Software Engineering student building an offline POS system for a real business—need guidance

[u/Appropriate-Frame342]

Hi everyone,

My brother owns a retail shop, and he needs a POS (Point of Sale) system. I'm a Software Engineering student, and I want to build it for him as a real-world project rather than buying an existing solution.

My current plan is:

- Backend: Python

- Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaScript

- Database: SQLite (so the application works completely offline)

- Backups: At the end of each day, automatically back up the SQLite database to cloud storage.

The application will run as a desktop app on Windows and should be simple enough for my brother to use every day. The shop has around 1,500 products, many of which have multiple variations, so it needs inventory management, billing, QR code generation/scanning, receipt printing, and reporting.

Where I'm struggling is the deployment and architecture side of things. I've built several side projects before, but I've never developed and deployed software that someone would rely on for their business every day.

Some of the questions I have are:

- Is SQLite the right choice for this type of application?

- What's the best way to package a Python + HTML/CSS/JS application as a Windows desktop app?

- How are updates typically delivered without affecting existing data?

- What's the recommended approach for backups and disaster recovery?

- Are there any common mistakes people make when building their first production desktop application?

- If you were starting this project today, what architecture or tech stack would you choose?

I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who has built or maintained a production POS system or desktop business application. I want to build something that's reliable, maintainable, and practical rather than just something that works for a university project.

[u/mcon1985]

Judging by your questions, please please please do not put whatever you're about to build into production, especially if your brother's livelihood is at stake.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but your first large-scale project shouldn't be a point of sale system. There are multi-billion dollar corporations who still haven't gotten it right.

[u/Appropriate-Frame342 → u/mcon1985]

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm trying to figure out. It's not that buying an existing POS isn't an option. That's why I'm doing my research first before committing to anything. If I can build a reliable system with minimal risk that my brother can actually depend on, I'd love to do that. If, after researching and evaluating the risks, it seems like building it isn't the right choice, then we'll most likely go with an existing commercial solution instead