4th Circle IMS
Unified collection management. Your entire library, everywhere.
Dashboard view, light/dark
Total control. A hybrid system that balances the performance of a desktop app with the accessibility of the web.
4th Circle IMS (Inventory Management System) was designed to solve the “siloed data” problem common in local inventory tools. It provides a powerful Electron-based desktop application for data entry and asset management, paired with a lightweight companion web app for mobile viewing.
The system handles diverse entity types — from physical books and vinyl records to digital documents and media files — providing automatic metadata extraction and preview generation.
By utilizing SQLite as the primary storage engine and Google Drive as the synchronization layer, the system ensures data remains private and local while still being accessible across devices.
Timeline
Q1 · 2026
Scope
Architecture
Desktop Engineering
Cloud Synchronization
Web Infrastructure
Scale
Desktop + Web
Unlimited Items
A hybrid core with a unified data model.
Bridging local and cloud.
I chose SQLite for its zero-configuration nature and extreme reliability. By storing the database file directly in the user’s library folder, it is ensured that backups and sync are as simple as moving a single file.
Safety in Electron is paramount. A strict IPC bridge uses runtime validation (via Zod) to ensure the renderer process can only perform authorized filesystem and database operations.
The companion app was intentionally built as a read-only viewer. This allowed to simplify the web architecture significantly, using a simple React frontend that pulls the latest database snapshot from Google Drive.
For asset processing (image resizing, video previews), application leverage system binaries like FFmpeg and ImageMagick. This provides near-native performance that would be impossible to achieve with pure JS implementations.
The purpose of database is not only to store data, but reliably retrieve it
The library of everything.
4th Circle IMS successfully demonstrates that you don’t need a complex SaaS backend to build a multi-device application. The hybrid architecture provides the speed and privacy of local software with the convenience of a modern web experience.
Impact
Zero-latency local work
Mobile library access
Cost
3 weeks · Solo build
Desktop app showing a collection of e-books and articles.
Documents section with scanned docs, grouped
Collection of music with ability to play