Item7Go POS
A restaurant point-of-sale and operations system that keeps working when the internet doesn't
Overview
A complete system for running a restaurant counter: taking orders, sending them to the kitchen, taking payment, tracking stock and closing out shifts. It is built for Item7Go, a restaurant in Nigeria, and has three connected parts: a Windows desktop app the staff use, a cloud server, and a web dashboard the owner can open from anywhere.
The problem
Restaurants in Nigeria can't assume the internet will stay up through a busy service. A till that stops working when the connection drops can't be trusted at the counter. At the same time, an owner who isn't on site still needs to know what sold, how it was paid for, and whether the cash in the drawer adds up.
What I built
The desktop app records every order, payment and stock change in a database on the till itself, so the counter keeps running with no connection at all. Completed sales are queued and sent to the cloud automatically once the connection is back, and the owner sees them in the dashboard from a phone or laptop. A kitchen screen or second till in the same building can stay in sync over the restaurant's own network, without going through the internet. The system covers the whole day's operation (ordering, kitchen, payments, inventory, purchasing, staff and shifts), not just ringing up sales.
My role
Sole developer: gathered requirements with the restaurant owner, designed the architecture, and built the desktop app (Tauri, React, SQLite), the cloud API (Node.js, PostgreSQL), the sync between devices and the cloud, the manager dashboard, and the automated test suite.
Technical challenges
Keeping money and stock figures correct over an unreliable connection. Each sale and its upload record are written in the same database transaction, and every upload carries an ID the server checks before processing, so a retried request can never create a duplicate sale. Automated tests run the real desktop code against a real server to prove it. Money is stored in whole kobo rather than decimals, so rounding errors can't build up in totals. The system has 539 automated tests across the desktop app, cloud API and dashboard.
Current status
In progress. The desktop app, cloud API, local-network sync and manager dashboard are built and working, and the desktop app builds as a Windows installer. Still to do: an in-app settings screen (VAT and similar settings are currently changed in the database directly), one shared staff account list between the till and the cloud, and packaging the local-network sync host into the installer.
What it does
- Fast order entry for dine-in, takeaway and delivery, with modifiers, notes, held orders and discounts
- Table management: seat guests, move an order to another table, or merge two bills
- Kitchen display that moves tickets from new to preparing to ready, and highlights orders that have waited too long
- Cash, bank transfer, card or split payments, with change calculation and printable receipts
- Recipe-based inventory: each sale deducts the ingredients it uses, with low-stock alerts, suppliers and purchase orders
- Five staff roles (Owner, Manager, Cashier, Waiter, Kitchen), each seeing only the screens they need, with an audit log for refunds, voids and large discounts
- Shift open and close, with expected cash calculated from actual sales so drawer shortfalls show up
- Works fully offline, then syncs to the cloud and to other devices on the same network
- Manager dashboard with sales, product and payment reports for any date range
Technology
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