PixelTrack
One calm place for clients, projects, time and money: twelve connected tools for freelancers and small studios, with a password vault even the server can’t open.
- Role
- Founder: product, UX & full-stack engineering
- Year
- 2026
- Stack
- ReactReact RouterViteFramer MotionWeb Crypto APIStripePWA
The problem
Running a freelance business meant living in seven tabs: a CRM for leads, a board for tasks, a timer, an invoicing tool, a spreadsheet for expenses, a password manager for client logins, and sticky notes for everything that fell between them.
None of them knew about the others. Hours tracked on Monday had to be retyped into an invoice on Friday. Client credentials lived in shared spreadsheets. The admin work was eating the billable work.
Constraints
Built by one person, with no venture money and no appetite for feature bloat. Every screen had to earn its place and be learnable in an afternoon.
The vault had to be genuinely zero-knowledge: encrypted in the browser before anything leaves it. That rules out the usual “forgot password” safety net, so recovery had to be designed in from day one rather than bolted on.
Approach
I mapped the whole freelance lifecycle as a single chain (lead, client, project, time entry, invoice, profit) and gave each link exactly one tool. Each tool is small on its own, but every record carries its context forward: a time entry already knows its client, its rate and whether it’s billable.
Twelve tools need wayfinding, so each one gets its own color across navigation, cards and reports. A global command search reaches clients, projects, invoices and tasks from anywhere.
For the vault I designed the security UX as carefully as the cryptography: a Pixel Key plus the account password, a printable Emergency Kit, an optional Recovery Code, trusted devices and a configurable auto-lock, each explained in plain language at the moment it matters.
Less is more. We don’t chase feature counts. We chase clarity. Every tool should feel invisible until you need it, then indispensable when you do.
What I built
PixelTrack ships as a fast, installable web app with twelve connected tools: leads, clients, services, projects, boards, time, sites, invoices, expenses, calendar, lists and passwords.
Client data is encrypted at rest with authenticated AES-256-GCM; sessions use HttpOnly secure cookies with short-lived tokens, and sign-in supports email-based two-factor authentication with trusted devices.
- 01
A pipeline you actually keep up to date
Leads live on a board with your own stages. Drag a prospect forward, log the call, set the follow-up, move on.
- 02
Boards per project, requests through a link
Clients submit requests through a public link and they land straight in the column you choose.
- 03
A timer that remembers who to bill
Every entry knows its client, rate and billable status, so nothing gets lost by Friday.
- 04
Unbilled hours become an invoice
Pull unbilled time into line items, send a branded PDF, let reminders chase it. Partial and recurring payments included.
- 05
Books that already know
Expenses, subscriptions, profit & loss and sales-tax reports update the moment a payment lands.
- 06
Passwords only you can read
AES-256-GCM in the browser via the Web Crypto API. Shared folders stay end-to-end encrypted between teammates.
Results
PixelTrack is live at pixeltrack.io and runs real client work every day, including TruLight Studio’s own.
Pricing stays honest: a free Starter tier forever, Pro at $19/month and Studio at $49/month for teams, both with a 14-day trial and no card required. Downgrades never delete data: items above a plan’s limits simply go inactive.
What’s next
Deeper client-facing views built on the request link, smarter invoice reminders based on each client’s payment history, and a mobile-first timer that lives one tap from the home screen.