SeforimTracker

SeforimTracker is a work-centric reading tracker for Jewish texts (seforim), designed as a bilingual, Hebrew-first alternative to Goodreads.

Unlike conventional book trackers, SeforimTracker is built around the realities of rabbinic literature: multiple editions, transliterations, Hebrew/English metadata, and variant titles.

This project was built as my full-stack bootcamp capstone and serves as a proof of concept for a domain-specific bibliographic system.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React, Redux
• Backend: Node.js, Express
• Authentication: JWT
• Database: Postgres

Project Status

Bootcamp final project (MVP)

Core Features

• JWT-based authentication
• Personal library management (want to read / reading / completed)
• User notes per sefer
• Readign log designed for classical Jewish texts
• Full-text search across English + Hebrew metadata
• Bilingual support (title, author, description fields)
• Normalized data model separating works from user library entries
• Deployed backend with CORS configuration and environment-based origin controls

Architecture

Frontend

• React (Vite)
• Redux Toolkit (slices + async thunks)
• TypeScript
• Client-side search + filtering

Backend

• Node.js + Express
• TypeScript
• RESTful API design
• JWT authentication middleware
• Structured CORS origin handling
• Postgres relational schema

Database Design

The schema separates:

• seforim (canonical works)
• users
• library_items (user-specific status + notes)

This normalized structure allows:

• Shared canonical works
• User-specific reading states
• Aliases for titles, authors in both English and Hebrew
• Future extensibility (editions, tagging)

Future Roadmap

• Server-side search optimization
• Admin sefer creation UI
• Pagination and performance tuning
• Public user profiles