PolicyLens: Turning Insurance PDFs Into Structured Truth
A technical story about trying to build a source-backed insurance document compiler, what actually worked, what the prototype exposed, and why the broad product stopped.
I'm Aviral. I build things, write about what I learn, and sometimes share the wreckage publicly. Right now I'm working on a PolicyLens, learning AI engineering, and playing too much badminton.
The Intersection Observer Hook That Actually Handles Conditional Rendering
Every Intersection Observer tutorial on the internet has the same bug. They just don't know it yet. The pattern goes like this: create a ref, attach it to your element, set up an IntersectionObserver, and watch it break the moment your component conditionally renders.
How to Implement a Token Refresh Queue to Prevent Concurrent 401s
What happens when 5 API calls fire at the same time and your access token expires mid-flight? They all fail. All 5 get a 401. Your user sees a broken dashboard. Maybe they get logged out. Here's how to fix it with a token refresh queue.
Stop Breaking React: Why You Should Compute Values Instead of Storing Everything in State
How I fixed infinite re-renders and discovered a simple rule that changed how I write React components. Last week, I spent three hours debugging what seemed like a simple dashboard feature.
Building a High-Performance Social Media Intelligence Feed: Lessons from the Trenches
Building a social media feed seems straightforward until you actually build one. I recently completed work on a Social Media Intelligence feed that shows users posts from their competitors and aspirational brands. Here's what I learned.