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ProductIn beta testingProject 09 / 14

Collector

A private catalog for the things I own: fragrances, spices, clothes, gadgets. Photograph it, scan it or paste a link, and it becomes a record I can find again.

At a glance

  • Automation suggests, I confirm
  • Have, Need, Test, Had
  • Local first, cloud second

Ask for a walkthrough

The question

I kept forgetting what I already had. Which fragrance I wore last week, whether there's still smoked paprika in the cupboard, when a warranty ends. Could one calm app hold all of that, quick enough to use with the object still in my hand?

What I built

A phone-first app where every kind of object gets its own collection with its own fields: notes and longevity for a fragrance, origin and heat for a spice, size and fabric for a jacket. Items can be added from a photo, a barcode, a Fragrantica page or by hand, and each one keeps a log of when I used it.

Everything lives on the device first and syncs to a private cloud account when I'm signed in, so search, browsing and logging keep working with no signal. Each collection also reads back patterns: favourite houses, most worn, what I've never used.

Inside

How it looks in use.

Role
Sole designer, developer and owner
Built with
Next.js, IndexedDB, Supabase, Gemini
Runs
Phone first, installable, works offline
Status
In beta testing
Logging today's wear and marking a favourite, then down to the scent profile.
Searching by a note: every fragrance with vetiver, then straight into one.
Home: quick ways in, then the collections and recent finds.
Home: quick ways in, then the collections and recent finds.
An item: the object first, then what I do with it.
An item: the object first, then what I do with it.
A collection with its own description and shelf.
A collection with its own description and shelf.
One search across names, makers, notes and custom fields.
One search across names, makers, notes and custom fields.
Adding a fragrance from a Fragrantica link or QR code, reviewed before it's saved.
Adding a fragrance from a Fragrantica link or QR code, reviewed before it's saved.

Up close

The details that carry it.

The common path, up front
The common path, up frontUsed today, edit and favourite sit right under the name, with Have, Need, Test and Had one tap away.
From first spray to drydown
From first spray to drydownTop, heart and base notes drawn as a pyramid instead of a list of fields.
The shelf reads itself back
The shelf reads itself backEach collection counts its own patterns, like which houses I collect most.

Decisions that mattered

  • Automation suggests, I confirmPhoto recognition and enrichment fill in the record, but it always lands on a review screen first, with where each value came from.
  • Have, Need, Test, HadOne simple switch covers owning something, wanting it, trying a sample and having used it up, so the wish list and the history live in the same place as the shelf.
  • Local first, cloud secondWriting to the device before the network means logging a spray or adding a note is instant, and the sync can catch up later.

What I learned

The hard part of a personal archive isn't storing things, it's trusting what the machine filled in. Showing the source next to every suggested value did more for that trust than better recognition.

Project notes

This project is in beta testing, open to invited testers. It keeps changing as I use it and learn from the people who do.

Something similar in mind?

Most of these started as a question I couldn't let go of. If you have one too, let's talk.

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