# Phase 33: Currency System - Research

**Researched:** 2026-04-13
**Status:** Complete

## Executive Summary

Phase 33 replaces the current symbol-only currency swap with a market-aware pricing system. The existing codebase stores all prices as integer cents in a single `priceCents` column (items, candidates, globalItems). The current `formatPrice()` simply swaps the currency symbol without conversion. This phase introduces market-specific pricing, exchange rate conversion via frankfurter.app (ECB data), community price data, and a dual-display format for converted prices.

## Current Architecture Analysis

### Price Storage (Single Currency)
- **items.priceCents** — integer, user's personal item price
- **items.purchasePriceCents** — integer, what the user paid (already exists, separate from MSRP)
- **globalItems.priceCents** — integer, catalog reference price (currently no currency/market tag)
- **threadCandidates.priceCents** — integer, candidate price during research
- All prices assumed to be in the user's selected currency (symbol swap only)

### Price Display Chain
1. `useCurrency()` hook reads `currency` setting from DB via `useSetting("currency")`
2. `useFormatters()` composes `price(cents)` using `formatPrice(cents, currency)`
3. `formatPrice()` maps currency to symbol and formats cents → display string
4. All components use `const { price } = useFormatters()` — centralized formatting

### Price Aggregation (SQL)
- `setup.service.ts`: `SUM(COALESCE(global_items.price_cents, items.price_cents) * items.quantity)` for setup totals
- `totals.service.ts`: Same COALESCE pattern for category and global totals
- `discovery.service.ts`: Returns `priceCents` from globalItems without conversion
- These SQL aggregates assume all prices are in the same currency — they'll need currency-awareness

### Settings Infrastructure
- `settings` table: key-value pairs per user (`userId`, `key`, `value`)
- Current `currency` setting: stored as string ("USD", "EUR", etc.)
- `useSetting()` / `useUpdateSetting()` hooks for read/write
- Settings page: pill toggle for currency selection (6 options)

## Technical Approach

### 1. Database Schema Design

**New table: `market_prices`** (recommended over JSONB on globalItems)

```sql
CREATE TABLE market_prices (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  global_item_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES global_items(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
  market TEXT NOT NULL,         -- 'EU', 'UK', 'US', etc.
  currency TEXT NOT NULL,       -- 'EUR', 'GBP', 'USD'
  price_cents INTEGER NOT NULL, -- MSRP/UVP in that market's currency
  source TEXT,                  -- 'manufacturer', 'retailer', 'community'
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW() NOT NULL,
  UNIQUE(global_item_id, market, currency)
);
```

Rationale: Separate table allows multiple market prices per item without schema changes to globalItems. The existing `globalItems.priceCents` becomes the "default/primary" price (EU market initially).

**New table: `community_prices`**

```sql
CREATE TABLE community_prices (
  id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
  global_item_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES global_items(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
  user_id INTEGER NOT NULL REFERENCES users(id),
  market TEXT NOT NULL,
  currency TEXT NOT NULL,
  price_cents INTEGER NOT NULL,
  price_date TIMESTAMP,         -- when bought/found
  source_type TEXT NOT NULL,     -- 'purchased' | 'researched'
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW() NOT NULL,
  UNIQUE(global_item_id, user_id, source_type)
);
```

**Modify existing tables:**
- `items`: Add `price_currency TEXT DEFAULT 'EUR'` (source currency for "what I paid")
- `threadCandidates`: Add `price_currency TEXT DEFAULT 'EUR'`, `found_price_cents INTEGER`, `found_price_currency TEXT`, `found_price_date TIMESTAMP` (D-06, D-07)

### 2. Exchange Rate System

**frankfurter.app API:**
- Base URL: `https://api.frankfurter.app`
- Latest rates: `GET /latest?from=EUR&to=USD,GBP`
- Response: `{ "base": "EUR", "date": "2026-04-13", "rates": { "USD": 1.08, "GBP": 0.86 } }`
- Free, no API key, daily ECB data, supports 30+ currencies
- Rate limit: reasonable for daily fetches (no documented limit for <100 req/day)

**New service: `currency.service.ts`**

```typescript
interface ExchangeRates {
  base: string;
  date: string;
  rates: Record<string, number>;
}

// Cache in-memory with 24h TTL, fallback to last known rates on fetch failure
let cachedRates: ExchangeRates | null = null;
let cacheExpiry: number = 0;

export async function getExchangeRates(): Promise<ExchangeRates> { ... }
export function convertPrice(cents: number, from: string, to: string, rates: ExchangeRates): number { ... }
```

**Caching strategy:**
- In-memory cache with 24h TTL (ECB updates daily ~16:00 CET)
- On fetch failure: use cached rates (stale but functional)
- Optional: persist last-known rates to DB settings for cold-start resilience
- Server-side conversion (D-09) — no client-side rate fetching

### 3. Market Mapping

Currency → Market mapping (D-12):
```typescript
const CURRENCY_MARKET_MAP: Record<string, string> = {
  EUR: 'EU', USD: 'US', GBP: 'UK',
  JPY: 'JP', CAD: 'CA', AUD: 'AU'
};
```

The `currency` setting in the settings table implies market. No separate market setting needed.

### 4. API Changes

**New endpoints:**
- `GET /api/exchange-rates` — returns current rates (public, cached)
- `GET /api/global-items/:id/prices` — returns market prices + community data for a catalog item

**Modified endpoints:**
- All endpoints returning prices should accept optional `?currency=EUR` query param
- Server converts prices when currency differs from stored currency
- Converted prices include `{ priceCents, currency, converted: boolean, sourceCurrency?, sourcePrice? }`

**Community price submission:**
- `POST /api/global-items/:id/prices` — submit "what I paid" (requires auth + item in collection)
- Candidate "found price" tracked via existing candidate update endpoint with new fields

### 5. Client-Side Changes

**`formatPrice()` evolution:**
```typescript
// Current: formatPrice(cents, currency) → "$12.00"
// New: formatPrice(cents, currency, options?) → "$12.00" or "€12.00 (~$13.00)"
interface FormatPriceOptions {
  converted?: boolean;
  sourceCurrency?: string;
  sourcePrice?: number;
  showDual?: boolean;  // dual display format (D-14)
}
```

**`useCurrency()` evolution:**
```typescript
// Current: returns Currency string
// New: returns { currency, market, showConversions }
interface CurrencyContext {
  currency: Currency;
  market: string;
  showConversions: boolean;  // D-15: auto-show conversions toggle
}
```

**Settings page:**
- Currency picker becomes "Market & Currency" selector
- Auto-suggestion on first visit (D-13): `navigator.language` → locale → suggested currency
- Toggle for "Show price conversions automatically" (D-15)

### 6. Transition Strategy

The existing `priceCents` on globalItems becomes the EU/default market price. No data migration needed for personal items since they already store "what I paid" in the user's chosen currency. The new `price_currency` column defaults to 'EUR' matching the current assumption.

**Backward compatibility:**
- All existing `priceCents` fields remain — they're the "primary" price
- New market_prices table adds additional market prices
- APIs that currently return `priceCents` continue to do so, with optional conversion
- `useFormatters()` hook signature stays the same for basic usage

### 7. Community Price Aggregation

Aggregation queries for community stats (D-21):
- Use median (more robust against outliers than average)
- Minimum 3 reports before showing aggregate
- Filter by market for locale-specific stats
- Include report count for transparency

```sql
SELECT market, currency,
  PERCENTILE_CONT(0.5) WITHIN GROUP (ORDER BY price_cents) as median_price,
  COUNT(*) as report_count
FROM community_prices
WHERE global_item_id = $1 AND market = $2
GROUP BY market, currency
HAVING COUNT(*) >= 3;
```

### 8. MCP Tool Updates

Existing MCP tools that return prices need currency context:
- `list_items`, `get_item`: Include `priceCurrency` in response
- `create_item`, `update_item`: Accept optional `priceCurrency` param
- `get_setup`: Include currency info with totals
- New tool: `get_exchange_rates` — returns current conversion rates

## Risk Assessment

### Low Risk
- frankfurter.app downtime — mitigated by caching with stale-serve fallback
- Schema migration — additive only (new tables + new nullable columns)
- `formatPrice()` changes — backward compatible with optional params

### Medium Risk
- SQL aggregate complexity — setup/totals queries need to handle mixed currencies when summing prices from items with different source currencies
- Community price data quality — solved by tying submissions to collection ownership (D-05) and minimum report threshold

### High Risk
- **Mixed-currency aggregation in setup totals** — when items in a setup have prices in different currencies, SUM is meaningless without conversion. Must convert all to user's currency before aggregating. This adds a server-side conversion step to every setup total query.

## Validation Architecture

### Unit Tests
- `currency.service.test.ts`: Rate fetching, caching, conversion math
- `formatPrice()`: Dual display format, conversion labels
- Market mapping: currency → market resolution

### Integration Tests
- Market prices CRUD operations
- Community price submission with ownership validation
- Setup totals with mixed-currency items
- Exchange rate caching behavior

### E2E Tests
- Settings page: market/currency selection
- Global item detail: market prices display
- Comparison table: normalized currency display
- Setup totals: converted price display

## Implementation Order (Recommended Waves)

**Wave 1 — Foundation:**
1. Schema changes (market_prices, community_prices tables, column additions)
2. Currency service (rate fetching, caching, conversion)
3. Database push

**Wave 2 — Server Integration:**
4. Market prices API endpoints
5. Price conversion in existing endpoints
6. Setup/totals query updates for currency-awareness

**Wave 3 — Client & Display:**
7. Formatter evolution (dual display, conversion labels)
8. Settings page market/currency selector
9. Global item detail with market prices
10. Comparison table currency normalization
11. MCP tool updates

---

## RESEARCH COMPLETE

*Phase: 33-currency-system*
*Research completed: 2026-04-13*
