LocalEdge AI

Know Before You Open. — AI Business Launch Intelligence for local brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs.

Validate demand, analyze competitors, optimize pricing, and get a GO / PIVOT / AVOID verdict powered by Perplexity Deep Research and Google Maps.

Hackathon demo flow

1. Open the app → Analyze My Business Idea (live APIs) or View Sample Report (instant demo)
2. Complete the 4-step intake wizard
3. Perplexity deep research runs in the background (1–5 min) while Google Maps loads competitors
4. Walk through 9 intelligence dashboards → AI Executive Command Center

Tech stack

• Vite + React + TypeScript + Tailwind
• Netlify (paid) — static site + serverless functions
• Perplexity deep-research via background function + polling
• Google Maps Geocoding, Places Nearby, Place Details
• Netlify Blobs for research job state

Local development

npm install
npm run dev          # UI only (functions need netlify dev)
npm run dev:netlify  # UI + functions at http://localhost:8888

Environment variables (Netlify)

Variable	Required	Description
PERPLEXITY_API_KEY	Yes (live)	Perplexity Agent API — deep-research preset
GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY	Yes (live)	Server key: Geocoding, Places API
SITE_ID	Yes (live)	Netlify → Site configuration → General → Site ID
NETLIFY_BLOB_STORE_TOKEN	Yes (live)	Personal access token (Blobs scope)
VITE_GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY	No	Same key, referrer-restricted for map embed
VITE_USE_MOCK	No	true = skip APIs

Enable in Google Cloud: Geocoding API, Places API, Maps JavaScript API.

Deploy to Netlify (paid)

1. Push to Smilingtimes/Cursor-Winner-
2. Netlify → Add site → Import from Git
3. Build: npm run build · Publish: dist · Functions: netlify/functions
4. Add env vars above
5. research-start-background is a background function (the -background filename suffix is what makes Netlify run it async, up to ~15 min on paid plans)

Production diagnostic

Open https://YOUR-SITE.netlify.app/.netlify/functions/diagnostics — checks API keys and Netlify Blobs read/write.

If you see uncachedEdgeURL or demo data mode:

1. Add SITE_ID and NETLIFY_BLOB_STORE_TOKEN in Netlify env vars (required — not optional)
2. Redeploy the site
3. Visit /.netlify/functions/diagnostics — all checks must be ok: true

Smoke test

• Landing + View Sample Report → full dashboards (no keys)
• New analysis with keys → progress UI → real report
• If Perplexity/Maps fail → demo data banner on Market Validation

API architecture

Intake submit
  → maps-data (sync) — Google Geocoding + Nearby + Details
  → research-init (sync) — creates jobId in Netlify Blobs
  → research-start-background (background) — Perplexity deep-research
  → research-status (poll) — returns pending | complete | error

Screens

Route	Screen
/	Landing
/sample	Load Harvest & Hearth sample report
/intake	Business intake wizard
/validation	Market validation
/customer-gap	Customer gap analysis
/competitive	Competitive intelligence
/pricing	Pricing intelligence
/setup	Business setup assistant
/financial	Financial feasibility
/brand	Brand positioning
/roadmap	30-day launch roadmap
/command-center	AI verdict

License

MIT — hackathon demo.