MicroItinerary — AI Travel Planner

Problem

Travel apps optimize for proximity and ratings. They don't consider human energy levels, group dynamics, or intelligent budget allocation.

Business Impact

Trip planning is tedious and error-prone. Most apps just list options — they don't understand your constraints. This uses AI to actually solve the planning problem.

System Approach

• Spring Boot 3.2.2 + Java 21 backend with Flyway migrations
• React 18 + Vite PWA frontend with offline support via IndexedDB
• OpenAI GPT-4 integration for intelligent destination and cost suggestions
• Redis caching to reduce API costs and improve response times
• Google OAuth 2.0 + JWT for secure authentication

Key Decisions & Trade-offs

• PWA over native app — broader reach, single codebase, works offline
• OpenAI API adds latency and cost, but rule-based alternatives lack quality
• Expense splitting algorithm prioritizes simplicity over Splitwise feature-parity
• PostgreSQL 16 for relational data with potential for vector search later

Current Status

Backend API functional. Frontend PWA with offline sync working. AI suggestions integrated.

Roadmap

• Add calendar view for annual planning
• Implement real-time expense tracking
• Add collaborative trip editing

What I'd Improve Next

• Could add caching layer for repeated AI queries
• Consider fine-tuning a smaller model for cost estimation

Explore More

• ClinicAI — WhatsApp AI Clinic Assistant — India has 12 lakh+ small clinics running on phone calls and paper diaries.
• StellarMIND — Chat-to-SQL with RAG — Business users need to query databases without knowing SQL.
• MyFinancial — Personal Financial Advisor — Financial planning in India is fragmented across banks, insurance, and tax documents.
• SanatanApp — Hindu Devotional App — Devotional users in India juggle 5+ separate apps for Chalisa, Gita, Aarti, Ramayan, and Mahabharat.
• SynFlow — Enterprise Intelligence Platform — Private deal networks rely on manual introductions and spreadsheets.
• FinBaby (Jama) — Personal Finance Tracker — Indian middle-class families track expenses across UPI apps, bank statements, and paper notebooks.
• RetailOS — Multi-Tenant Retail SaaS — Indian kirana stores and small retailers use paper registers or basic billing software with no inventory tracking, no GST compliance, and no offline support.
• TripHive — Offline-First Collaborative Trip Planner — Group trip planning is fragmented across WhatsApp, Google Docs, Maps, Splitwise, and email.
• ScamRakshak — On-Device AI Scam Detector — Indians lose thousands of crores annually to digital scams via WhatsApp, SMS, and social media.
• PaisaGuard — Family Budget Survival App — Middle-class families worldwide track expenses inconsistently — UPI apps show transactions but don't enforce budgets.
• rohitraj.tech — Engineering work is often invisible.
• Reliability & Production Readiness — Load testing, observability, and API contracts.
• Open Source Repos — Browse the source code behind these projects.