Why I Built My Own Art Inventory App: Using Codex, Supabase, and Netlify
I Needed a Way to Track My Artwork, So I Built One
Keeping Track of My Art (Without Losing My Mind)
When I first started selling my handmade mugs and planters in local consignment shops, keeping track of what I had in each store quickly became a headache. Etsy handled my online sales, but I needed something custom, lightweight, visual, and tailored for physical locations. So I decided to build my own app.
I needed a simple way to:
- Take a photo of a product
- Name and tag it
- Set where it’s stored (which shop, which shelf)
- Track its status (unsold, sold, paid)
- Get monthly insights (how many sold, where they’re selling, and what needs restocking)
Everything out there seemed either overkill or meant for full fledged e-commerce. I needed something that would do simple sales tracking and more importantly tracking what items need restocking and what store the items are housed and something I could tweak and expand.
Choosing Supabase for My Backend
I wanted real tables and simple file storage for images. Supabase gives me Postgres, an easy dashboard, and buckets for photos. It also has sign-in tools for later when I open this up to shops. Free to start, then I can scale it only when I need to.
- It gives me an instant Postgres database
- Auth and file storage are included (perfect for uploading product photos)
- It has a clear dashboard and works well with SQL
- It’s free to start, with upgrade options when I need them
Supabase handles:
- Storing my item data (name, description, status, store, price)
- Uploading and storing images
- Running queries for sales reports or restocking alerts
- Securing user access (e.g., shop owners only see their own items)
For deployment, I chose Netlify
I wanted to hit publish without touching servers. Netlify connects to my GitHub, builds the app, and gives me SSL and a fast CDN. If I need extra logic later I can add small serverless functions. For now, a push to main and it goes live.
- It’s great with static or JAMstack-style apps like mine
- Has GitHub integration, so I can push and deploy in one step
- Gives me SSL, global CDN, and fast performance without setup headaches
- I can add serverless functions if needed later
The app lives on Netlify, pulling data in real time from Supabase using API calls. I don’t need to worry about servers, and I can test updates in staging before pushing live.
The next step is subscriptions
I want a simple way for shops and artists to support the project and unlock more capacity as they grow. I will start with a monthly plan you can cancel any time, paid through Stripe. Billing will connect to your account in the app, and your plan status will show in settings. Pricing and what sits in each plan will be shaped with early users so it stays fair and useful.
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