My name is Markus. I love developing things and writing small projects. Sometimes, I can't find a suitable solution, or all available options are too expensive for what they offer individually. So, I program it myself.
Over time, many small projects piled up—scattered and disconnected. I want to make life easier, which is why I optimize a lot.
When my wife was surprised to find something in the pantry that we had long forgotten—and naturally, it had expired—I had an idea to build a little helper for this too. The principle: AI first. This means, especially for inventory management, as little as possible should be managed manually.
No manual additions. No manual updates. A quick photo of a shopping basket or receipt, and the items should be added. A quick photo and 'consumed' should remove it from the list.
Since a pantry naturally suggests a shopping list, it wouldn't be bad to have that directly in the same app. Just take a quick photo of a product from a flyer or a handwritten shopping list, and it should be in the app. Ideally, you can just look at it while shopping, and once checked off, it gets automatically added to the inventory.
And so, Mottainai was born. In Japanese, it roughly means "what a waste" or "needlessly squandered." I find it very fitting, because not only do we want to avoid wasting food when it goes bad (and we eat most things past their expiration date as if we intend to), but I also see it as a synonym for all my small helper apps. They could help others too, but instead, they gather dust—and it's a shame about the time spent building them if they remain unused.
I will slowly try to transfer all my helpers into Mottainai. Thus, its versatility will grow and go beyond the general principle of inventory management. The approach remains the same for all tools: AI first. Whether it's a calendar or a to-do list in a Kanban board. The AI is very good at keeping such things up to date.
An appointment on Monday in 3 weeks? Just that sentence, and it's entered correctly. No opening the app, finding the date, or adding it with the right values.
Even though we talk about 'AI first,' Mottainai should also have its value in manual operation. It shouldn't compromise if you want to take your time with AI or consciously avoid it. No data is sent automatically anywhere, and AI is not a requirement.
This is how I use the Kanban board, for example. While going for a walk, I enter things that cross my mind—often that's easier than asking the AI. An important principle: you shouldn't feel forced to do something one way or another. Everyone finds their own way.
I hope this gives you an insight into its creation and also shows you its forward-thinking nature. Currently, Mottainai is still in a closed alpha. This will be gradually rolled out over time.