bench

an elegant personal hardware tracking tool.

i made this to track the abundance of hardware components and tools i have at home so i can always know what i need next.

features!

• track items and categorize them
• use ai to recognize pasted store images for autofill and specs for parts
• use ai to generate project ideas and recommendations for hardware/tools to buy
• sign in with google and keep your inventory synced across devices in google cloud firestore

setup

1. copy the env template and fill it in:

   cp .env.local.example .env.local

2. create a firebase project at https://console.firebase.google.com, then:
   • Authentication → Sign-in method → enable Google.
   • Firestore Database → create a database (production mode).
   • Project settings → General → Your apps → add a Web app, and copy the config values into the NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_* variables in .env.local.
   • HACKCLUB_AI_API_KEY powers the AI autofill/ideas features: grab one from https://ai.hackclub.com.
3. publish the security rules:

   npm i -g firebase-tools   # once
   firebase login
   firebase deploy --only firestore:rules --project <your-project-id>

4. run it:

   npm install
   npm run dev

   open http://localhost:3000.

deploy to vercel

1. push this repo to GitHub and import it at https://vercel.com/new.
2. add every variable from .env.local.example under Project → Settings → Environment Variables (HACKCLUB_AI_API_KEY and all NEXT_PUBLIC_FIREBASE_*). the NEXT_PUBLIC_* values are inlined at build time, so set them before the first deploy.
3. in the firebase console → Authentication → Settings → Authorized domains, add your production domain (e.g. your-app.vercel.app) and any preview domains so google sign-in is allowed there.
4. deploy. firestore.rules is deployed separately with the firebase cli (step 3 of setup), vercel doesn't manage it.