Why I Built Dorellworks (My Life OS)
Most builder sites show the finished work. Mine shows the daily motion. This is why I built a public system to track projects and progress in real time.
The Problem with Most Portfolio Sites
Every builder has a portfolio site. It usually looks like this:
- Projects section: Polished case studies of finished work
- About page: Clean bio and curated highlights
- Blog (maybe): Occasional posts when something big happens
The problem? It’s all retroactive.
You only see the work after it’s done. The daily grind, the false starts, the small wins — they’re invisible.
That’s not how building actually works.
What I Wanted Instead
I wanted a site that shows:
- What I’m working on today (not just what I shipped last year)
- The small daily updates (not just the big launches)
- The honest journey (not just the polished highlights)
I wanted a Life OS — a system that tracks my builder life as it happens.
How It Works
The site is organized around projects — the things I’m building. Everything flows into them:
Projects (The Anchor):
- What I’m actually building
- Split into In Progress and Shipped
- Each project shows its updates, milestones, and full journey
- Like a Product Hunt page, but for the entire lifecycle
Feed (Daily Updates):
- Short, lightweight posts
- Track-based: Build, Learn, Teach, Life
- Low friction: takes 3-5 minutes to post
- Shows daily motion, not just big milestones
- Each update links to its related project
Writing (Longer Pieces):
- Reflections on launches, lessons, insights
- Milestone posts for major moments
- The deeper context behind the daily work
The Result: A Living Document
Dorellworks is not a static portfolio. It’s a real-time feed of my builder life.
When you visit, you see:
- In Progress: What I’m actively building, with the latest update
- Shipped: What I’ve completed
- Feed: The daily log of everything
- Writing: Longer reflections
It’s transparent. It’s honest. It’s in motion.
Why This Matters
Most indie hackers hide their process until they have a win to share.
But process is where the real learning happens.
By showing the daily work:
- I stay accountable
- Others can learn from the messy reality (not just the polished outcome)
- It becomes clear that building isn’t magic — it’s just consistent showing up
The Technical Side
Dorellworks is built with:
- Astro (static site generator, fast and simple)
- Content Collections (type-safe content management)
- Linear Integration (WIP — mapping Linear projects and issues to site content)
The vision is:
- Low friction posting — updates flow from where I already work
- Automatic connections — Linear issues map to projects here
- Everything linked — projects, feed updates, and writing all connected
What I Learned
Building in public doesn’t mean sharing everything. It means:
- Showing the work, not just the wins
- Being honest about what’s hard
- Documenting the process as it happens
Dorellworks is my version of that.
What’s Next
The site will keep evolving as I build:
- Richer project detail pages
- Better timeline visualization
- More ways to explore the journey
But the core stays the same: a public, honest system for tracking a builder life in motion.
This is Dorellworks. Not a portfolio. A Life OS.