Ahmad Bayrakdar
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Marhaba Syria — Classifieds Marketplace Platform

A Syria-first marketplace for property, cars, jobs and services: web app, admin console and background worker in one TypeScript monorepo.

Role
Founder · architect & full-stack engineer
Timeline
2026 – Present
Client
Marhaba Syria
Type
Product
Category
SaaS & Platforms

OverviewWhat this project is

Marhaba Syria is a classifieds marketplace designed for Syria first — property, cars, jobs and services — in Arabic and English.

ContextThe problem

Local classifieds are noisy and hard to trust: duplicate ads, scam messages, little moderation and weak search. The goal is a marketplace with structured listings, real moderation and safe messaging.

ContributionMy role & responsibilities

I defined the product (23 planning documents), the architecture and the data model, and built the platform. I use AI coding agents (Claude Code) heavily on this codebase, working from written specs and acceptance criteria; I review and own every change.

ScopeKey features

  • Structured listing forms per category from a shared taxonomy
  • Typesense search, saved searches and favourites
  • Listing lifecycle: renew, mark sold, auto-expire
  • Messaging that flags shared phone numbers and links
  • Moderation scoring and a review queue
  • OTP sign-in for users, MFA for staff
  • Wallet and ledger with payment adapters (sandbox)

SystemArchitecture

apps/web (Next.js, next-intl) · apps/admin (Next.js, MFA) · apps/worker (BullMQ)
packages: auth · db (Drizzle) · search · payments · trust · ui · i18n · observability
PostgreSQL 16 (RLS) · Redis · Typesense · Cloudflare R2 · GitLab CI

EngineeringChallenges & solutions

Challenge

Keeping the marketplace safe without a large moderation team.

Solution

A trust package with moderation scoring, a review queue and message scanning for contact details shared too early.

Challenge

Three apps that must stay consistent.

Solution

Shared packages for db, auth, i18n and UI in a Turborepo, with one Drizzle schema and forward-only migrations.

Challenge

Defence in depth for user data.

Solution

PostgreSQL row-level security, atomic OTP verification and strict body limits on webhooks.

StackTech stack

Technology

  • TypeScript
  • Next.js 15
  • React 19
  • PostgreSQL 16
  • Drizzle ORM
  • Redis
  • BullMQ
  • Typesense
  • Cloudflare R2
  • Turborepo

Tags

  • monorepo
  • RLS
  • search
  • moderation
  • in development

NotesAdditional notes

In active development; not publicly launched yet.

Interested in working together?

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