Scalable E-Commerce Platform (Self-Hosted Architecture)

Production-oriented e-commerce platform engineered end-to-end with Next.js + Convex, including storefront, checkout, order pipeline, and role-based manager/admin operations.

This repository is positioned as a technical case study: not just “a website”, but an example of platform engineering, product ownership, and self-hosted infrastructure.

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1) Executive Summary

This project demonstrates senior-level ownership across the full lifecycle:

• product architecture and domain modeling;
• backend and frontend implementation;
• operational backoffice tooling;
• production deployment and runtime management.

Core outcomes

• Built a full commerce flow: catalog → cart → checkout → order lifecycle.
• Implemented role-aware operational console for managers/admins.
• Established self-hosted deployment model with process/runtime control.
• Added reliability and security hardening patterns in critical flows.

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2) Architecture

High-level system flow

flowchart LR
    U[Users / Clients] --> CADDY[Caddy Reverse Proxy + Auto HTTPS]
    CADDY --> PM2[PM2 Process Manager]
    PM2 --> NEXT[Next.js App Router Frontend]
    NEXT <--> CONVEX[Convex Backend / Functions / DB]

    subgraph Linux VPS
      CADDY
      PM2
      NEXT
      CONVEX
    end

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Components

• Next.js (App Router): storefront, checkout UX, manager/admin UI.
• Convex: typed backend functions, schema, business logic, queries/mutations.
• PM2: production process supervision for the Next.js service.
• Caddy: reverse proxy + automatic TLS/HTTPS termination.

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3) Senior Engineering Scope (Technical Case Study)

Infrastructure & Operations

• Self-hosted on Linux for 100% data control and cost optimization.
• Security hardening via UFW and SSH key management.
• Zero-downtime deployment strategy using PM2 and Caddy auto-HTTPS.

Platform Engineering

• Domain-driven schema design for commerce and operations.
• Backend workflows for cart integrity, order creation, and admin workflows.
• Search/filter/query paths for catalog and manager dashboards.

Reliability & Security Patterns

• Server-side validation for checkout/orderability.
• Duplicate order prevention / idempotency strategy in checkout flow.
• Role-aware access boundaries for manager/admin capabilities.
• Blocked-user handling in shared auth helpers.

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4) Managerial / Product Leadership Scope

This project also reflects cross-functional ownership beyond coding:

• Managed UI/UX design process, hiring and directing external designers to align with system architecture.
• Translated business requirements into implementation-ready technical backlog.
• Iterated UX and internal ops flows (orders, leads, inventory-related actions).
• Balanced product speed with maintainability and deployment constraints.

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5) Feature Surface

Customer-facing

• Catalog browsing with categories/brands/filtering.
• Product details and variant/grouped listing behavior.
• Cart lifecycle (guest/session/user scenarios).
• Checkout and order placement.

Manager/Admin-facing

• Item management (create/update/delete paths).
• Order workflow (status/processing operations).
• Lead and user management workflows.
• Internal search and operational dashboard views.

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6) Repository Structure

• app/ — Next.js app routes (storefront + manager areas)
• components/ — reusable UI and feature components
• convex/ — backend schema/functions (catalog/cart/orders/users/manager/etc.)
• backend/ — self-hosting assets (Convex docker-compose template)
• ecosystem.config.js — PM2 process definition

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7) Tech Stack

• Language: TypeScript
• Frontend: Next.js, React
• Backend/Data: Convex
• UI: Radix UI, Tailwind-based utility stack
• Ops: PM2, Caddy, Linux VPS
• Tooling: Biome, TypeScript checks

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8) Local Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js and pnpm
• Convex CLI configured
• .env.local configured for your environment

Run locally

pnpm install
pnpm run dev

This starts frontend + backend dev processes.

Quality checks

pnpm run lint
pnpm run typecheck

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9) Deployment Notes (Self-Hosted)

Current production-style setup uses:

• Next.js app process managed with PM2 (ecosystem.config.js)
• Caddy reverse proxy + HTTPS
• Convex backend in self-hosted mode (see backend/docker-compose.yml.convex)

Suggested production checklist:

• enforce env validation for critical secrets/URLs;
• lock down exposed debug/test surfaces;
• maintain backup + rollback procedure;
• add monitoring/alerting and smoke checks after deploy.

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10) ACH-Style Impact Bullets (for CV / interviews)

Use these as a baseline and adapt with your real metrics:

1. Architected and shipped a production e-commerce platform using Next.js + Convex, enabling end-to-end ownership from storefront to operations.
2. Designed multi-entity commerce schema and backend workflows, improving consistency across catalog, cart, and order lifecycles.
3. Implemented role-based manager/admin tooling, reducing operational friction for order/lead/user management.
4. Hardened checkout pipeline with server-side validation and idempotency protections, preventing duplicate/invalid order scenarios.
5. Established self-hosted runtime with PM2 + Caddy, improving deployment control, reliability, and infrastructure cost efficiency.
6. Led cross-functional UI/UX execution with external designers, aligning interface quality with technical architecture and delivery timelines.

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11) Why this project is a Senior-level portfolio artifact

Because it demonstrates:

• technical depth (architecture + backend + frontend);
• operational maturity (deployment/runtime/security);
• product delivery ownership (from zero to production);
• leadership behavior (cross-functional coordination and execution).

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Contact / Discussion

If you want a walkthrough, I can share a structured review covering:

1. architecture decisions,
2. trade-offs,
3. production constraints,
4. future scaling roadmap.