makiolaj/SimpleFinanceDash
1
0
Fork 0
Code Issues Pull Requests Actions Packages Projects Releases Wiki Activity

docs: start milestone v1.1 Usability and Templates

Browse Source 
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jean-Luc Makiola
2026-03-12 10:03:34 +01:00
parent cf2d734712
commit c47df80b81
2 changed files with 71 additions and 50 deletions
Download Patch File Download Diff File Expand all files Collapse all files

91
.planning/PROJECT.md
View File

@@ -8,70 +8,91 @@ A self-hosted personal budget dashboard that replaces a manual spreadsheet workf
Opening the app should feel like opening a beautifully designed personal spreadsheet — clean pastel colors, clear data layout, approachable and visually delightful. The UI IS the product.
## Current Milestone: v1.1 Usability and Templates
**Goal:** Make the app actually usable for monthly budgeting — replace the manual copy workflow with a smart template system (fixed/variable/one-off items), add a quick-add library for recurring one-offs, and rethink the dashboard layout for dense, spreadsheet-like data presentation on desktop.
**Target features:**
- Budget template system with three item tiers (fixed, variable, one-off)
- Auto-generate new month budgets from template on navigate
- Quick-add library for saved one-off expense categories with icons
- Dashboard layout rethink — flatter, denser, less card chrome, more spreadsheet feel
- Desktop-optimized data density
## Requirements
### Validated
<!-- Shipped and confirmed valuable. Inferred from existing codebase. -->
<!-- Shipped and confirmed valuable. -->
- ✓ Local auth (email/password registration, login, logout, JWT sessions) — existing
- ✓ Budget CRUD (create, edit, delete monthly budgets) — existing
- ✓ Budget item management (create, update, delete items per budget) — existing
- ✓ Category CRUD (bill, variable_expense, debt, saving, investment, income types) — existing
- ✓ Copy budget from previous month — existing
- ✓ Server-side budget totals computation — existing
- ✓ REST API with auth middleware — existing
- ✓ i18n support (German + English, user preference stored) — existing
- ✓ Docker deployment (single binary, multi-stage build, compose) — existing
- ✓ Dashboard with financial overview, bills tracker, variable expenses, expense breakdown, debt tracker — existing (rough)
- ✓ Local auth (email/password registration, login, logout, JWT sessions) — v1.0
- ✓ Budget CRUD (create, edit, delete monthly budgets) — v1.0
- ✓ Budget item management (create, update, delete items per budget) — v1.0
- ✓ Category CRUD (bill, variable_expense, debt, saving, investment, income types) — v1.0
- ✓ Copy budget from previous month — v1.0 (being replaced by templates in v1.1)
- ✓ Server-side budget totals computation — v1.0
- ✓ REST API with auth middleware — v1.0
- ✓ i18n support (German + English, user preference stored) — v1.0
- ✓ Docker deployment (single binary, multi-stage build, compose) — v1.0
- ✓ Dashboard with financial overview, bills tracker, variable expenses, expense breakdown, debt tracker — v1.0
- ✓ Pastel design system with oklch tokens and semantic category colors — v1.0
- ✓ Branded auth screens, sidebar, and navigation — v1.0
- ✓ Interaction quality: spinners, inline edit affordances, row flash, delete confirmations — v1.0
- ✓ Empty states, loading skeletons, chart tooltips, locale-aware currency formatting — v1.0
### Active
<!-- Current scope. Polish the UI/UX to match the pastel spreadsheet vision. -->
<!-- Current scope. Template system + layout rethink. -->
- [ ] Cohesive pastel design system across all components (not default shadcn)
- [ ] Polished login/register screens with branded look (not generic shadcn defaults)
- [ ] Dashboard layout that feels organized, spacious, and visually appealing
- [ ] Charts that look polished and informative (donut, bar, pie)
- [ ] Consistent color tokens and typography across the entire app
- [ ] Smooth interactions — inline editing, form submissions, transitions
- [ ] Category management page with polished UI
- [ ] Settings page with polished UI
- [ ] Responsive layout (desktop-first, but usable on tablet)
- [ ] Fix any backend bugs discovered during UI testing
- [ ] Budget template system — users define fixed and variable items that carry forward each month
- [ ] Fixed items auto-copied with amounts; variable items copied as category only (amount blank)
- [ ] One-off items added manually per month, not carried forward
- [ ] Auto-generate budget from template when navigating to a month with no budget
- [ ] Quick-add library — saved one-off categories with icons for reuse
- [ ] Replace "copy from previous month" with template-based generation
- [ ] Template management page — add/remove/reorder fixed and variable items
- [ ] Inline tagging of items as fixed/variable/one-off when adding
- [ ] Dashboard layout rethink — move away from heavy card containers toward flatter, integrated layout
- [ ] Increase data density — tighter rows, less padding, more visible without scrolling
- [ ] Fix card top padding above colored headers
- [ ] Desktop-optimized layout (web desktop is the primary target)
### Out of Scope
- CSV/bank import — future feature, not needed for visual polish
- Recurring/automated transactions — future feature
- CSV/bank import — future feature
- Shared/household budgets — future feature
- Custom themes/color picker — architecture supports it, but not this milestone
- Custom themes/color picker — architecture supports it, not this milestone
- OIDC authentication — stubs exist, implement later
- PDF/CSV export — future feature
- Mobile app — web-first
- Mobile app — web desktop is the focus
- GraphQL API — REST is sufficient
- Dark mode — light mode pastel system first
- Tablet/mobile responsiveness — desktop only for now
## Context
The codebase was built as an initial implementation but the frontend was not given enough design attention. The backend (Go + PostgreSQL) is functional with proper auth, CRUD operations, and data model. The frontend uses React + shadcn/ui + Tailwind + Recharts but looks like default shadcn with minimal customization. The original vision was a pastel spreadsheet aesthetic — soft blues, pinks, yellows, greens, lavenders with clean data presentation. This milestone is about bringing the UI up to that vision.
Key reference: PRD.md section 8 (UI/Design) describes the target aesthetic — pastel colors, soft backgrounds, subtle dividers, shadcn components with custom theme tokens.
v1.0 shipped the visual identity — pastel oklch tokens, branded auth screens, sidebar, interaction quality (spinners, flash feedback, delete confirmations), empty states, chart tooltips, and locale-aware formatting. The app looks good but the UX for actually managing a monthly budget is clunky. The "copy from previous month" feature is a blunt instrument — it copies everything including one-off expenses. Users need a smarter template system that understands which expenses are fixed (rent), which recur but vary (groceries), and which are one-time (pharmacy visit). Additionally, the dashboard layout uses heavy card containers with excessive padding — it needs to lean more into the spreadsheet aesthetic with denser data presentation and less visual chrome. Desktop web is the primary and only target.
## Constraints
- **Tech stack**: Keep existing Go + React + shadcn/ui + Tailwind + Recharts stack
- **Design system**: Build on shadcn/ui, don't replace it — customize via CSS variables and Tailwind config
- **Backend**: Minimize backend changes — focus is frontend polish
- **Design system**: Build on shadcn/ui, customize via CSS variables and Tailwind config
- **Backend**: Template system requires backend changes (new tables, API endpoints)
- **i18n**: All new/changed UI text must have de + en translations
- **Package manager**: Use bun for frontend
- **Platform**: Desktop web only — no mobile/tablet optimization
## Key Decisions
| Decision | Rationale | Outcome |
|----------|-----------|---------|
| Customize shadcn via CSS variables | Maintain upgrade path while achieving unique look | — Pending |
| Pastel palette as primary design language | Matches original spreadsheet inspiration | — Pending |
| Desktop-first responsive | Primary use case is desktop budget management | — Pending |
| Customize shadcn via CSS variables | Maintain upgrade path while achieving unique look | ✓ Good |
| Pastel palette as primary design language | Matches original spreadsheet inspiration | ✓ Good |
| Desktop-first responsive | Primary use case is desktop budget management | ✓ Good |
| Three-tier item model (fixed/variable/one-off) | Matches how users think about recurring vs one-time expenses | — Pending |
| Replace copy-from-previous with templates | Templates are smarter — copy was too blunt, carried one-offs forward | — Pending |
| Auto-generate budget on navigate | Removes friction — user just navigates to a month and it's ready | — Pending |
| Rethink cards as flatter containers | Current card chrome is too heavy — denser, spreadsheet-like layout | — Pending |
---
*Last updated: 2026-03-11 after initialization*
*Last updated: 2026-03-12 after v1.1 milestone start*