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Know the price before you pay.
Patients across India discover the same prescription medicine — same brand, same dosage, same strip count — priced 30–50% differently across pharmacy chains within walking distance of each other. There is no transparent, real-time price comparison tool that lets a patient find the most affordable nearby source before they walk to the counter and pay.
MedPrice solves this. It is a role-based desktop web platform where patients compare live medicine prices across nearby pharmacies, and pharmacies manage their own inventory and pricing in real time.
The problem is a data availability + visibility gap, not a logistics problem. Patients don't need delivery — they need to know which of the three pharmacies on their street has Metformin 500mg for ₹38 instead of ₹61. The solution is therefore a comparison engine with a lightweight reservation system, not another quick-commerce clone.
I split the system into two clearly separated roles at the auth layer — Patient and Pharmacy (Vendor) — each with a distinct UI surface and permission scope. A patient can only read prices and create reservations. A vendor can only manage their own inventory and fulfill reservations for their registered pharmacy. No cross-role data leakage.
- React + Vite on the frontend for fast iteration, component reuse across roles, and a snappy desktop experience.
- Node.js + Express on the backend for a unified JavaScript/TypeScript experience across the stack, enabling faster feature development and seamless JSON handling.
- MongoDB as the primary store — its flexible document model is perfect for medicine data which can vary significantly in attributes (e.g., salt composition, manufacturer details, packaging).
- Redis for caching price queries — the most common read pattern (search medicine X near location Y) gets cached with a short TTL so the DB isn't hit on every keystroke.
- Mongoose for elegant MongoDB object modeling and validation.
- JWT + Bcrypt for secure, stateless authentication and authorization.
| Layer | Technology | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Frontend Framework | React 18 + Vite | Fast HMR, component-based role UIs |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui | Utility-first, consistent design tokens |
| State Management | Zustand | Lightweight, no boilerplate |
| Data Fetching | TanStack Query (React Query) | Cache + background refetch for prices |
| Backend Framework | Node.js + Express | Unified JS stack, asynchronous performance |
| Primary DB | MongoDB 7.0 | Document-based flexible schema |
| Cache | Redis 7 | Price query caching (60s TTL) |
| ODM | Mongoose | Typed schemas for MongoDB |
| Auth | JWT (Json Web Token) | Role claims in token payload |
| Background Jobs | BullMQ + Redis | Price change notifications |
| API Docs | Swagger / JSDoc | API documentation |
medprice/
│
├── README.md
├── docker-compose.yml
├── .env.example
│
├── frontend/ # React + Vite app
│ ├── index.html
│ ├── vite.config.ts
│ ├── tailwind.config.ts
│ ├── package.json
│ │
│ └── src/
│ ├── main.tsx
│ ├── App.tsx # Root router + role-based redirects
│ │
│ ├── lib/
│ │ ├── api.ts # Axios instance + interceptors
│ │ ├── auth.ts # Supabase client + helpers
│ │ └── utils.ts # cn(), formatPrice(), distanceLabel()
│ │
│ ├── store/
│ │ ├── authStore.ts # User + role state (Zustand)
│ │ ├── locationStore.ts # User's current lat/lng
│ │ └── searchStore.ts # Active search query + filters
│ │
│ ├── hooks/
│ │ ├── useAuth.ts
│ │ ├── useMedicineSearch.ts # TanStack Query: search + cache
│ │ ├── useNearbyPharmacies.ts
│ │ └── usePriceHistory.ts
│ │
│ ├── types/
│ │ ├── medicine.ts
│ │ ├── pharmacy.ts
│ │ ├── reservation.ts
│ │ └── user.ts
│ │
│ ├── components/ # Shared, role-agnostic
│ │ ├── ui/ # shadcn base components
│ │ │ ├── Button.tsx
│ │ │ ├── Card.tsx
│ │ │ ├── Badge.tsx
│ │ │ ├── Input.tsx
│ │ │ ├── Table.tsx
│ │ │ ├── Modal.tsx
│ │ │ └── ...
│ │ ├── PriceBadge.tsx # Savings badge (amber pill)
│ │ ├── StockDot.tsx # Green/amber/red stock indicator
│ │ ├── PharmacyCard.tsx
│ │ ├── MedicineCard.tsx
│ │ └── LocationPill.tsx
│ │
│ ├── layouts/
│ │ ├── PatientLayout.tsx # Sidebar + header for patients
│ │ └── VendorLayout.tsx # Sidebar + header for vendors
│ │
│ ├── pages/
│ │ │
│ │ ├── auth/
│ │ │ ├── RoleSelector.tsx # "Patient" vs "Pharmacy" split screen
│ │ │ ├── Login.tsx
│ │ │ └── Register.tsx
│ │ │
│ │ ├── patient/
│ │ │ ├── Home.tsx # Dashboard, price drops, nearby pharmacies
│ │ │ ├── SearchResults.tsx # List + map toggle view
│ │ │ ├── MedicineDetail.tsx # Price comparison table (hero screen)
│ │ │ ├── Reservation.tsx # Confirm + QR confirmation
│ │ │ ├── Watchlist.tsx # Saved medicines + price alerts
│ │ │ └── Profile.tsx
│ │ │
│ │ └── vendor/
│ │ ├── Dashboard.tsx # Reservations + low stock alerts
│ │ ├── Inventory.tsx # Full medicine table + inline edit
│ │ ├── AddMedicine.tsx # Modal form
│ │ ├── Reservations.tsx # Tabs: pending / ready / done
│ │ ├── Analytics.tsx # Charts + price position
│ │ └── Settings.tsx
│ │
│ └── router/
│ ├── index.tsx # React Router v6 routes
│ ├── ProtectedRoute.tsx # JWT check + role check
│ └── routes.ts # Route constants
│
│
└── backend/ # Node.js + Express app
├── src/
│ ├── index.ts # App entry, middleware setup
│ ├── config/ # Environment variables (dotenv/zod)
│ │ ├── db.ts # MongoDB connection
│ │ └── redis.ts # Redis client
│ │
│ ├── models/ # Mongoose schemas/models
│ │ ├── User.ts # User (role: patient | vendor)
│ │ ├── Pharmacy.ts # Pharmacy (geo index, hours)
│ │ ├── Medicine.ts # Medicine master (name, salt, manufacturer)
│ │ ├── Inventory.ts # PharmacyMedicine (price, stock)
│ │ └── Reservation.ts # Reservation (patient → pharmacy → medicine)
│ │
│ ├── controllers/ # Route logic
│ │ ├── authController.ts
│ │ ├── medicineController.ts
│ │ ├── pharmacyController.ts
│ │ └── vendorController.ts
│ │
│ ├── routes/ # Express Router mounts
│ │ ├── authRoutes.ts
│ │ ├── medicineRoutes.ts
│ │ ├── pharmacyRoutes.ts
│ │ └── reservationRoutes.ts
│ │
│ ├── middleware/
│ │ ├── auth.ts # JWT verify + role check
│ │ └── error.ts # Global error handler
│ │
│ ├── services/
│ │ ├── priceService.ts # Core: fetch + rank prices, cache logic
│ │ ├── geoService.ts # MongoDB $near queries
│ │ └── notificationService.ts # BullMQ tasks
│ │
│ └── utils/ # logger, formatters, etc.
│
├── tests/
├── package.json
└── tsconfig.json
-- MongoDB Collections (Conceptual)
users { id, email, password_hash, role: 'patient'|'vendor', created_at }
pharmacies { id, vendor_id, name, license_no, location: { type: "Point", coordinates: [lng, lat] }, hours, verified }
medicines { id, name, generic_name, salt, manufacturer, dosage, pack_size }
-- The price layer
inventory { id, pharmacy_id, medicine_id, mrp, selling_price, stock_qty, is_listed, updated_at }
-- Patient actions
reservations { id, patient_id, pharmacy_id, medicine_id, qty, status, reservation_code, created_at }
watchlist { id, patient_id, medicine_id, alert_price, created_at }POST /auth/register Register patient or vendor
POST /auth/login OTP login → JWT with role claim
GET /medicines/search?q=&lat=&lng= Search + rank by price near location
GET /medicines/{id}/prices?lat=&lng= All pharmacy prices for one medicine
GET /pharmacies/nearby?lat=&lng=&r= Pharmacies within radius
# Vendor-only (role guard on all)
GET /vendor/inventory List all medicines for this pharmacy
POST /vendor/inventory Add new medicine+price
PATCH /vendor/inventory/{id} Update price / stock
DELETE /vendor/inventory/{id} Remove listing
GET /vendor/analytics Reservations, views, price position
GET /vendor/reservations Pending/ready/done tabs
# Both roles
POST /reservations Patient creates reservation
PATCH /reservations/{id}/status Vendor marks ready/done
# 1. Clone
git clone https://github.com/yourname/medprice.git
cd medprice
# 2. Environment
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in: MONGODB_URI, JWT_SECRET, REDIS_URL
# 3. Start services
# In separate terminals:
# Backend: cd backend && npm run dev
# Frontend: cd frontend && npm run dev
# Backend: http://localhost:8000
# Frontend: http://localhost:5173- SMS notifications for reservation status (Twilio/MSG91)
- Generic substitute engine (salt-based matching)
- Price history charts per medicine per pharmacy
- Pharmacy verification workflow (license upload + admin review)
- Mobile PWA (existing desktop codebase, responsive breakpoints)
- ML price anomaly detection (flag outlier pricing)
Built to fix a real problem — one prescription at a time.