HeadsUp

Inspiration

I wanted a simple, effective way for people in Hawai‘i to find food trucks, live music, and local pop-up events in real time, while giving small vendors a free, easy tool to reach their community without relying on social media algorithms.

What it does

HeadsUp lets fans discover who is active nearby and follow food trucks, musicians, markets and pop-up events in real time. Vendors can post live updates, share their location, menus, and event info using an app interface, instantly notifying their followers. Vendors can also add events to a calendar that auto-updates the map so fans can see where they’ll be in the future.

How I built it

I built HeadsUp using Bolt for the front end, Supabase for the backend, and Mapbox for live location sharing. The app supports vendor and fan dashboards, image uploads, live location updates, calendar scheduling, and filtering by island, category, and distance. Although it was built for Hawai‘i, it’s fully set up to work anywhere in the world. I

Challenges I ran into

I ran into challenges managing conflicts between scheduled events on the calendar and real-time location updates, and in automating scheduled vendors to appear on the map. I had some trouble early on with auth stalling out and crashing the app. Also for some reason Bolt could not remember to escape the '>' character in JSX elements no matter how many times I told it or how I added it to the project knowledge. I would have to point the error out after it crashed the app every time.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I created a clean, functional system that works well on mobile, allows instant updates, and gives vendors a tool they can use easily while operating their business. I kept it community-first while ensuring it can scale globally. I do not have a lot of experience programming this way so it was really satisfying to complete the vision I had in my head.

What I learned

I learned about connecting location and database. Mapbox took some reading to understand, as did Supabase. I learned that even straightforward features like scheduling and live locations require careful logic to avoid conflicts and confusion, and that managing live maps takes a balance between automation and clear status indicators. And that I can vibe code an app with Bolt that actually works. Like really works.

What's next for HeadsUp

Next, I will add push notifications, in-app messaging, and improved calendar tools for recurring events and one-time pop-ups. I plan to test live with local vendors while opening the platform for global use, helping fans and vendors stay connected wherever they are. I want to make it into a real company.

Built With

• bolt
• mapbox
• react
• supabase
• tailwind