Our Cafe

our-cafe is a small real-time cafe operations app built with React, Vite, Express, Socket.IO, and DuckDB.

It lets a team:

• set a local nickname for the current device
• browse the drink menu and place orders
• watch the live queue update in real time
• claim and advance orders through the prep flow
• adjust ingredient inventory and basic cafe settings

How It Works

The project runs a single Node server in development:

• server.ts starts Express, mounts the JSON API, serves the Vite app, and broadcasts live updates over Socket.IO
• db.ts creates and seeds a local cafe.duckdb database on first run
• src/ contains the mobile-first React client

Order and inventory changes are pushed to all connected clients, so multiple devices can act like a shared cafe counter.

Main Screens

• Today: dashboard with active orders and quick actions
• Menu: drink list, modifiers, notes, and order placement
• Orders: live queue with claim / brew / ready / complete transitions
• Manage: inventory adjustment, cafe name, and local nickname settings

Local Development

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 20+ recommended
• npm

Install dependencies:

npm install

Start the app:

npm run dev

The server listens on http://localhost:3000.

Run with Docker Compose:

docker compose up --build

This also serves the app on http://localhost:3000.

On first launch, the app creates a local DuckDB file in the project root and seeds default data for:

• cafe settings
• ingredients
• recipes
• recipe ingredients
• recipe modifiers
• orders

Scripts

npm run dev     # start the Express + Vite development server
npm run build   # build the frontend for production
npm run start   # run the server entrypoint
npm run lint    # TypeScript type-check

Docker Notes

• docker-compose.yml builds a single production container for the Express server and Vite client
• DuckDB data is persisted in the named Docker volume cafe_data
• The container stores the database at /app/data/cafe.duckdb

CI/CD

Workflow files live in .github/workflows, which Gitea Actions can consume, and cover validation plus container publishing.

• ci.yml runs on pushes to main and pull requests
• publish-edge.yml runs on pushes to main and publishes rolling images
• release.yml runs on tags matching v* and publishes versioned release images

Required repository secrets:

• REGISTRY_URL: registry host, for example projects.caleb-brown.dev
• REGISTRY_USERNAME: registry account with package write access
• REGISTRY_PASSWORD: token or password for that account

Published image name:

<REGISTRY_URL>/caleb-brown/our-cafe

Published tags:

• pushes to main: edge, main, and sha-<shortsha>
• stable release tag v1.2.3: v1.2.3, 1.2.3, 1.2, 1, and latest
• prerelease tag v1.2.3-rc.1: v1.2.3-rc.1 and 1.2.3-rc.1

Create a release by pushing a git tag such as:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

Data Notes

• The runtime database is stored locally as cafe.duckdb
• DuckDB artifacts are ignored in git
• The seeded menu currently includes unified drinks like latte and vanilla latte with optional temperature selection, plus cappuccino, honey cinnamon, and mocha

Current Stack

• React 19
• Vite
• Express
• Socket.IO
• DuckDB
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS
• Framer Motion