Inventory Management System

Problem

Small canteen and retail businesses needed an offline-capable, lightweight inventory system that runs on their existing Windows machines without requiring a server or internet connection.

Constraints

• Must run entirely offline without a server or internet connection
• Must work on Windows 10/11 with minimal system requirements (4GB RAM)
• SQLite for local persistence, no external database setup
• Distributable as a standard Windows installer (Inno Setup)

Key Decisions

1. Tauri over Electron

   Needed a lightweight desktop app, Electron bundles Chromium (~150MB), too heavy for the use case.

   Chose Tauri which uses the system webview (WebView2 on Windows), resulting in ~5MB binary vs ~150MB for Electron.

   Trade-off: Smaller community and ecosystem than Electron, Rust learning curve, but 97% smaller bundle and lower memory usage.
2. SQLite over a client-server database

   Target environment is a single-machine deployment, no need for network database access.

   SQLite embedded directly in the Tauri Rust backend for zero-config, zero-dependency data persistence.

   Trade-off: No concurrent multi-machine access, but perfect for single-store retail use and no setup burden on the end user.
3. MUI + Tailwind for UI layer

   Needed rapid UI development with complex form components (date pickers, selects, data tables).

   Combined MUI for complex pre-built components with Tailwind CSS for custom layout and spacing.

   Trade-off: Larger CSS bundle from two styling systems, but significantly faster development with MUI's component library.