I wanted to share an internal dashboard I just wrapped up using the new Retool App Builder.
The project targets a unique niche: Art Cafes & DIY Craft Studios.
These businesses operate on a "Time-as-a-Service" model where customers book a 2-hour window, get basic supplies and a complimentary drink, but get charged for regular cafe snacks, premium canvases, or extra time.
Standard POS platforms don’t natively track live table occupancy time or handle mixed complimentary/paid item orders smoothly. I built this custom portal to handle the heavy lifting.
Here is a quick video walkthrough of the operational flows, live floor tracking, and dashboard settings:
Live Studio Floor/Dashboard:
A clean grid layout displaying currently occupied tables, dynamically tracking group size, and color-coded status pills (Active, Completed, Unpaid).
Contextual Orders (Modals):
Clicking any active card triggers a popup modal form allowing front-desk staff to instantly append food items or premium inventory directly to that specific customer's active session tab.
Back-Office Configuration & Reports:
Dedicated tabs for the store owner to track key metrics (Active Sessions, Total Profits, Unpaid Orders), manage global inventory logs, and edit customer profile records.
I’d love some feedback from the community:
Drop your thoughts below or let me know if you want a breakdown of any specific component setups!
And somehow, almost one full day of those three went into the intro you see when the page first opens.
Not because it was necessary — mostly because I’ve wanted to try something like this for a long time.
Web design and development are far from my main field, so I kept putting this idea off. This challenge finally gave me a reason to test it properly — and seeing it actually work is ridiculously satisfying.
The video was converted into an image sequence and tied directly to scrolling on desktop and swiping on mobile, so the animation is controlled by the user as they move through the page.
Right now the project is already at Build 4.2.3.
The backend is working properly, the main mechanics are in place, but visually… there’s still a lot to redo. The current plan is to rebuild almost the entire visual layer before the final version.
I also found out today that Lovable reduced the number of prize spots quite significantly — apparently, there will only be 3 finalists.
That definitely makes the odds a little more painful 😅
But either way, I’m already getting a new portfolio case out of this project, and I’m finally experimenting with things I’ve wanted to build for a long time.
How’s everyone else doing?
Still working on your project, or have you already submitted it?
Or did you decide not to participate at all? If so, I’m curious — what made you skip it?
That intro effect looks sick! 🔥 By the way, I'm working on a car showroom project too, but not sure if I'll manage to finish and submit it on time. If luck is on my side, it’s going to be a really fun competition haha. Good luck!
I built MobiFix Nairobi : A Mobile auto care company.
I rebuilt the moment an inbound “Can I book with you?” becomes “You’re booked.”
MobiFix Nairobi is a fictional mobile automotive service business built around one simple problem: booking vehicle services often means back-and-forth messages, checking availability, coordinating technicians, confirming locations, and handling payments manually.
I designed the experience so the customer can:
→ Choose a service
→ Select their vehicle
→ Enter their location
→ Pick an available date and time
→ Add their details
→ Review the booking
→ Complete payment
→ Receive a booking confirmation and code
Behind the scenes, the business gets a real dashboard with bookings, calendar, customers, services, technicians, availability, analytics, and website management — all backed by real data.
The goal was to make the entire journey feel less like “requesting an appointment” and more like simply getting booked.
I've been quietly building landing page templates. Six are out today, each with its own brand, its own type pairing and one interaction it's built around:
→ Aurel: a skincare brand with a WebGL serum drop that bulges toward your cursor
→ Ferro Type: a type foundry where the hero word bends its weight and width under the pointer
→ Meridian Expeditions: contour maps that redraw themselves as you switch routes
→ Oda: an architecture studio whose timber cabin draws itself, with a live sun study
→ Relay: a dev tool where the editor types a workflow and the run graph executes it live
→ Signal: a mission-control SaaS with a live infrastructure graph that contains threats as they flare
Built to be edited with AI. Every template ships with a README, a DESIGN.md and an AGENTS.md, so Claude, Cursor or whatever assistant you use changes it the way it was built, not the way it guesses.
Ferro Type is the one I would open first. Bending a variable font under the pointer re-lays out the text every frame, which is a much bigger bill than it looks, and stepping the weight in a few fixed increments is usually what keeps it smooth on a laptop that is not plugged in....