deep customization, but here you can also view the code directly. There's also a design section with a drag-and-drop interface you can use to manually design your app.

Just a few steps left. We'll finish building the app and check if it works properly. You can see that it's done, so let's run it in a separate tab.

The Final Result

I quickly registered an email and confirmed it. Here's the notification I got after confirming the email, which allowed me to access the app. I can now sign in. All the plans we added in Stripe are showing here. What you see is the dashboard, and you can also sign out. If you choose to pay for a plan, you'll be taken directly to the payment page. Getting payments from users is now this simple. This was all done with just two or three clicks, assuming you already have your Stripe business account set up, which might take some time.

This time it's a solid template. It started with the landing page and then moved on to the rest of the project based on the PRD. It's now implementing the app and has already created some components. Let's continue with the component implementation and see what comes next. The components are ready, and now it's asking us to integrate them into the dashboard page. Let's keep it going.

This is the best part about Vibe Coding. You start and just keep building. The amazing thing is that with minimal input, you could run multiple reviews or develop multiple products at once. That's where I think this is headed, and it does look promising.

Now, there are some errors. Let me expand the view. It's also asking us to continue the download function. Let's ask it to implement that first. Now it's time to start fixing the problems. These kinds of issues are common and nothing unusual. After solving a few small issues, since most AI models tend to forget that some components need to be rendered on the client side, everything is working now.

Let me show you some interesting things. I don't think I fully showed the landing page before. You can customize it however you like. I prefer using the Aceternity UI components because they look great. I'll implement those later on.

To create a wallpaper, here's our dashboard. Before reaching this point, I had to make the payment on the payment section. Since it's in test mode, we can simulate payments.

Note: You can use these card details for the simulation. Card Number: 4242 4242 4242 4242 Expiration: Any future date CVC: Any 3 digits

I selected the $10 plan, and in the Stripe dashboard, we can see the simulated $10 payment. Once authentication was complete and the payment went through, I gained access to the gradient wallpaper generator.

The customization options here are impressive. You can choose any color you want. There are different gradient types, like the conic gradient, which looks amazing. You can add textures like grain, select different resolutions including 4K, and even download the wallpaper directly.

This is pretty wild. Any SaaS idea you have can move from concept to launch in almost no time. The main challenge for most people is setting up microservices like payments or the database, but Tempo handles that automatically from the very beginning. The project is structured with these services already integrated, so you don't face issues later.

Overall, this is a powerful tool with a lot of potential. I'm going to keep exploring it. It also supports other frameworks like Expo, which I plan to try out as well. All in all, it's an excellent and impressive tool.