Functional DemoBusiness Platform

PTO request tracker

Simple PTO request and approval workflow for small teams, with secure one-click approval links.

Timely PTO dashboard for Northwind Coffee Co. with cards for pending requests and people off, plus burnout watch, coverage gaps, utilization, and upcoming time off. — PTO dashboard

What it solves

Small teams handle time-off through texts, verbal requests, emails, sticky notes, and spreadsheets. Requests get lost, managers forget to respond, employees never learn if they are approved, PTO records stay unclear, and too many people can end up off at the same time.

Built for Small businesses and their managers, including contractors, home service companies, agencies, restaurants, warehouses, and startups.

Overview

Admins add employees, employees submit PTO requests, and each request appears in an inbox and notifies the assigned manager. Managers approve or deny in the app or through secure one-time approval links sent by email, the decision is recorded, and the employee is notified. A calendar shows who is off and when, and the app tracks simple PTO balances, conflict warnings against departments, blackout dates, and holidays, minimum-notice rules, settings, and CSV reports. It is deliberately scoped to stay a simple approval tool rather than a full HR platform.

What this demonstrates

Implements a secure one-time approval-token workflow with expiry and single-use enforcement that records who decided and when, simple PTO balance and accrual tracking, conflict detection across overlaps, blackout dates, holidays, and notice rules, company-scoped multi-tenant isolation, and a notification-provider abstraction.

What makes it different

Simple PTO approvals for small teams — request, notify, approve, logged, done, without becoming a full HR platform.

Stays simpleDeliberately not a full HRIS — no payroll, accrual rules, or approval chains in V1.
One-click approvalApproval should take one click whenever possible.
Fast requestsThe request form should take under 60 seconds to complete.
Secure approval linksOne-time tokens that expire, are tied to request and manager, and cannot be reused.
Warnings inform, not blockConflict warnings do not block approval unless settings require it.
Manual balancesAnnual allowance and remaining hours, no complex accrual math.

Core capabilities · 15

Employee directory
Add, edit, deactivate employees, assign managers, and set PTO allowances.
PTO request form
Simple form for type, dates, hours, and optional reason.
PTO inbox
One place to review pending, approved, denied, and canceled requests.
Approve/deny workflow
Records the decision, who made it, and when.
Secure approval linksOne-time tokens
Approve or deny from email without opening the app.
Email notifications
Notifies the assigned manager when a request is submitted.
SMS-ready message structure
Copyable SMS-ready message, with Twilio reply approval planned later.
Employee decision notifications
Notifies the employee in plain English when approved or denied.
PTO calendar
Monthly and weekly views of who is off, filterable by department and type.
PTO balance tracking
Deducts approved time, restores on cancel, warns when over balance.
Conflict alerts
Flags overlapping department time off, blackout dates, holidays, and notice rules.
Company holidays
Configured holidays shown on the calendar.
Blackout dates
Date ranges that trigger conflict warnings on requests.
Settings
Company details, PTO types, departments, default approver, and notice rules.
Reports and CSV export
PTO history, approved and pending requests, and balance reports with CSV export.

How it works

Admin adds employees
Employee submits a PTO request
Request appears in the admin inbox
Admin receives a notification
Admin approves or denies
System records the decision
Employee receives a notification
PTO calendar updates automatically

Key screens

Login
DashboardCurrent PTO situation at a glance: pending, upcoming, off today, conflicts.
Request Time Off
PTO Inbox
PTO Calendar
Employees
Settings

Data model

Company
User
Employee
PTORequest
PTOApprovalToken
CompanyHoliday
BlackoutDate
NotificationLog

Screens · 6

Request Time Off form with fields for team member, PTO type, start and end dates, total hours, and an optional reason. — Request time off form

PTO Inbox on the Pending tab showing three time-off requests from Evan Brooks, Alex Carter, and Caleb Nguyen with Approve and Deny buttons. — PTO inbox

Team page listing members with email, department, manager, and PTO balance, plus Edit and Deactivate actions and an Add team member button. — Team roster

PTO Reports page with status count cards, filters, CSV export buttons, a per-member balance table, and a request-history table. — PTO reports

PTO settings for Northwind Coffee Co. with company details, balance-tracking and accrual toggles, department chips, and PTO type chips. — PTO settings

How it is built

A Next.js/React frontend backed by Prisma over PostgreSQL, with custom session authentication (a required SESSION_SECRET guarded in production), notification adapters for Resend email and Twilio SMS that log to a NotificationLog when unset, and a scheduled accrual cron endpoint.

APIs and services

Resend
Twilio

Classification

Industries: Construction
Capabilities: Authentication Multi-Tenant Architecture Workflow Automation Notifications Scheduling Reporting Dashboards
Technologies: Docker Next.js Node.js PostgreSQL React Tailwind CSS TypeScript Prisma Zod

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