PickUp

PickUp is a local-first productivity app that helps people return to unfinished work without losing context.

Whether the task is studying, cooking, planning, writing, project work, or everyday life admin, PickUp keeps the important parts of progress visible:

• what you were doing
• what changed
• which milestones mattered
• what to do next

With AI-assisted context recall and optional Notion sync, PickUp is built to feel less like a notes app and more like a reliable way to continue where you left off.

Why PickUp

Most tools capture information, but they do not make resuming easy. PickUp is designed around a simple question:

What should someone see when they come back later and do not want to reconstruct everything from scratch?

PickUp answers that with:

• saved context history
• milestone tracking
• next-step guidance
• AI-generated resume help
• optional sync to a shared Notion workspace

Core Experience

Local-first by default

PickUp works immediately without any account setup. Contexts are stored locally in the browser so a user can start capturing progress right away.

Sync when needed

When sync is enabled, PickUp sends context updates to Notion. Local work can continue seamlessly, and existing contexts can be pushed to the connected workspace.

Resume instead of restart

Users can ask PickUp to remind them where they stopped, summarize progress, and suggest the best next step based on saved notes, milestones, and current context state.

Features

• Create contexts for any kind of ongoing work
• Save progress locally without sign-in
• Enable sync to send contexts to Notion
• Ask AI for a resume summary or next-step help
• Capture milestones automatically from progress
• Keep a pinned next step visible
• Search contexts by title, notes, summaries, or milestones
• Archive and restore contexts
• Export a context as plain text
• View daily recap links for synced Notion activity
• Use responsive mobile, tablet, and desktop layouts

Product Structure

pickup/
  backend/
    server.js
    .env.example
  frontend/
    .env.example
    src/
      components/
      pages/
      services/

Tech Stack

Frontend

• React
• Vite
• Tailwind CSS
• Framer Motion
• React Router

Backend

• Node.js
• Express
• OpenRouter
• Notion API

Running Locally

1. Install dependencies

Frontend:

cd frontend
npm install

Backend:

cd backend
npm install

2. Configure the backend

Create backend/.env from backend/.env.example:

PORT=5000
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key
FRONTEND_ORIGIN=http://localhost:5173
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=
NOTION_TOKEN=your_internal_notion_token
NOTION_CONTEXTS_DB=your_contexts_database_id
NOTION_MESSAGES_DB=your_messages_database_id

3. Configure the frontend

Create frontend/.env from frontend/.env.example only if you want to override the default backend URL:

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:5000

4. Start the backend

cd backend
npm start

5. Start the frontend

cd frontend
npm run dev

Open:

http://localhost:5173

Environment Variables

Backend

• PORT
• OPENROUTER_API_KEY
• FRONTEND_ORIGIN
• ALLOWED_ORIGINS
• NOTION_TOKEN
• NOTION_CONTEXTS_DB
• NOTION_MESSAGES_DB

Frontend

• VITE_API_BASE_URL

Important:

• Keep all secrets on the backend only.
• Never expose Notion or OpenRouter credentials in VITE_* variables.

Deployment

The project is prepared for a simple free-tier deployment setup:

• frontend on Vercel
• backend on Render

Included deployment files:

• frontend/vercel.json
• render.yaml

Deploy the frontend to Vercel

1. Import the repository into Vercel.
2. Set the root directory to frontend.
3. Use the Vite framework preset.
4. Set the build command to:

npm run build

5. Set the output directory to:

dist

6. Add this environment variable:

VITE_API_BASE_URL=https://your-render-service.onrender.com

Deploy the backend to Render

1. Create a new web service from the repository, or use render.yaml.
2. Set the root directory to backend if configuring manually.
3. Set the build command to:

npm install

4. Set the start command to:

npm start

5. Add these environment variables:

NODE_ENV=production
FRONTEND_ORIGIN=https://your-vercel-project.vercel.app
ALLOWED_ORIGINS=
OPENROUTER_API_KEY=your_openrouter_key
NOTION_TOKEN=your_notion_token
NOTION_CONTEXTS_DB=your_contexts_database_id
NOTION_MESSAGES_DB=your_messages_database_id

If you want to allow preview domains or an additional custom domain:

ALLOWED_ORIGINS=https://your-preview-domain.vercel.app,https://your-custom-domain.com

Deployment Notes

• Render free services can sleep after inactivity, so the first backend request may take a few seconds.
• Because the app uses free-tier hosting and free AI models, the first AI response may occasionally take a little longer.
• Keep real secrets only in Render environment variables.
• Vercel should only receive VITE_API_BASE_URL.

Security Notes

Before pushing or deploying:

1. Keep backend/.env local only.
2. Commit only .env.example files, never real .env files.
3. Confirm your frontend env contains only VITE_API_BASE_URL.
4. Store all real secrets in Render, not in the repository.
5. Rotate any key that may have been shared previously.

Main Screens

• Home: product positioning and entry point
• App: context dashboard, search, archive, and sync actions
• Context: notes, AI help, milestones, next-step guidance, and export
• About: product intent and design direction
• Contact: feedback captured through Notion

Current Capabilities

• Local-first context saving
• Optional Notion sync
• AI-powered resume assistance
• Milestone tracking
• Pinned next-step flow
• Search and archive support
• Context export
• Responsive mobile and tablet UI
• Product-style onboarding and feedback states

Verification

Frontend production build passes with:

cd frontend
npm run build

Roadmap

• Per-user workspace selection
• Richer recap and summary views
• Smarter milestone grouping
• More advanced sync history
• Deeper collaboration features