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Mobile & Community Platform

Pokhara’s treks, events and volunteering, in one app

Meerkat connects visitors and locals with the guides, hosts and NGOs of Pokhara. We designed and built the Flutter app, the TypeScript API behind it, and Meerkat 2.0: a ground-up rebuild that ships as an update to the same store listing.

Visit the Meerkat page App Store
2023
Year
10,000+
Active Volunteers
120+
NGO Projects
4.9 ★
Store Rating
Meerkat Today screen at golden hour over Phewa Lake
The challenge

One app for four kinds of people

Explorers want to find something to do and show up ready. Guides, hosts and NGOs need to list their activities, see who is coming and deal with trekking permits. Staff need to moderate a community.

On top of that, the 2.0 rebuild had to keep every v1 member signed in, feel like Pokhara rather than a generic listings app, and keep working when the signal drops on a trail.

  • Roles for explorers, guides, hosts, NGOs and admins, with moderation
  • Passport and permit details visible only to the guide and staff
  • A full rebuild without changing the app’s identity or signing anyone out
  • Offline mode for patchy mountain signal
What we built

A Flutter app on a typed API

Four parts, each owned end to end by our team.

  • Mobile app

    Flutter + BLoC

    Feature-first app for iOS and Android with go_router and Cubits, and its own design system: a living sky, prayer flags and stamps.

  • API

    TypeScript + Express

    REST API with Zod-validated routes and an OpenAPI spec, tested with Vitest and Supertest against a real Postgres.

  • Data

    PostgreSQL + Drizzle

    Typed schema and migrations. Deleting an account anonymises the member in one transaction, so other people’s threads stay whole.

  • Auth & services

    better-auth · Firebase · R2

    Email, Google and Apple sign-in; push, analytics and crash reports on Firebase; uploads on Cloudflare R2.

Highlights

What it does

Explore and join

  • Treks, events and volunteering with dates, prices, difficulty and spots left
  • Join in seconds, a reminder the evening before, add to calendar
  • ACAP, MCAP and GCAP trekking permits filed for members

Community

  • A community board for trail reports, tips and lost and found
  • Chats with guides, hosts and friends
  • Stories, badges and reviews

For organisers

  • List treks, events and volunteering days
  • See who’s coming and who’s interested, and message the group
  • Moderation and reporting tools for staff
Stack: #Flutter#TypeScript#Express#PostgreSQL#Drizzle ORM#Firebase#Cloudflare R2

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Our team in Pokhara designs and builds mobile apps, backends and the systems that connect them.

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