SaltyChart — built with Claude Code (claude-sonnet-4-6)

A personal seasonal anime tracker. Browse AniList seasonal data, maintain a watchlist, rank shows pre/post-watch, compare rankings with friends, and spin a randomizer wheel to pick what to watch next.

Reference implementation — built using Claude Code with the real Anthropic API (claude-sonnet-4-6, Max subscription). Completed M1–M9, all milestones verified. Used as the quality baseline for comparing local LLM implementations:

• SaltyChart-llama-qwen35b-a3b — rebuilt using local Qwen3.6-35B-A3B via llama.cpp + clawgate
• SaltyChart-NVIDIA-NIM — rebuilt using NVIDIA NIM free-tier inference via clawgate

Running the app

docker compose up --build

Open http://localhost:4000 in your browser.

Persistent data lives in ./data/saltychart.db (mounted into the container at /data/saltychart.db).

Environment variables

Copy .env.example to .env and set:

Variable	Default	Description
DATABASE_PATH	/data/saltychart.db	Path to SQLite database file
JWT_SECRET	changeme-replace-in-production	Secret for signing JWT tokens — change this in production
PORT	4000	Port the server listens on

Stack

Concern	Choice	Reason
Runtime	Node.js 22 LTS + TypeScript	One language everywhere; LTS = stable; TS catches bugs early
Web framework	Express	Minimal, no magic, well-understood
Database	SQLite (better-sqlite3)	Zero additional container; single file on Unraid volume mount; synchronous API keeps code simple
Migrations	Numbered SQL files + tracker table	Self-healing on startup — works on fresh DB and existing DB without a manual migration step
Auth	JWT (jsonwebtoken) + bcryptjs	Stateless tokens survive browser restarts; standard approach
Frontend	React 18 + Vite + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS v3	Vite builds integrate cleanly into multi-stage Docker; Tailwind avoids CSS sprawl
Deployment	Single Docker container (multi-stage build)	Eliminates health-gating complexity; simpler docker-compose.yml; one log stream
Cache	In-memory Map + SeasonCache SQLite table	Map = sub-ms repeat hits within a process; SQLite = survives restarts
Rate limiting	express-rate-limit	Zero-config, well-maintained
Drag-drop	@dnd-kit/core	Accessible, actively maintained
Confetti	canvas-confetti	Tiny, purpose-built
Share as image	html2canvas	DOM → PNG without a headless browser
Tests	Vitest + Supertest (backend), Vitest + Testing Library (frontend)	Same ecosystem as Vite; fast; TypeScript-native; real in-memory SQLite for API tests

Development

# Backend (requires Node 22)
cd backend
npm install
npm run dev

# Frontend (in a separate terminal)
cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Frontend dev server proxies /api to http://localhost:4000.

Tests

cd backend && npm test
cd frontend && npm test

Architecture

/
├── backend/
│   ├── migrations/     # SQL migration files (run in order on startup)
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── db.ts       # SQLite connection + migration runner
│   │   ├── index.ts    # Express entry point
│   │   └── routes/     # Route handlers
│   └── package.json
├── frontend/
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── App.tsx
│   │   └── main.tsx
│   └── package.json
├── data/               # SQLite DB file (git-ignored, volume-mounted)
├── Dockerfile          # Multi-stage: Vite build → Express server
└── docker-compose.yml