CareerWorth

A browser-only career and compensation planner built with React, TypeScript, Vite, plain CSS, and a custom SVG chart. Compare two scenarios with calculated taxes, actual RSU grant schedules, promotions, employer changes, benefits, and separate investment accounts. The planner has no backend or accounts. Optional PostHog analytics records a small set of anonymous actions only after the visitor opts in; planner values are not included.

Run and verify

Use Node.js 22.12+ or Node 24 LTS and npm from this project folder:

npm ci
npm run dev -- --port 5180
npm test
npm run build
npm run preview

Open http://localhost:5180. On WSL use the Linux Node/npm installation (nvm use 24), not Windows npm. The development server binds to 0.0.0.0 for WSL localhost forwarding. Dependencies are pinned and a lockfile is included.

Optional analytics

Create a PostHog project, then set VITE_POSTHOG_KEY and (optionally) VITE_POSTHOG_HOST in .env.local or deployment settings. VITE_POSTHOG_HOST defaults to https://us.i.posthog.com; use your project's region host if it differs. These are public browser settings, not secrets. Restart Vite after changing them.

Analytics are off until a visitor opts in using the control in the footer. Only action names and fixed labels are sent. Autocapture, exception capture, pageviews, session replay, surveys, feature flags, IP processing, and person profiles are disabled; event persistence stays in memory. URL query strings and fragments are stripped before events are sent because shared estimate links can contain planner values. Do not add planner values, names, URLs, or other user-entered data to analytics events.

The deployed site includes privacy, use and copyright, and accessibility notices under public/. Keep them aligned with actual storage, analytics, hosting, and product behavior. The accessibility notice sets WCAG 2.2 AA as a target and does not claim verified conformance.

CI and deployment

GitHub Actions runs npm ci, the unit and browser test suites, and the production build for every pull request and every push to master. It installs Chromium for the Playwright desktop and mobile browser projects. To make CI a merge gate, require the CI / verify check in the repository's branch protection or ruleset settings.

Connect this GitHub repository to Vercel and set master as the production branch. Vercel then builds pull requests as Preview deployments and deploys pushes to master to Production. The Vercel Git integration handles deployment; no Vercel token or project secrets are needed in GitHub Actions.

Browser tests:

npx playwright install --with-deps chromium
npm run test:e2e

The suite runs Chromium at desktop and mobile sizes and covers taxes, editing, comparisons, independent budget/tax locations, grant previews, custom vesting, sell/hold treatment, promotions, employer changes, benefits, shared HSA limits, migration, saved customization, storage failures, real CSV downloads, and responsive overflow. Screenshots and failure traces are under test-results/ (ignored).

In this development session, browser binaries and missing Linux libraries were installed only under /tmp:

LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/tmp/careerworth-browser-libs/extracted/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu \
PLAYWRIGHT_BROWSERS_PATH=/tmp/careerworth-browsers npm run test:e2e

Using the planner

The planner opens in Quick estimate mode. Enter annual salary, monthly living costs, current taxable investments, and projection years to get an immediate monthly cash estimate and balance projection. Open Customize assumptions to edit salary growth (3% by default), annual investment return (5%), annual expense inflation (2.5%), tax location (Columbus, OH), filing status (single), and annual cash bonus. Choose a location-based tax estimate or enter your own total effective tax rate. You can also include simplified annual stock compensation, spouse wages for joint filers, starting 401(k)/HSA balances, and annual 401(k)/HSA contributions. These controls use the same calculation model as the detailed planner; annual stock compensation is treated as sold in December, and only the primary worker's benefits are modeled in this quick mode. The optional $100/month illustration assumes the extra savings are invested at the same return, before future taxes, and is not a guarantee. Tax calculations use 2026 law and do not predict future legislation.

Choose Add more detail to use the full planner. It retains the quick estimate inputs and reveals comparison scenarios, company presets, compensation, taxes, budgets, benefits, career progression, equity grants and account assumptions. Detailed result tables and tax/vesting breakdowns are also collapsed by default in Quick estimate mode and can be opened with Explore detailed results.

Starting taxable investments, primary-owner traditional 401(k), and HSA balances are entered in the visible Starting balances section and shared between scenarios. Optional spouse 401(k)/HSA balances are included in household assets even in a single-filing scenario. Existing retirement/HSA balances grow even if new contributions are zero. Existing saved balances are kept with the primary owner when spouse fields are added. Employer shares remain in the equity issuer editor and are counted once.

Advanced sections stay collapsed until needed:

This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗