--- title: Tiny Time Keeper description: Replaced $400/mo WorkEasy — built in 2 days section: craft tags: [project, production-healthcare] genre: reference stability: stable lastUpdated: 2026-04-18 url: https://fardiniqbal.com/docs/craft/projects/tiny-time-keeper --- Multi-tenant employee time tracking SaaS. Staff clock in and out via a shared iPad kiosk using 4-digit PINs. Admins manage schedules, approve timesheets, track overtime, and generate payroll reports through a real-time dashboard. Built solo in two days as a replacement for WorkEasy — enterprise time tracking software the client was paying \~$400/month for, bloated with features they never used and with unresponsive support. Staff started using the replacement on day one without training. ## Why it exists [#why-it-exists] An early intervention therapy agency was paying \~$400/month for WorkEasy. It was buggy. Support was unresponsive. Staff couldn't figure out the interface and had to call support to do basic things. The purpose-built replacement does exactly what they need — nothing more, nothing less. Client savings: **\~$400/month** (WorkEasy eliminated, replaced with $0/month infrastructure on Convex + Vercel free tiers). Maintenance and feature shipping have continued since launch. ## Real-world production metrics [#real-world-production-metrics] | Metric | Value | | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | | Employee-hours tracked | 5,692 | | Clock events processed | 2,743 | | Employee-shifts worked | 742 | | Active employees managed | 33 + 5 admins | | Concurrent daily users | \~13 avg, 20 peak | | Weeks in production | 14 | | Auto-generated alerts | 422 (207 missing punch, 101 overtime, 86 late) | | Failed PIN attempts intercepted | 111 | | Admin audit trail entries | 559 | | Out-of-shift approvals | 256 | | Timesheets approved | 86 | | Kiosk devices registered | 15 across multiple locations | | Growth trend | 32 → 77 shifts/week (2.4x in 14 weeks) | ## Engineering metrics [#engineering-metrics] | Metric | Value | | ---------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | Lines of code | 53,664 | | React components | 64 custom + 28 shadcn/ui | | Backend functions | 117 (Convex mutations, queries, actions, crons) | | Database tables | 17 with 75 indexes | | Live documents in prod | 5,845+ | | Pages / routes | 26 across 4 portals (admin, kiosk, employee, auth) | | Automated tests | 537 (230 unit Vitest + 307 E2E Playwright) | | Vercel deployments | 159 (97% success, \~35s avg build) | | Commits | 165 over 84 days | | Features shipped | 48 features + 42 fixes in 84 days | | Deploy frequency | \~1.9 deploys/day | | Convex validators | 749 runtime type-checks | | Monthly infra cost | $0 (Convex + Vercel free tiers) | ## Architecture [#architecture] ``` Browser (Next.js 16 / React 19) | v Convex Cloud (real-time database + serverless functions) | +-- Better Auth (email/password, TOTP 2FA, organizations) +-- Stripe (subscription billing with webhooks) +-- Resend (transactional email) | Vercel (hosting, edge network) ``` ## Key features [#key-features] * **Kiosk mode** — Touch-friendly PIN pad (80×80px buttons) optimized for shared iPad. Device authorization blocks unauthorized hardware before PIN entry. Real-time clock display with organization branding. Automatic punch-type detection (clock in vs. clock out). * **Admin dashboard** — Real-time "who's working" status with live updates. Alert system: late arrivals, no-shows, missing punches, overtime warnings. Command palette (⌘K) for global search. * **Timesheet management** — Auto-generated weekly pay periods (Friday–Thursday). Approve / reject individual timesheets. Overtime calculation and approval workflow. Excel / CSV export for payroll. * **Employee management** — Full CRUD with status lifecycle (active, pending, inactive, seasonal, terminated). Schedule assignment with shift templates. Pay rate tracking. Employee self-service portal for checking hours and estimated pay. * **Reports** — Team on-time rate with per-employee breakdown. Payroll export. Configurable date ranges. Good standing vs. needs-attention categorization. * **Subscription billing** — Stripe-powered lifecycle (trial → active → past\_due → canceled → frozen → deleted). 3-day grace period for expired subscriptions on kiosk. Grandfathered free tier for early adopters. * **Six automated cron jobs** — Missing-punch detection every 15 minutes. No-show detection at 8:30 and 9:00 AM weekdays. Weekly timesheet generation Friday 6 PM. Old alert cleanup Sunday 2 AM. Trial expiration checks daily 3 AM. Subscription lifecycle management daily. * **Multi-tenant architecture** — Organization-level data isolation. Role-based access (owner, admin, employee). Cross-org switching for users in multiple orgs. Row-level security via Convex tenant queries. ## What makes it stand out [#what-makes-it-stand-out] * **Two days from brief to production.** Solo, while finishing a CS degree. Zero training required for staff on day one. * **14 weeks of real production use** — 5,692 employee-hours across 742 shifts, 2,743 clock events, zero data loss. * **2.4x usage growth** — 32 to 77 shifts per week organically, with no marketing. * **537 tests** covering admin flows, kiosk flows, auth flows, billing, multi-tenant isolation, and responsive viewports (mobile, tablet, desktop). * **$0/month infrastructure** — Convex + Vercel free tiers support 33 daily employees, 15 kiosks, real-time WebSocket subscriptions. ## Stack [#stack] | Layer | Technology | | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | | Framework | Next.js 16 (App Router), React 19, TypeScript 5 | | Backend | Convex (real-time database + serverless functions) | | Auth | Better Auth 1.5.6 (email/password, TOTP 2FA, multi-org) | | Billing | Stripe (subscriptions with webhook lifecycle) | | Email | Resend (transactional templates) | | UI | Tailwind CSS 4, shadcn/ui, Framer Motion | | Testing | Playwright E2E (mobile/tablet/desktop), Vitest | | Deployment | Vercel + Convex Cloud, atomic deploys | ## Links [#links] * **Live:** [https://tinytimekeeper.com](https://tinytimekeeper.com) * **Demo login:** `jordan@acmecorp.com` / `demo1234` (Acme Corporation, seeded fictional org)