🪶 The Ton

"Dearest Gentle Reader, you are cordially invited to the most exclusive society in all the land..."

The Ton transforms your daily group chat into an exclusive, highly anticipated ritual of connection and playful mystery — dripping in Regency-era elegance. Built securely from the ground up for European Privacy by Design (GDPR, DSA, AI Act).

🌐 Live App: https://the-ton.vercel.app/login

📖 Read the Story: I Built a Bridgerton-Inspired Social App for Friend Groups on Medium

---

✨ How It Works

1. Create a Drawing Room — invite up to 10 friends via a secret link
2. Spill the Tea — submit anonymous Whispers about your day or your friends (sweet or slightly spicy)
3. Lady Whistledown Delivers — every night, an AI-crafted society letter weaves your whispers into cryptic, elegant prose
4. Read Your Letters — each member receives a personal delivery in their Foyer

🎨 The Aesthetic

Think heavy parchment, wax seals, quill-penned elegance, and a color palette of wisteria purple, duck egg blue, and gold. Every screen feels like a page torn from a Regency novel.

🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Frontend	Next.js 15 (App Router) + TypeScript
Styling	Vanilla CSS + Playfair Display & Cormorant Garamond
Backend	Supabase (PostgreSQL + Auth + RLS)
AI	OpenAI GPT-4o (Lady Whistledown letter generation)
Hosting	Vercel

🚀 Quick Start (for developers)

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/zencodess/TheTon.git
cd TheTon

# Install
npm install

# Configure
cp .env.example .env.local
# Fill in your keys — see "API Keys Needed" below

# Run
npm run dev

🔑 API Keys Needed

To run this project, you will need keys for Supabase, OpenAI.

Important

Please contact the repository owner for information about the required API keys and configuration settings.

📁 Project Structure

TheTon/
├── src/
│   ├── app/                # Next.js pages (App Router)
│   │   ├── page.tsx        # Foyer — letter feed
│   │   ├── groups/         # Societies list + detail
│   │   ├── whispers/       # Submit & view your whispers
│   │   ├── invite/[code]/  # Join via invite link
│   │   ├── letters/[id]/   # Read a letter
│   │   └── profile/        # Calling Card (profile)
│   └── components/
│       ├── Navbar.tsx
│       └── CreateGroupModal.tsx
├── public/aesthetics/      # Background images & avatars
├── .env.example
└── LICENSE

👩‍💻 For Users

You don't need to run any code! Just:

1. Visit the live app at the link above
2. Register with your email ID — you will receive an email with a confirmation link to verify your registration.
3. Complete your Calling Card — set your name, title (Lord/Lady/etc), and gender
4. Create or join a Society — share the invite link with your circle
5. Pen a Whisper — your secrets are completely anonymous to other members
6. Check your Letters — Lady Whistledown's Society Papers arrive nightly

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines.

Quick contribution steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feat/your-feature
3. Make your changes and test locally (npm run dev)
4. Commit with a clear message: git commit -m "feat: describe your change"
5. Open a Pull Request against main

Good first issues:

• Adding new Society themes/dynamics
• Improving Lady Whistledown's prompt creativity
• Adding new Regency-era UI elements
• Mobile responsiveness improvements

Attribution required — if you use this code or assets, you must credit
Sathya Sravya Vallabhajyosyula per the LICENSE.

📄 License

CC BY 4.0 © 2026 Sathya Sravya Vallabhajyosyula — Attribution required for any use.

Live App: the-ton.vercel.app/login
Medium Post: Read the full story here

What is life without a little inspiration? gossip 😈

Yours Truly, Lady Whistledown 🪶