Automatically generated narration. Code examples are available in the article.
An app for my sister
My sister manages several rental properties and needed an easier way to keep track of rooms, tenants, and payments. A complicated spreadsheet was not a good fit for how she wanted to work, so I built a small web app around those tasks.
The main goal was straightforward: she should be able to open it on a phone or computer and find the information she needs without learning a complicated interface.
Why serverless fit this project
The app is used only a few times a month, but needs to be available whenever it is needed. I chose AWS serverless services to avoid maintaining a continuously running application server for that usage pattern.
The React frontend is hosted in S3 and served through CloudFront, with Route 53 for DNS. Cognito handles authentication. API Gateway routes requests to the FastAPI backend on Lambda, and DynamoDB stores the application data.
Building around the user
I kept the interface focused on rooms, tenant information, and payment status. The layout adapts to desktop and mobile screens, including portrait and landscape views.
FastAPI let me build the backend in Python. For this project, I was more interested in keeping deployment and maintenance manageable than in adding a large set of features.
Possible next steps
Rent collection, maintenance requests, notifications, and more detailed reports are ideas for future work. I would add them based on actual use and feedback, rather than treating them as features already delivered.