Runs
Colorado river runs with gauge-backed CFS, runnable ranges, difficulty, hazards, and run detail pages.
RiverRat Colorado Beta docs
Product and engineering notes for the beta.
RiverRat is a social river-running app. The product promise is simple: the river is in, and paddlers can see who is going.
Product Surface
Trips
A paddler can create a trip against a run, set time and meeting details, and expose open spots to the community.
Crew
Trip detail answers the core social question: who is paddling, what skill level they are, and whether spots are open.
Messages
Trip crew chat and direct messages support shuttle timing, gear checks, and last-minute flow changes.
Architecture
Frontend
Next.js web beta now; React Native + Expo remains the iOS-first mobile path.
Backend
Supabase for custom auth, profiles, trips, members, join requests, notifications, and messages.
Realtime
Supabase Realtime and conversation tables support the current chat model.
River data
Shared USGS integration fetches CFS, water temperature when available, trend, and graceful fallbacks.
Testing
Node's built-in test runner with tsx covers shared logic, web utilities, and API route behavior.
Data Model
The beta already has the social primitives needed for trips: profiles, trip membership, join requests, conversation membership, messages, notifications, and friendships.
usersprofilesriversrunsgaugestripstrip_membersjoin_requestsconversationsconversation_membersmessagesflow_alertsnotificationsfriendships
90-Day Plan
Weeks 1-2
Prototype
Clickable app flow for home feed, run detail, create trip, trip page, profile, and chat. Test with 10 paddlers.
Weeks 3-6
MVP build
Auth, profiles, trip creation, join requests, crew membership, chat, and manually seeded Colorado run data.
Weeks 7-9
Flow integration
CFS display, runnable ranges, favorite runs, and basic flow notifications.
Weeks 10-12
Private beta
Launch in Colorado around Clear Creek, Arkansas, Gore, Poudre, Colorado River, Roaring Fork, and Fryingpan-area runs.
Development
Install
npm installRun web
npm run dev -w webRun tests
npm testBuild web
npm run build -w webLint web
npm run lint -w webCurrent Quality Bar
Unit tests cover shared river data, USGS parsing and graceful failure, web formatting helpers, flow status logic, and API 404 behavior. The web production build passes with USGS network failures handled as missing gauge data.