Show HN: A kids book that introduces authorization and permissions concepts

Show HN: A kids book that introduces authorization and permissions concepts(authzed.com)

11 points by samkim 192 days ago | 1 comment

A colleague and I made a kids' picture book that introduces authorization concepts.

We work at AuthZed and explain these concepts regularly. We thought it'd be fun to put them together in a format accessible and appealing to kids and grownups alike. It would also be helpful when explaining what we do for work and make a unique gift for our families.

The goal was a fun story first and foremost. We aimed to present concepts accessibly but made conscious decisions to simplify, knowing we couldn't be comprehensive in a picture book format. We also wanted visually appealing illustrations, so we built a custom tool to streamline exploring ideas with AI. It does reference-weighted image generation (upload references, weight which ones matter most), git-like branching for asset organization, and feedback loops that improve subsequent generations. It was built with Claude Code. Here's a screenshot: https://content.authzed.com/hubfs/screenshot-design-asset-ma...

We'd love feedback on where we chose to simplify. Did we get the tradeoffs right or did we oversimplify? And lastly, did you enjoy the story?

You can read the book online: https://authzed.com/resources/dibs-and-the-magic-library

samkim 192 days ago |

One of the discussions we had in our slack was that the introduction of the New Enemy Problem on page 21 may be oversimplified. It currently relies on an unwritten assumption that the contents of the room change between days or that the previously granted permission was revoked. However, we figured setting the scenario and leaving a note that grownups could easily google for more info would be an ok tradeoff.