# Pet Parent App

> A consumer app for pet parents: health records, weight and nutrition tracking, expenses, family sharing, and an in-app AI companion called Lorem. I run the platform behind it.

URL: https://www.mnthan.com/work/pet-parent-app
Year: April 2025 - Present
Role: Platform
Tags: Flutter, Dart, Node.js, Express, MongoDB, AWS, GitLab CI/CD
Live: https://www.happypet.care

- app downloads: 12K+
- in-app AI companion: Lorem
- + DevOps: CTO

The Pet Parent App (it ships as Happy Pet Care) is the consumer side of the Happy Pet platform. It keeps a pet's medical records, weight history, nutrition, and expenses in one place, lets a family share a pet's profile, and includes a small social network for pet parents. It also has Lorem, an AI companion that answers the everyday questions pet parents have about health, diet, training, and behaviour.

I'm CTO of the platform behind it, and I run the infrastructure.

## How it's built

The client is Flutter and Dart, one codebase for iOS and Android. It talks to a Node.js and Express API on MongoDB, which powers profiles, records, the social graph, and Lorem's integrations. The AI logic deliberately lives server-side rather than in the app, so prompts, context, and safety rules can change without waiting on an app store review. I wrote about that decision in [Building Lorem, the AI companion in our pet app](/writing/ai-companion-pet-app).

## Where it stands

Live on iOS and Android, with more than 12,000 downloads across the App Store and Play Store. Most of the current work is on Lorem, the social features, and scaling the backend as the user base grows.

## Features

- Health & Wellness: Medical records, weight tracking, and nutrition guidance with recipes, so a pet's health history lives in one place.
- Lorem, the AI Companion: An in-app AI that answers everyday questions about health, diet, training, and behaviour, using what the app already knows about the pet.
- Family & Social: Family members share a pet's profile, and pet parents can connect with others nearby and share photos.
- Expense Tracking: Vet bills and day-to-day costs, tracked against each pet.

## Challenges

- One App, Two Platforms: The app is Flutter and Dart, one codebase shipping to both iOS and Android. It talks to a Node.js and Express API on MongoDB, and keeping that API clean is what lets the client stay thin and evolve quickly.
- Mobile Release Discipline: An app release can't be patched the way a web deploy can, so as much logic as possible lives in the backend, which ships through GitLab CI/CD onto AWS. That includes the AI integrations, so prompts and safety rules can change without an app store release.