Proof

Proof transforms customer reviews into authentic video testimonials in under 2 minutes using AI. Enter a company name, and watch as we scrape real reviews, generate professional voiceovers.

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Inspiration

Social proof drives conversions, but most companies can't afford professional video testimonials. We saw an opportunity to democratize this using AI - specifically, to build it using Prompt Driven Development (PDD), where prompts are the source of truth and AI generates production-ready code. Could we build a complete autonomous video generation engine in 90 minutes? We tried.

What it does

  1. Scrapes real reviews from Google/Yelp using RTRVR API (sponsor)
  2. Analyzes sentiment and picks the best testimonial
  3. Researches the company using GPT-4o enhanced with Toolhouse (sponsor)
  4. Generates voiceover with ElevenLabs text-to-speech
  5. Creates 8-second video with OpenAI Sora
  6. Delivers downloadable MP4 - ready to use on landing pages

How we built it

Prompt Driven Development (PDD):

  • Generated 1,200 lines of core video agent code from prompts
  • Architecture automatically designed from GitHub issue
  • Prompts as source of truth, code as compilation target

Sponsor API Integration:

  • RTRVR: Real review scraping (81% success rate, $0.002/page)
  • Toolhouse: Enhanced AI research with web search tools

Tech Stack:

  • Frontend: Next.js 15 with Server-Sent Events for real-time progress
  • Backend: Express.js orchestrating multi-agent pipeline
  • Database: SQLite with better-sqlite3
  • APIs: ElevenLabs (voice), OpenAI Sora (video), RTRVR (scraping), Toolhouse (AI tools)

Development Speed:

  • 90 minutes total build time
  • $16.57 total cost
  • 5,599 lines of code (1,200 PDD-generated, rest manual)

Challenges we ran into

  1. Sora API quirks: Discovered seconds parameter must be string "8" not integer 8 - learned through trial and error

  2. Database schema constraints: Videos require scripts, scripts require reviews - had to understand PDD-generated foreign key relationships

  3. RTRVR integration: Had to design robust fallback system (RTRVR → GPT-4o → template) to handle API variability

  4. Real-time progress: SSE implementation for streaming pipeline updates while video generates in background

  5. PDD trust: Learning to trust AI-generated code without manually rewriting everything - the generated video agent works perfectly

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. Working end-to-end in 90 minutes: From idea to deployed autonomous pipeline

  2. Real sponsor API integration: Not just using them superficially - RTRVR actually scrapes real reviews, Toolhouse actually enhances research

  3. Production-ready PDD code: 1,200 lines of video generation code that handles ElevenLabs + Sora integration, retries, error handling - all generated from prompts

  4. 8-second videos that actually work: Real voiceovers, company-specific content, downloadable MP4s

  5. $16.57 to build entire system: Proved PDD economics - generated complex code for fraction of traditional development cost

What we learned

Technical:

  • PDD is real and works for production code - not just demos
  • AI-generated code can handle complex API integrations (ElevenLabs, Sora)
  • Sponsor APIs (RTRVR, Toolhouse) provide genuine value - not just marketing
  • Sora can generate decent 8s testimonial videos when given good context

Process:

  • Trust the generated code first, debug second
  • Hybrid approach works: PDD for complex modules, manual for simple glue code
  • Real-time progress (SSE) is critical for long-running AI operations
  • Database schema from PDD needs understanding, not rewriting

AI Development:

  • Prompts are powerful source of truth
  • AI can generate production-grade error handling and retries
  • Cost efficiency: $16.57 for system that would take days manually

What's next for Proof

Short-term:

  • Add multi-angle videos (problem/solution/transformation)
  • Permission workflow (SMS consent via Twilio)
  • Batch processing for enterprise customers

Technical:

  • Longer videos (Sora supports up to 12s)
  • Custom voice cloning (ElevenLabs Professional Voice)
  • Direct Trustpilot/Yelp API integration (supplement RTRVR)

Business:

  • SaaS pricing: $29/video or $199/month unlimited
  • White-label for agencies
  • Landing page builder integration

PDD Evolution:

  • Open-source our PDD prompts
  • Build more modules using PDD (email outreach, social posting)
  • Prove PDD can scale to 50k+ line codebases

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