HOO POS — Custom Point-of-Sale Platform

Full disclosure: I don't come from a programming background. I actually got accepted into Architecture and IT programs but ended up picking Visual Communication Design because my friends were there. Fast forward, I run a family retail store and instead of hiring a dev team or buying an off-the-shelf POS, I decided to just... build one myself.

Not by learning to code line-by-line the traditional way, but by directing AI tools like an architect directs a construction crew. I know exactly what the system needs to do (because I run the store that uses it), I make every architectural and product decision, and I push the build forward daily. The "how" of getting AI to actually execute that vision reliably that's kind of my own thing I've figured out along the way.

One thing that's been key: I treat documentation as part of the build itself, not an afterthought. Every sprint, every architectural decision, every "why we did it this way instead of that way" gets written down as I go. It's less about writing a manual for other people and more about keeping the whole system honest so a month from now I (or the AI) can pick up exactly where things left off without re-explaining the entire history. Turns out that habit is doing a lot of heavy lifting on a project this complex.

What it actually does:

Multi-unit inventory conversion (stock arrives per box, sells per piece math handled automatically)

Tiered pricing & supplier debt tracking with full audit trail

Offline-first — keeps running even when the internet cuts out, syncs later

Blind cash close so shift handovers stay honest

Bilingual (ID/EN), role-based access, automated cloud backup

A dashboard that doesn't just show charts it tells you in plain language what actually needs your attention today

Stack: React + Zustand frontend, Node/TypeScript backend (modular route architecture), Prisma + PostgreSQL, deployed on Railway with versioned API, IndexedDB for offline reliability.

Status: Live in production. Real transactions, real cashiers, real pressure every day not a demo.

Why this matters: I'm not building for a portfolio piece that just needs to demo well once. I'm building for a business I run, where a bug means someone can't check out a customer. That constraint changed how I approach everything no cutting corners on things like data integrity or offline handling, because I'm the one who'd get the angry call.