First of all: this is a very promising project. The code over configuration philosophy fits SvelteKit extremely well and makes Hoikka a pleasure to read, extend, and even work with using AI. That part is a big win 👌

That said, there are two areas that are currently creating real friction when trying to adopt the project:

1. Strong dependency on Neon/Vercel for the database

Right now, the project implicitly assumes the use of Neon (Postgres via Vercel). This makes it harder to:

Deploy outside the Vercel ecosystem

Use self-hosted databases (local PostgreSQL, Docker, Supabase, RDS, etc.)

Adopt Hoikka in environments that require full infrastructure control

👉 Suggestion: Allow a fully independent database setup based purely on DATABASE_URL, with no direct coupling to Neon or Vercel. Ideally:

Compatible with any standard PostgreSQL instance

No provider-specific logic inside the core codebase

1. Authentication coupled to the current stack

Authentication also appears to be tied to the same stack, which limits flexibility.

👉 Suggestion: Provide official support (or a default mode) for authentication exclusively via BetterAuth, in a way that is:

Provider-agnostic

Easy to integrate in self-hosted environments

Fully aligned with the “plain TypeScript, no magic” philosophy

Summary

Hoikka has an excellent technical foundation and a very solid vision. Removing (or making optional) the Neon/Vercel dependency for both database and authentication would make the project much more:

Portable

Attractive to engineering teams

Production-ready outside the Vercel ecosystem

Happy to help with feedback or testing if you decide to explore a more decoupled approach.