The Stories section aggregates my Instagram stories — day-to-day photos, moments, and short-form content that I share with people I know.
Instagram stories are ephemeral by design and intended for a closer audience. Republishing them here without any access control would expose them permanently to anyone on the internet, which is not the intent.
Putting them behind a sign-in is a pragmatic middle ground: the content lives on my own domain, under my own infrastructure, but remains accessible only to people I have given access to.
Sign-in is handled via Google or email through Firebase Authentication. No password is stored on this server — authentication is delegated entirely to Firebase and a short-lived session token is issued on successful login.