Solo Systems
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Pocket Pulse

Every bank exports CSVs differently: junk rows up top, split debit and credit columns, stray commas. None of them answer the one question that matters. Where did the money go?

Difficulty
Experienced
Length
Long
Quest points
3
Skills
Construction
Party
Capstone team, led by Nick
Live app
pocket-pulse.com
Requirements
  • Construction 40 React and Express
  • A tolerance for messy data every bank exports CSVs differently
  • A capstone team willing to follow the plan
  • At least one test that proves you wrong
Quest journal
  • I noticed every bank exports CSVs differently, and none of them say where the money went.
  • I rallied a capstone team and proposed Pocket Pulse.
  • I taught it to find the real header row, skip the junk above it, and merge split debit and credit columns.
  • I gave every transaction a fingerprint so the same charge never counts twice, and backed it with a database constraint.
  • I was sure the dashboard matched the ledger. A test disagreed. I traced it to inconsistent SQL filters and added a regression test.
  • I finished with an 82-case QA matrix across import, cleanup, classification, review, and reporting.
  • Quest complete!

Quest complete!

You have completed Pocket Pulse

  • 3 Quest points
  • 4,200 Construction XP
  • Unlocked: the review-first workflow pattern
  • Also counted toward a B.S. in Computer Information Systems
Pocket Pulse dashboard showing monthly net cashflow, income, spending, and a leak detection summary
Reward: the Pocket Pulse dashboard
Mini-game

Tame the CSV

This is the Pocket Pulse logic in miniature, running in your browser. Watch it tame a messy example export, or bring your own. Your file never leaves this tab.

Source: example export, Jul–Aug 2026
  1. IntakeStep 1 of 6…
  2. Detect formatStep 2 of 6…
  3. NormalizeStep 3 of 6…
  4. DeduplicateStep 4 of 6…
  5. ClassifyStep 5 of 6…
  6. LedgerStep 6 of 6…
Raw export as the bank sent it
Clean ledger
DateMerchantCategoryAmount

Dashboard

Built from the clean ledger
Income$0.00
Spending$0.00
Net$0.00

Where it went

    Tap a category to see the rows behind it.

    Repeat charges

      Loot

      Artifacts recovered

      Screens from the full capstone build: React, Express, and PostgreSQL. The real app lives at pocket-pulse.com.

      Pocket Pulse leak detection page listing repeated spending candidates by merchant
      Leak review groups repeat charges by merchant. Rare
      Pocket Pulse transaction ledger showing filtered transaction rows
      The ledger behind every chart, filterable and searchable. Rare
      Lore

      Known limits

      1. Uploads are manual by design. Pocket Pulse never asks for bank credentials.
      2. Every chart traces back to the rows behind it.
      3. It is not an accounting system and not a bank integration.
      4. This page runs on example data. A file you try stays in your browser.
      Achievement unlocked