Everything starts with a counter.
A counter is one table of rows about one thing. Everything in Countdat either feeds rows, watches rows or acts on them.
The counter
rows, with a record of every change
Send a link. Whoever has it can tap.
A counter's tap screen works on any phone, with one big button. You choose who may tap - anyone with the link, or signed-in people.
- Talk or type a sentence - "two lattes and a flat white" - and it becomes rows.
- An Add form for the times a row needs a few fields.
- People are asked before anything about them is recorded, and asked again if what is recorded changes.
Files you have. Systems you run.
Files: CSV, spreadsheets (every table on every sheet), emails, PDFs and photos of documents. Every import is previewed before anything is written.
Jobs: a scheduled job reads your own MySQL database - read-only, always - and brings the rows in every hour, every morning, whatever you choose. Describe the job in a sentence; Countdat writes it and dry-runs it before you save.
Probes in pilot read a system's fixed health checks with no database login at all, over one signed request.
Ask a counter anything. Get a page back.
Countdat's analyst reads the counter's rows and writes the answer as a page: a headline, the number, a sentence on how much it rests on, and the charts, tables and cards that show it - laid out for a phone or a wide screen.
- Suggested questions come with every counter - one tap from an answer.
- Answers stay current. When the data moves, the answer is rewritten.
- History keeps every count it reached, so "it was 24 last week" is one tap away.
Share the live answer. Publish one that never moves.
Share an answer as a link. Publish a name for one and that page is fixed for good - safe to cite, even as the live answer moves on.
"Tell me when..." - and buttons on the rows.
An alert watches a counter and tells the people on a notify list - when a count crosses a line, when nothing has arrived for a day, whatever the rule says. It is checked against the real rows before it is saved.
Buttons on a counter's rows close a ticket, clear a flag or correct a value - each with its own icon, and a dry run on a real row before it is saved.
Describe it. See a preview from your real data. Say yes.
Counters, buttons, alerts, jobs and cards are designed in a chat. Nothing is saved until you say yes.
Count it. Ask it. Trust it.
Your first counter takes a few minutes. Your first answer takes one question.