Internal tool and workflow automation

A tool replacing manual or spreadsheet work inside one organisation: structured forms, approval steps, workflow states, integrations with existing systems, and a full audit trail.

You can change every choice once the builder opens.

Core features for the MVP

Structured request forms with server-side validation
Configurable workflow states and permitted transitions
Approval steps routed by role or by amount
Assignment and reassignment with a clear current owner
Notifications when something needs a person's attention
Full audit trail of every state change and edit
Search and filtering across requests by state, owner, and date

Left for later

Workflow designer so operations can change steps without a deploy
Service-level timers with escalation on breach
Integration with the organisation's existing systems
Scheduled reporting on throughput and bottlenecks

Recommended stack

Section	Recommended
Language	TypeScript
Frontend framework	Next.js
UI and styling	Tailwind CSSshadcn/ui
Backend	Next.js server
API style	Server actions
Database engine	PostgreSQL
Database provider	Neon
ORM and data access	Drizzle
Authentication	Clerk
Authorization and roles	Role-based access control
Security	Input validationRate limitingSecurity headers and CSPSecrets managementAudit logs
File storage	AWS S3
Background jobs and cron	Inngest
Email and notifications	Resend
Hosting and deployment	Vercel
CI/CD	GitHub Actions
Monitoring and analytics	Sentry
Testing	VitestPlaywright
Extras	CSV and Excel import/exportAccessibility (WCAG)BackupsDocumentation

Data model draft

Request

One item moving through the workflow.

id
reference
workflowId
currentStateId
submittedById
assignedToId
formData
submittedAt
closedAt

Belongs to one Workflow
Has many Approvals
Has many AuditEntries

Workflow

A definition of the states and transitions a request may follow.

id
name
description
version
isActive

Has many WorkflowStates
Has many Requests

WorkflowState

One step, and who is allowed to move a request out of it.

id
workflowId
name
position
requiredRole
isTerminal

Belongs to one Workflow

Approval

A decision recorded against a request at one step.

id
requestId
stateId
approverId
decision
comment
decidedAt

Belongs to one Request
Belongs to one User as approver

AuditEntry

An immutable record of one change to a request.

id
requestId
userId
action
fromState
toState
createdAt

Belongs to one Request
Belongs to one User