Hourglass

Hourglass is a full-stack web application built to streamline time tracking and invoicing for freelancers and small agencies. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools to manage the entire client workflow, from logging billable hours to generating professional, pixel-perfect PDF invoices. The platform features secure authentication for Admins, Contractors, and Clients, each with a tailored dashboard and specific permissions for managing data. Users can easily log hours against specific clients and projects , while Admins can instantly create invoices from uninvoiced hours, add custom line items, manage payment statuses, and send professional email notifications.

Off-the-shelf time tracking and invoicing tools required paid subscriptions and lacked the specific customization and strict data privacy controls I desired. I needed a tailored solution to manage my consulting hours and securely bring on additional offshore contractors, while also wanting a practical project to further hone my AI-assisted rapid prototyping ("vibe coding") skills.

Acting as Product Owner, I utilized AI vibe coding to build a custom solution from scratch using Next.js 15 and Firebase. I focused on establishing a secure, role-based architecture and a highly polished UI for logging time and managing clients. A significant focus was placed on the billing pipeline, implementing a powerful template manager that allows administrators to customize the HTML for both email notifications and the final PDF invoice layout using Handlebars-style variables.

The foundational application was built from concept to deployment in approximately three days, with a handful of subsequent hours dedicated to refining PDF exports, email templates, and timezone handling. It successfully replaced paid third-party tools, giving me total ownership over my operational data and a highly customized billing workflow, while serving as another successful proof-of-concept for rapid AI-assisted development.