CaseCobra E-Commerce
An e-commerce platform that allows users to customize phone cases, place orders, and complete secure online payments.
The Problem
Customers purchasing personalized products want to preview their design before placing an order. I built this project to provide an interactive customization experience while integrating secure online payments and order management.
Engineering Challenges
The application needed to accurately capture user customizations, securely process payments, and ensure completed orders were stored correctly after successful transactions.
Step-by-Step Workflow
1. Product Customization
Users can upload images, position them on a phone case preview, and customize their design before checkout. The application stores the final configuration for order processing.
2. Secure Checkout
Stripe Checkout handles payment processing while webhook events notify the backend after successful transactions, allowing completed orders to be recorded safely.
3. Order Management
Order information is stored in PostgreSQL and made available through an administrative dashboard where purchases can be tracked and managed.
Why This Architecture?
Next.js provides a fast frontend experience while PostgreSQL maintains structured order data. Stripe simplifies payment processing and webhook handling without requiring sensitive payment information to pass through the application.
Key Features
- Interactive phone case customization.
- Secure Stripe payment integration.
- Order management dashboard.
- PostgreSQL database integration.
- Next.js application built with TypeScript.
Performance
Image customization is handled in the browser, allowing users to preview changes immediately before placing an order.
Trade-offs
Integrating payment gateways introduces asynchronous workflows because order status depends on webhook events rather than immediate client responses.
Lessons Learned
This project helped me understand payment gateway integration, webhook processing, relational database design, and building complete e-commerce workflows using Next.js and PostgreSQL.