case study, 2026

Rubies

A marketplace for Alexandria's independent boutiques. Shop several stores in one bag, get it all in one delivery, and pay only for what you keep.

Role: Designed and built end to end
Status: MVP, one-city pilot
Users: Customers, shops, couriers, admins
Languages: Arabic and English

rubies / home

every shop in one bag

6 boutiques, one 2-hour window

the problem

Great shops, scattered across the city

Alexandria has lots of small boutiques with good pieces, but buying from three of them means three deliveries, three fees, and paying up front for clothes that might not fit. Most of them sell through Instagram messages with no real store behind them.

Rubies gives each shop its own storefront, puts every shop in one bag, sends one courier to collect it all, and lets the customer try the pieces at the door and pay cash only for what they keep.

One order, start to finish

1Fill one bagPieces from several shops, one 2-hour window.
2Shops acceptEach shop accepts, packs and marks ready.
3One courierCollects every bag, with an Open in Maps route.
4QR at the doorScan the customer's QR or type a 6-digit PIN.
5Try and payCash only for the pieces they keep.
6Returns go backRefused pieces return, and stock goes back up.

Four apps in one

one for every person in the chain

for

Customers

Each shop has its own page and logo.
Search every shop with filters for size, colour, price and rating.
The bag groups items by shop, with one delivery fee.
Live tracking with a QR handover pass.

for

Shop owners

An order queue: accept, pack, mark ready.
Catalog and stock, with low-stock warnings.
Sales, best sellers, busiest days and hours.
What the shop is owed, and payouts.

for

Couriers

The next stop, with Directions and the bags to pick up.
Pick up, deliver and returns in three tabs.
Cash on hand, and a QR to hand it to the admin.
Arabic and dark mode for night shifts.

for

Admins

Orders that need a courier, cash with couriers, returns to shops.
Financial report with PDF export.
Money and payouts per shop.
People, shops, windows, fees, announcements and join requests.

and

Arabic first, light and dark

Arabic is the default, with a full right-to-left layout. English is one tap away, and every screen works in light and dark.

How it's built

Parts
No.	Part	Used for
01	FastAPI	The API
02	SQLAlchemy 2, Alembic	Models and migrations
03	PostgreSQL 17	The database
04	Next.js 15, Tailwind	Every screen
05	httpOnly session	The browser only talks to Next.js
06	Telegram, OpenWA	Sign-in codes without SMS
07	pytest, Playwright	24 API tests, 14 browser tests
08	Mermaid	An engineering handbook

Small on purposeOne city, one or two pilot shops, invitations first, no in-house drivers yet.
Trust at the doorThe QR or PIN proves the right person got the order, and every refused piece is tracked back.
Browser onlyNo app stores. It works like an app on any phone, so it's cheap to ship and update.

The code is private. Screenshots use demo shops, products and people.

next on the benchCodeNote