Dropship Scout

Unified merchant workspace

The app brings supplier research, realistic advertising economics, campaign drafts, hosted listings, channel exports, and a manual experiment ledger into one merchant workflow. Try /launch-preview; signed-in accounts start at /dashboard. Free supports 3 saved launches; the existing $29 Pro plan supports 50.

• Launch workflow and limits
• Audited repository consolidation and remaining integrations

Next.js 14 dropshipping app. A seller signs up, imports products from a real supplier, connects Stripe payouts, and publishes a storefront hosted by this app (product pages, cart, and checkout). Shopify remains an optional listing push.

Order routing, supplier sandbox behavior, and the payout split are documented in docs/commerce.md.

Demo source: the built-in discovery catalog is curated sample data. Its prices, demand, ratings, sales, and supplier availability are not live or verified. Live sources use the adapter interface in lib/supplier-data; the optional CJ Dropshipping adapter is documented in docs/supplier-adapters.md.

Local setup

Requires Node.js 22.14+, pnpm, and a Postgres database (Neon works).

1. Create a Postgres database and copy its connection string. The app creates its tables on first use; schema.sql documents them.
2. Run cp .env.local.example .env.local and set DATABASE_URL and AUTH_SECRET. Generate the latter with openssl rand -base64 32.
3. Run pnpm install --frozen-lockfile and pnpm dev.
4. Open http://localhost:3000/auth/sign-up, create an account, and open the dashboard. Sign in later at /auth/login.
5. Run pnpm build to check the production build. pnpm start serves the built app.

Variable	Required	Purpose
DATABASE_URL	Runtime	Postgres connection string, including Neon SSL parameters.
AUTH_SECRET	Runtime	Long random signing key for login session cookies. Keep the same value between deployments.
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY	Optional	Enables AI search and prompt interpretation. Built-in discovery and catalog work without it.
NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL	Recommended	Public app URL, such as http://localhost:3000 locally or the Vercel domain.
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL	Recommended	Canonical origin for metadata, the sitemap, Open Graph, and Stripe return URLs. Set this to https://getdropshipscout.com in production. Falls back to NEXT_PUBLIC_APP_URL, then that domain.
CRON_SECRET	Runtime	Authorizes /api/cron/track; the route refuses to run when it is missing.
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY	Billing	Restricted Stripe server key for Customers, Checkout, and Billing Portal.
STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID	Billing	Recurring Price ID for the monthly Dropship Scout Pro product.
STRIPE_PRO_ANNUAL_PRICE_ID	Optional billing	Recurring yearly Price ID. When set, pricing offers annual checkout with the same Pro limits.
NEXT_PUBLIC_META_PIXEL_ID	Optional ads	Meta Pixel id, digits only. Unset means the pixel is not loaded.
NEXT_PUBLIC_GA_MEASUREMENT_ID	Optional ads	GA4 measurement id (G-...). Unset means GA4 is not loaded.
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_ADS_ID	Optional ads	Google Ads id (AW-...). Needs a conversion label to send a conversion.
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_ADS_SIGNUP_LABEL	Optional ads	Conversion label for a completed signup.
NEXT_PUBLIC_GOOGLE_ADS_LEAD_LABEL	Optional ads	Conversion label for a completed idea check.

Hosted storefront

1. Sign up at /auth/sign-up. No Shopify account is required.
2. Open Your store, connect payouts (Stripe Express), and publish a store link at /store/{slug}.
3. Open Suppliers and import CJ, Printful, or Printify products, or list a product from a direct supplier who joined at Supplier desk.
4. Set a retail price that clears supplier cost, estimated card fees, and the platform fee, then publish the listing.
5. A customer checks out with Stripe. The webhook submits the supplier order and transfers the seller's remainder. Direct suppliers also receive their cost. Tracking shows on /store/{slug}/orders/{token}.

The built-in discovery catalog is still sample research data and cannot be sold on the storefront. Keep STRIPE_LIVE_MODE off and SUPPLIER_ORDERS_MODE=sandbox until you intend to move real money. Keys and the human approval steps are listed in docs/commerce.md.

Vercel deployment

Import this repository into Vercel as a Next.js project. Select pnpm and use pnpm build. Copy the required values from .env.example into sensitive Environment Variables for Production and Preview; do not commit real values. Keep the Postgres URL and all provider keys server-side and use a pooled Neon connection string for serverless functions.

The included hourly cron calls /api/cron/track. Set a long random CRON_SECRET; Vercel Cron automatically sends it as Authorization: Bearer <CRON_SECRET>. Local calls must send the same header. A missing secret returns 503, not an unprotected successful run.

Vercel Web Analytics is included with @vercel/analytics. Enable Web Analytics on the Vercel project. No extra key is required. Signup buttons emit signup-click. A successful call that returns a Stripe Checkout URL emits checkout-started.

Meta Pixel, GA4, and Google Ads load only when their NEXT_PUBLIC_ ids are set. Signup fires after an account is created. The idea checker fires a lead after a completed check. Purchase fires only after Stripe Checkout is confirmed and the dashboard claims that conversion once. UTM parameters, gclid, and fbclid are stored on the user at signup, and filled in on later logins when those columns are empty. /ads/check-your-product and /ads/worth-selling are noindex landing pages for the checker. They are not in the sitemap.

If Stripe billing keys are missing, signed-in checkout joins the Pro waitlist (watch_subscribers, source pro-waitlist) instead of returning an error. The app still does not send that email.

Public research pages live under /research, with a sample-catalog preview at /research/preview and a no-signup product idea checker at /research/idea-checker. Those pages do not publish order counts or revenue. The checker uses the default platform fee and card-fee estimate, not live sales. Pro checkout starts from /pricing after signup or sign-in (?plan=pro, optional &interval=year). POST /api/watch stores a products-to-watch email in watch_subscribers. The app does not send that email.

Stripe subscriptions

Free accounts can save 10 products, keep 25 research-catalog products, build 10 products at a time, push 3 Shopify products per calendar month, and publish 25 hosted-store listings. Pro removes those limits. Live CJ/Printful/Printify import uses the platform API keys and is available to every signed-in seller; the older discovery adapter for CJ remains Pro-only.

1. In Stripe, create a dedicated Dropship Scout Pro Product with a recurring monthly Price. Optionally add a yearly Price on the same product.
2. Set STRIPE_PRO_PRICE_ID and a restricted STRIPE_SECRET_KEY. Set STRIPE_PRO_ANNUAL_PRICE_ID only when the yearly Price exists.
3. Register POST /api/stripe/webhook and subscribe to checkout.session.completed, customer.subscription.created, customer.subscription.updated, customer.subscription.deleted, charge.refunded, and account.updated. Storefront checkouts and Connect payout status use the same endpoint.
4. Set that endpoint's signing secret as STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET.
5. Configure and enable the Stripe Customer Portal.

Webhook signatures are verified and event IDs are stored for idempotency. Stripe Tax is not enabled automatically: before charging customers in a jurisdiction where tax is required, configure registrations and recurring-payment tax collection in Stripe.

Sales channels

The hosted storefront is the default. Sales channels can also connect Shopify and WooCommerce. The token or API key is validated with that platform before it is saved. Sync sends published store listings. Pull imports paid Shopify orders or processing WooCommerce orders into supplier fulfillment.

Those channel orders record the same cost split and do not create a Stripe transfer, because the customer paid the external shop. Import stays paused while SUPPLIER_ORDERS_MODE=live, so a channel order cannot bill CJ, Printful, or Printify from the platform wallet. Etsy, eBay, and TikTok Shop are listed as coming soon: their APIs exist, and connecting them needs an approved partner app this deployment does not start.

Research-catalog pushes to Shopify still live on My Catalog and use the same saved Shopify token.

Shopify setup (optional)

Open Sales channels, enter the myshopify.com domain, and save a Custom App Admin API token with write_products, read_orders, and write_orders. Dropship Scout calls shop.json before encrypting the token. WooCommerce uses an HTTPS store URL and a REST API consumer key with read/write access to products and orders.