Crechely

Web SaaS for preschools and small schools to manage categories/classes, children, payments, statements, and billing. See PHASES.md for the build roadmap and SECURITY.md before touching auth, the data model, or deployment.

Getting started (local development)

1. Install dependencies: npm install
2. Copy .env.example to .env.local and fill in real values:
   • DATABASE_URL — a Postgres connection string (a free local one via docker run -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=postgres -p 5432:5432 postgres:16 works for development).
   • AUTH_SECRET — generate with openssl rand -base64 32.
   • FIELD_ENCRYPTION_KEY — generate with openssl rand -base64 32.
3. Generate the Prisma client and create the database tables:

   npx prisma generate
   npx prisma migrate dev --name init
   

4. Run the dev server: npm run dev, then open http://localhost:3000 and use "Set up your school" to create the first account.

Running tests

npm test runs the Vitest suite covering the money and access-control logic (src/lib/billing/*.test.ts) — no database needed, since those functions are pure. Run it before merging any change to src/lib/billing/* or src/lib/tenant.ts. npm run test:watch re-runs on file changes.

Setting up billing (Paystack)

1. In the Paystack Dashboard (test mode is fine for development, and works even before compliance/KYC verification finishes), go to Products > Plans and create two Plans: one monthly, one yearly, priced in ZAR. Copy each Plan's code into PAYSTACK_PLAN_CODE_MONTHLY / PAYSTACK_PLAN_CODE_YEARLY in .env.local.
2. Copy your test secret key into PAYSTACK_SECRET_KEY.
3. In the Paystack Dashboard, add a webhook endpoint pointing at https://<your-domain>/api/webhooks/paystack. Unlike Stripe, Paystack doesn't issue a separate webhook signing secret — the same PAYSTACK_SECRET_KEY is used to verify the x-paystack-signature header (HMAC-SHA512 of the raw body), so there's nothing extra to copy. There is no equivalent of the Stripe CLI's stripe listen for local testing; use the Paystack Dashboard's "Send test webhook" feature, or a tunnel (ngrok, ngrok's tunnel domain registered as the webhook URL) to receive real ones locally.
4. At minimum, the app acts on the charge.success, subscription.create, subscription.disable, and invoice.payment_failed events — make sure those are enabled for the webhook endpoint.

Deploying

Vercel (frontend + API routes) + a managed Postgres provider (Neon or Supabase both have generous free tiers to start) is the path of least resistance for a solo founder. Set every value from .env.example as real environment variables in the hosting platform's dashboard — never commit them.

Stack

Next.js (App Router, TypeScript) · Tailwind CSS · Prisma + Postgres · Auth.js (NextAuth v5) · Paystack (billing) · Zod (validation).