Mini App Starter

Overview

This repo is a starter template to help you easily build and self-host your own mini apps for your in-person events, social clubs, game nights, etc.

Key Benefits

• Signup/Login built-in - You don't have to write any auth code.
• Simple full-stack app ready to go - REST API, SQLite database, and real-time updates via WebSocket, are already set up, so you can focus on building your app.
• Examples - We provide examples of mini apps that you can use as a reference, so you don't have to start from scratch. See docs/mini-app-examples.md.
• Free Hosting - Easily deploy to Cloudflare. We use Cloudflare because their free tier is more than enough for multiple mini apps.

Getting Started

1. Get a visual mockup of the app you want to build.

For example, open up claude.ai and use the frontend-design skill to create a visual mockup of the app you want to build.

Here is an example prompt for creating a scavenger hunt mini app for my coworking space:

Use the frontend design skill, I want to create a scavenger hunt mini app. This is for my coworking space, all 16 members will be given a QR code and asked to hide it somewhere in the space. We should show a leaderboard that displays everyone that has found a QR code. Our goal with the app is to have people at the coworking space have fun by looking around to find the hidden QR codes. 

Focus on the UI/visual design, not the app logic. Focus on mobile-first design. Use placeholder data, mock profiles and avatars and mock states if needed. Skip signup/auth screens entirely. Skip QR scanning screens, we are going to use native camera app. 

Before designing, ask me questions to clarify what I want to build.

2. Create your own copy of this repo and install dependencies.

Click the "Use this template" button -> "Create a new repository" to create a new repo for your app.

Then follow these steps below to download the repo locally and install dependencies.

git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-app-name.git your-app-name
cd your-app-name
pnpm install  # Install dependencies
pnpm setup-project  # setup your app name inside wrangler.toml, alchemy.run.ts (See docs/project-setup.md)

This project uses pnpm as the package manager, if you don't have it installed, you can install it with brew install pnpm.

3. Create a technical implementation of your app based on the mockup.

Open up Claude Code or a similar tool to create a technical implementation. Here is an example prompt for creating a technical implementation of the scavenger hunt mini app:

Create a technical implementation of the app based on this mockup: [[Attach mockup]]

Here are some key points to consider: [[Taken from conversation that created the mockup above]].

**Core Mechanics:**
- Each member hides their own QR code somewhere in the space
- Members scan codes with native camera app
- Finding your own code doesn't count toward your score (max 15 points)

**Design Direction:**
- Playful + minimal aesthetic

**Screens Built:**
- Home/Leaderboard — Main focus is the ranked leaderboard; personal progress card at top
- User Detail — Tap any user to see which of the 16 QR codes they've found or not found (organized by who hid it)

**Excluded:**
- No time limit
- No prizes
- No activity feed
- No easter eggs/achievements

The mockup may mock profiles and avatars, for our implementation, we are using the 'local-first-auth' library to handle signup and authentication, so users will have a profile and avatar after they complete the onboarding flow.

Look up examples of other mini apps inside `docs/mini-app-examples.md` to see if you can learn anything from them, bring them into your implementation.

Lastly, I need some admin features to set up scavenger hunt.

Ask me questions if you need to clarify anything.

4. Run database migrations.

pnpm db:run-migrations    # Initialize / run migrations on local D1 database

5. Test your app locally.

pnpm dev                  # Start development server
pnpm dev:simulator        # or start development server with a test user account

6. Deploy your app to Cloudflare.

We use the Alchemy to easily deploy to Cloudflare. If you don't have it installed, you can install it with brew install alchemy.

Configure a Cloudflare API token to use with Alchemy (see Alchemy CLI Documentation):

pnpm alchemy configure

Copy .env.example to .env and update ALCHEMY_STATE_TOKEN. This is used to store the state of the deployment in a remote state store.

To deploy the app:

pnpm run deploy:cloudflare

Yay! You've deployed your app. If you ran into any issues or have any feedback, create an issue in this repo so we understand what we can improve. Thanks!

Project Structure

This is a monorepo with three packages:

• client/ - React frontend
• server/ - Cloudflare Workers, D1 (SQLite), Durable Objects
• shared/ - Shared utilities (JWT verification)

Documentation

• CLAUDE.md - Development guide for Claude Code
• Local First Auth Specification - Local First Auth Specification used for authentication
• Mini App Examples - Examples of mini apps that you can use as a reference