CarePatterns

A mobile-first habit and care tracker. Log medications, procedures, and goals with a single tap. Set schedules, get in-app reminders, and export your history as CSV.

Why I Built This

I'm a full-time caregiver for my wife. Day-to-day life involves a lot of moving parts: medications, habits, recurring tasks. Keeping track of everything means having tools that actually work for both of us, not just one of us.

For a while we used an iOS habit-tracking app. I put real time into bending it to fit our situation, even though it was never designed for what we needed. When it moved to a subscription model, the math stopped making sense.

So I built my own. Using Claude Code and OpenAI Codex, I put together something simple and focused on what we actually use day to day. We've been running it for a few months now, and it's held up well enough that I felt comfortable sharing it.

A few things worth knowing before you use it:

This app is designed for personal, self-hosted use and is not intended to be exposed to the public internet. In our setup, it runs in a sandboxed Docker environment on our home server and is only accessible locally or over a VPN/Tailscale connection.

If you're comfortable running self-hosted services and prefer keeping your data local, you might find it a useful starting point.

Screenshots

Dashboard Tap a card to log a dose. Color fill tracks daily progress. Drag the ⠿ handle to reorder.	Add Item Name your item, pick a color, set an optional daily dose limit and schedule.	Reports Filter by item and date range, then download as CSV or share via email.	Settings Choose from 8 built-in themes. Active theme is highlighted.

Running with Docker (recommended)

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env — set SECRET_KEY and VITE_API_TOKEN to the same random value
docker compose up -d --build

Open http://localhost:3000. That's it.

To generate a secure key:

python -c "import secrets; print(secrets.token_hex(32))"

To stop:

docker compose down

Your data lives in a named Docker volume (carepatterns-data) and survives restarts. To wipe it completely: docker compose down -v.

Running without Docker

Backend

cd backend
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
uvicorn src.main:app --reload --port 8000

Frontend

cd frontend
npm install
npm run dev

Environment variables

Variable	Required	Description
SECRET_KEY	Yes	Bearer token the backend validates on every request
VITE_API_TOKEN	Yes	Same value as SECRET_KEY — baked into the frontend bundle at build time
DATABASE_PATH	Yes	SQLite file path inside the container (default: /app/data/carepatterns.db)
ALLOWED_ORIGIN	No	CORS origin for the backend (default: http://localhost:3000)
TIMEZONE	No	Display timezone for schedules and reports (default: America/Los_Angeles)
REMINDER_POLL_INTERVAL_SECONDS	No	How often the backend checks for overdue items (default: 60)
VITE_REMINDER_POLL_INTERVAL	No	How often the frontend polls for reminders in seconds (default: 60)

See .env.example for a full template with descriptions.

Ports

Port	Service
3000	Frontend (PWA)
8000	Backend API

Architecture

• Frontend: React 18 + Vite + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS
• Backend: FastAPI + SQLAlchemy + SQLite
• Auth: Static bearer token (set once in .env, no login flow)
• Data: SQLite on a Docker volume — no external database needed

Notes

• Single-user only — no accounts, no registration
• VITE_API_TOKEN is embedded in the compiled JS bundle. Only run this on a private network.
• CSV exports are named carepatterns-export-YYYY-MM-DD.csv
• The email share button opens your mail client with a pre-filled message. You attach the CSV manually — browsers can't auto-attach files via mailto links.