StockFinder

Never waste time searching for items again! StockFinder provides real-time inventory updates from local stores, helping you instantly find, compare, and reserve products.

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StockFinder: Real-Time Product Availability Tracker

Inspiration

Our journey began with a common frustration: the endless cycle of checking multiple store websites to find products in stock. While solutions like NowInStock.net exist, we felt there was room for a more modern, user-friendly approach. The recent years have shown us how critical it is to quickly find essential items in stock, and we wanted to create a tool that makes this process seamless and efficient.

What it does

StockFinder is a modern web application that simplifies the product availability search process. It allows users to:

  • Search for products across retail stores using just the product name and ZIP code
  • Get real-time inventory status from nearby stores
  • View exact in-store locations, including aisle numbers and store sections
  • Access detailed store information including addresses and operating hours
  • Experience a clean, intuitive interface that makes product searching effortless

How we built it

Frontend:

  • Next.js for a fast, responsive user interface
  • Tailwind CSS for clean, responsive styling
  • Clerk for secure authentication and user management
  • React's built-in hooks for efficient state management
  • TypeScript for type safety and better development experience

Backend:

  • Fastify server for high-performance API handling
  • Puppeteer and Playwright for robust web scraping
  • TypeBox for runtime type checking and API validation
  • Bun for improved development performance and package management

Design & Planning:

  • Figma for wireframing and UI/UX design
  • Canva for logo design and brand assets
  • Monorepo architecture for better code organization

Challenges we ran into

  • Balancing development with academic and work commitments posed significant time management challenges
  • Web scraping proved to be complex due to dynamic content and anti-bot measures
  • Initial package manager inconsistencies between team members (Bun vs npm) caused integration issues
  • Finding the right approach to handle real-time inventory data without overwhelming store APIs
  • Coordinating development efforts across team members with different schedules

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the challenges, we achieved several significant milestones:

  • Created a clean, intuitive UI that makes product searching effortless
  • Developed a robust web scraping solution that works reliably with Target's inventory system
  • Implemented a responsive design that works seamlessly across all devices
  • Built a scalable architecture that can easily accommodate additional retailers
  • Maintained high performance while handling real-time data

What we learned

  • The importance of clear communication in team development
  • The reality that perfect is the enemy of good - focusing on core functionality first
  • The value of proper error handling in production applications
  • The importance of user-centric design in creating useful applications

What's next for StockFinder

We have exciting plans for the future:

  • Implementing/training our own AI models to provide smarter search results and product recommendations
  • Expanding our coverage to include more retail stores
  • Adding price comparison features
  • Implementing push notifications for stock alerts

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