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AI Calling Platform — Build Plan
Phase-by-Phase
Breakdown
Coding complexity + rate-limit risk rating
for every phase of the build
⚡ MelAI
01 / 05
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Project Overview
What We're Building
  • AI Call Engine — Vapi.ai or Retell.ai (wrapper only, not built from scratch)
  • Lead & Campaign Manager — CSV upload, segmentation, scheduling
  • Script / Prompt Builder — Branching logic stored as JSON
  • Call Results Dashboard — Analytics, transcripts, performance tracking
  • Queue System — BullMQ + Redis for safe, rate-limited call scheduling
Tech Stack
Next.js · Tailwind CSS · Node.js · PostgreSQL + Prisma · BullMQ + Redis · Vapi.ai / Retell.ai · Vercel + Railway
The Golden Rule
We DO NOT build the AI call engine from scratch. We build the wrapper platform around it. This cuts the complexity in half.
Build Strategy
Phase by phase — each phase is independently testable before moving forward. No rate-limit risk until Phase 4.
⚡ MelAI
02 / 05
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Phases 1 — 3
The Safe Foundation
Phase 01
Foundation
Coding
3/10
Rate Limit
0/10
Auth, DB schema, Next.js shell. Boilerplate. Fast to spin up. Zero external APIs.
Phase 02
Lead Manager
Coding
4/10
Rate Limit
1/10
CSV upload, contact storage, campaign CRUD. Just DB writes — no API calls.
Phase 03
Script Builder
Coding
6/10
Rate Limit
1/10
Branching logic UI, JSON storage, Vapi/Retell prompt mapping. Storing JSON — no live API calls.
✓ PHASES 1–3 ARE SAFE ZONES Build and test freely — no rate-limit exposure until Phase 4
⚡ MelAI
03 / 05
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Phases 4 — 6
The Critical Phases
Phase 04 ⚠️
Queue + Scheduler
Coding
8/10
Rate Limit
8/10
BullMQ + Redis, rate limiter config, retries, failure handling. Must configure rate limits BEFORE hitting Vapi/Retell in production.
Phase 05
Results Dashboard
Coding
5/10
Rate Limit
3/10
Webhook receiver + transcript storage + analytics. Passive receiving — main risk is duplicate event handling.
Phase 06
Deploy + Polish
Coding
4/10
Rate Limit
0/10
Vercel + Railway, env vars, CI/CD, error monitoring. Infrastructure only. No API risk.
⚠️ PHASE 4 IS THE MAKE-OR-BREAK Lock in BullMQ rate limiter BEFORE any Vapi/Retell production calls
⚡ MelAI
04 / 05
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Overall Project Rating
Buildable.
Phase by Phase.
Overall complexity: 7/10 — not because it's impossible, but because the pieces must connect correctly. Phase 4 is the wall. Build the foundation right and it won't stop you.
7/10
Overall Complexity
Phase 4
Only Real Risk Zone
6–8 wks
Solo Build Estimate
⚡ MelAI
05 / 05