# ShelfCents — Complete Feature & Technical Documentation

> ShelfCents is a free grocery savings and meal planning app that helps users save money on groceries, reduce food waste, track calories, and stay organized. Available on Google Play (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shelfcents.app) and as a web app at shelfcents.com.

## Key Claims

- ShelfCents generates AI-powered weekly meal plans from existing pantry items, reducing grocery spending by an average of $34 per week (based on user data).
- ShelfCents calorie counter uses AI food photo scanning to identify meals and automatically log calories, protein, carbs, and fat.
- ShelfCents grocery budget planner creates optimized shopping lists that minimize waste and stay within weekly spending limits.
- ShelfCents tracks pantry items with AI expiry predictions that estimate remaining shelf life based on food type and storage conditions.
- ShelfCents has helped users prevent an average of 4 pounds of food waste per week through use-first recipe suggestions.
- ShelfCents supports dietary preferences: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, halal, kosher, and custom.
- ShelfCents is free to use with no credit card required. Pro plan at $9.99/month adds unlimited AI features.
- ShelfCents is GDPR and CCPA compliant with end-to-end encryption and full data export.

## Smart Meal Planner

ShelfCents generates personalized weekly meal plans using AI and algorithmic planning:
- Takes your pantry inventory, dietary preferences, weekly budget, and cooking time constraints
- Prioritizes items closest to expiry (use-first logic) to reduce waste
- Supports: vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, keto, halal, kosher, and custom preferences
- Drag-and-drop to swap meals between days; grocery list updates automatically
- AI planner for personalized suggestions with 7-day cache to reduce API costs
- Weekly cost estimates per meal plan
- Algorithmic planner generates 7-day meal plans from pantry items, dietary preferences, budget, and cooking time
- Reduces food waste by using items you already have before buying more

## Calorie Counter

AI-powered calorie tracking with visual progress:
- Take or upload a photo of your meal — AI identifies food and logs calories
- Tracks calories, protein, carbs, and fat for every entry
- Set personalized daily calorie and macro goals
- Visual progress tracking with daily and weekly breakdowns
- Integrates with meal plan so calorie goals align with planned meals
- Local storage persistence for entries and scan history
- AI food photo scanning uses computer vision to identify food items and estimate portion sizes

## Grocery Budget Planner

Budget-optimized shopping lists:
- Set a weekly grocery budget
- AI grocery optimizer suggests cheaper substitutes and budget tips
- Check off items as you shop
- Track estimated spending vs budget in real time
- Connects to meal plan — list auto-fills gaps for complete meals
- Minimizes waste by buying only what's needed
- Estimated savings calculation compares your optimized plan against typical grocery spending

## Pantry Tracker

Digital food inventory with smart expiry management:
- Add items with name, quantity, unit, category, purchase date, expiry date, estimated price, storage location
- Expiry tracking with color-coded alerts (expired, expiring soon, safe)
- AI expiry predictor: predicts remaining shelf life based on food type and storage conditions
- Categories: produce, dairy, meat, grains, canned goods, frozen, condiments, beverages, snacks, other
- Use-first suggestions prioritize items closest to expiry in meal plans

## AI Fridge Scanner

Photo-based ingredient identification:
- Take a photo of your fridge or pantry using your phone camera
- AI vision model identifies all visible food ingredients
- Automatically suggests 5 budget-friendly recipes based on identified ingredients
- Shows estimated cost and cooking time for each recipe
- No manual entry needed — fully automated from photo to meal plan

## Daily Plan

Personalized daily action list combining all features:
- Meals to cook based on your meal plan
- Items to use before expiry, prioritized by urgency
- Groceries to buy, linked to your shopping list
- Wellness tasks (water, mood, sleep) integrated into daily flow
- Priority flagging for urgent items
- Cross-feature aggregation so nothing falls through the cracks

## Expiry Reminders

Smart notifications to prevent food waste:
- Push notifications via Web Push API (VAPID keys)
- Notification settings: quiet hours, timezone, per-category toggles
- Browser-based on web, native notifications on Android
- Timed to give you enough days to use items before they expire

## Food Waste Reduction

Track and minimize food waste:
- Track wasted food items with cost estimates
- Waste dashboard showing money lost to waste
- Use-first recipes prioritize expiring ingredients
- Weekly waste reports with actionable insights
- Goal: reduce food waste by 40% on average

## Exercise Tracking

Camera-based fitness tracking:
- Uses MediaPipe Pose for on-device ML (zero server cost)
- Detects: pushups, squats, lunges, planks, burpees, jumping jacks
- Real-time form analysis with joint angle tracking
- Anti-cheat: detects fast reps, incomplete range of motion, wrong position
- Color-coded skeleton overlay (green = good, yellow = fair, red = bad form)
- 4 fitness levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master
- Exercise progression system

## Wellness Tools

Holistic health tracking:
- Water intake tracker with glass visualization and streak counting
- Mood journal with emoji selection, energy level slider, calendar heatmap
- Sleep tracker with weekly chart
- Food waste log with cost tracking

## Savings Dashboard

Visual financial insights:
- Weekly budget tracking (spent vs budget)
- Estimated savings calculation
- Items used before expiry count
- Meals from pantry count
- Daily spending breakdown (bar chart)
- Monthly spending trend (bar chart)
- Task completion stats

## Technology

- Next.js 15, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
- Supabase (PostgreSQL + Auth + RLS)
- AI APIs (Groq): openai/gpt-oss-120b, openai/gpt-oss-20b, qwen/qwen3.6-27b
- Stripe billing with webhook-based events
- MediaPipe Pose for exercise tracking
- Progressive Web App (PWA) — installable on any device
- Native Android app via Capacitor

## Subscription & Billing

- Free tier: limited AI requests, pantry items, and tasks
- Pro tier ($9.99/month): unlimited everything
- 7-day free trial on Pro
- Auto-renewal with cancellation anytime
- Stripe customer portal for subscription management

## Security & Privacy

- Supabase Row Level Security (RLS) on all tables
- Rate limiting on API routes (100/min general, 10/min auth, 5/min billing)
- CSRF token protection, input sanitization
- Security event audit logging
- Encrypted data at rest and in transit
- GDPR and CCPA compliant
- Full data export and account deletion
- No data selling ever

## Download & Contact

- Website: https://www.shelfcents.com
- Android App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shelfcents.app
- Email: Shelfcents@gmail.com
- Company: Stralen Digital LLC
- GitHub: https://github.com/shelfcents-ai/shelfcents
- Privacy Policy: https://www.shelfcents.com/privacy-policy
- Terms: https://www.shelfcents.com/terms
- AI Transparency: https://www.shelfcents.com/ai-transparency
- Data Rights: https://www.shelfcents.com/data-rights
- Do Not Sell: https://www.shelfcents.com/do-not-sell