Claude turns a huge nail polish spreadsheet into a personal app
During law school, the author built an elaborate hobby project: a with about 20 tabs meticulously cataloguing a large nail polish collection, including finishes, stamping plates used, and manicure history, complete with a custom-built search function. The mobile app proved clunky and space-heavy, making it hard to browse the collection on the go.
Existing dedicated apps for tracking polish either didn't fit the specific needs or required ongoing monthly fees, and re-entering over 1,000 polishes manually into a new app wasn't practical. So the author used Claude to build a personal app that works directly with the existing data instead.
Key points
- A law student catalogued a large nail polish collection across ~20 tabs in , including a custom search feature
- Existing tracking apps didn't fit their needs or required monthly fees, and re-entering 1,000+ items was impractical
- Claude was used to build a personal app that reuses the existing data directly
- Chose a self-built custom tool over subscribing to an off-the-shelf app