Artifact Manager

A web app for tracking artifact usage and operationalizing the Minimalists' 90/90 Rule — if you haven't used something in the last 90 days and won't in the next 90, it's time to let it go.

Live at artifact.stewardgoods.com.

Tech Stack

• Backend: PHP / MySQL (MySQLi) / Apache
• Frontend: Vanilla HTML/CSS/JavaScript
• Auth: JWT tokens + session-based auth with bcrypt
• Email: PHPMailer via SendGrid
• Testing: PHPUnit 10
• Dependencies: Composer (firebase/php-jwt, phpmailer/phpmailer)

Features

Artifact Tracking

• Create and manage artifacts across types: board games, books, films, equipment, toys, instruments, food, drinks, and more
• Track acquisition dates, player counts, complexity, ratings
• Organize into primary/secondary collections or archive
• Candidate/exploration status for items under consideration

Interaction Logging

• Record usage events with dates, notes, and participants
• Multi-player support per interaction
• Sweet spot tracking (ideal player counts per artifact)
• Per-artifact frequency overrides

Usage Analysis

• Calculate "use-by" dates based on configurable interaction frequency
• List artifacts ordered by next due date to prioritize what to use next
• Default and per-artifact interval settings

Player & Playgroup Management

• Player profiles with priority and menu ordering
• Playgroup selection for defining active participants
• Aversion tracking

REST API

• JWT + API key authentication
• CRUD endpoints for artifacts, uses, types, and users
• Cursor-based and offset-based pagination
• Search and filtering
• Rate limiting (60 requests/minute per IP)
• Structured request logging

Multi-Tenant

• Each user manages their own artifacts, players, and data
• User roles (regular, admin)
• Registration, login, and password reset flows

Project Structure

ui/                         Web-accessible frontend
├── artifacts/              Artifact CRUD pages
├── uses/                   Interaction recording
├── players/                Player management
├── playgroup/              Playgroup selection
├── types/                  Artifact type management
├── users/                  User management
├── settings/               User settings
├── explore/                Candidate exploration
├── aversions/              Aversion tracking
├── shared/                 Header/footer templates
└── style.css               Global stylesheet

api/                        REST API endpoints
├── artifact.php            Single artifact CRUD
├── artifacts.php           Artifact listing/search
├── uses.php                Interaction recording
├── types.php               Artifact types
├── users.php               User management
└── private/                API-specific initialization

private/                    Backend logic (not web-accessible)
├── initialize.php          App bootstrap & constants
├── database.php            Database connection
├── environment_variables.php  Config (git-ignored)
├── functions.php           CSRF & utility helpers
├── validation_functions.php   Input validation
├── auth_functions.php      Authentication logic
├── rate_limiter.php        Rate limiting
├── cache.php               File-based caching
├── app_logger.php          Structured logging
├── classes/                OOP data access layer
│   ├── DatabaseObject.class.php
│   ├── Artifact.class.php
│   └── User.class.php
├── query_functions/        Domain-specific query modules
├── crons/                  Scheduled tasks
└── oneTimeScripts/         Migration scripts

tests/                      PHPUnit test suite
docs/                       DATABASE_SCHEMA.md with ERD

Setup

Prerequisites

• PHP 7.x+ with MySQLi extension
• MySQL / MariaDB
• Apache with mod_rewrite
• Composer

Installation

# Install dependencies
composer install
cd private && composer install
cd ../api/private && composer install

# Configure environment
cp private/environment_variables_template.php private/environment_variables.php
# Edit with your DB credentials, SendGrid key, JWT secret, etc.

# Set up database (see docs/DATABASE_SCHEMA.md)

# Ensure logs/ and cache/ are writable
chmod 777 logs/ cache/

Configuration

private/environment_variables.php defines:

Constant	Purpose
DB_SERVER, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME	Database connection
SENDGRID_API_KEY	Email delivery
ARTIFACTS_API_KEY	API authentication key
JWT_SECRET	JWT signing key
ARTIFACTS_DOMAIN	Application domain
API_ORIGIN	API domain for CORS
APP_ENV	development or production

Running Tests

./vendor/bin/phpunit

Acknowledgments

The following LinkedIn Learning courses by Kevin Skoglund were very helpful in the development of this app: PHP Essential Training, PHP with MySQL Essential Training: 1 The Basics, and PHP with MySQL Essential Training 2: Build a CMS.