November 15, 2025

Building a Smart Vendor Onboarding MVP in 48 Hours

The hackathon clock was ticking. 48 hours to build a functional, polished MVP for a complex problem: vendor onboarding. This is the story of how PromptCraft went from an idea to a working demo.

The Stack

We chose a modern, flexible stack to enable rapid development without sacrificing quality:

  • Next.js App Router: For a robust, server-first foundation.
  • TypeScript: To keep our codebase clean and maintainable.
  • Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui: For a beautiful, accessible UI without the fuss.
  • Framer Motion: To add those delightful micro-interactions.
  • Vercel: For seamless, instant deployment.

The Core Challenge: AI-Powered Extraction

The heart of PromptCraft is its ability to understand documents. We leveraged a combination of OCR services and a Large Language Model (LLM) to create a flexible extraction pipeline. The process looks like this:

  1. Document Upload (PDF, JPG, PNG)
  2. OCR to extract raw text
  3. LLM prompt to identify and structure key-value pairs (e.g., "Find the Taxpayer ID Number").
  4. Return structured JSON to the frontend.

For the hackathon, we mocked this pipeline to focus on the user experience, but the API contract is designed to be swapped with a real backend service.

Lessons Learned

Building this MVP was a whirlwind. Key takeaways:

  • Mock APIs Early: Defining the API contract and using a mock server from day one was crucial for parallelizing frontend and backend work (even if the "backend" was just a mock).
  • Component-Driven UI is Fast: Using shadcn/ui and building reusable components allowed us to assemble complex screens quickly.
  • Focus on the Core Loop: We prioritized the "happy path" of a single document being uploaded, processed, and reviewed. Everything else was secondary.

We're incredibly proud of what we accomplished in just 48 hours. This is just the beginning for PromptCraft.