MERIT

Mass Email and Inventory Tool for VEI Firms

MERIT is the productivity platform built for Virtual Enterprise International firms. Send personalized order confirmation emails to hundreds of customers in seconds, manage a professional product catalog, and track live inventory — all from one dashboard. No coding required.

Get Started · Pages Overview · API Endpoints

What MERIT Does

Bulk Email Sending — Deliver personalized order confirmation emails to your entire customer list in one click.

Inventory Sync — Stock levels deduct automatically each time an order email goes out, so your numbers are always accurate.

Image Hosting — Built-in integration with Freeimage.host and Imghippo. Upload multiple images per product and MERIT handles the rest.

Financials — Revenue overview, monthly breakdowns, a full ledger, and per-product sales reporting.

Secure Access — Individual user accounts with role-based access control. Admins manage who sees what.

Cloud Storage — Turso (primary) and Supabase (optional) keep your data synchronized and accessible from any device.

Excel Import — Drop in a VEI Checkout Excel export and eliminate manual data entry entirely.

Hardware Recommendations

MERIT runs on Streamlit, which can have performance issues on school-issued Chromebooks. For the smoothest experience, use a personal laptop or a school-provided VE laptop.

Getting Started

Important

Use your official VEI Firm Email for all account registrations — Supabase, Turso, Gmail SMTP, and Image Hosting — so that access carries over to future firm members.

Note

After deploying, open your app and go to Get Started inside the app. It walks through every step interactively with status indicators. The sections below are a complete reference copy of that same guide.

0. Fork and Deploy to Streamlit Cloud

Start here. You need a running app before you can configure anything.

Create your repository from this template

1. Go to the MERIT GitHub repository page.
2. Click Use this Template in the top right corner.
3. Under Owner, select your firm's GitHub account.
4. Name the repository (e.g. MERIT-Nova) and create it. It must be public.
5. You now have your own copy of MERIT.

Deploy on Streamlit Cloud

1. Go to share.streamlit.io and sign in with the same GitHub account.
2. Click Create app.
3. Under Repository, select your forked MERIT repository.
4. Set the Main file path to app.py.
5. Click Deploy. Streamlit will build and launch your app in about a minute.
6. Once live you will receive a public URL (e.g. https://yourname-merit-app-xxxxx.streamlit.app). Share this with your firm.

Step 1 — Create Your Admin Account (Do This First)

Create at least one Admin user so you can sign in after setup is complete.

After setup is done (secrets saved and app reboots), go to Settings → Team to invite additional team members. They receive a shareable link and set their own password — no credential sharing needed.

Roles control which pages each person can see. Three built-in roles cover most firms:

Role	Access
Admin	All pages including Settings
Staff	Mass Email, Products, Inventory, Financials
Viewer	Read-only access to Products and Inventory

You can also create custom roles with exactly the page permissions your firm needs.

To create your first user:

1. Open your deployed app — the Get Started page appears automatically.
2. Under Step 1, fill in Full Name, Email, Role, and Password.
3. Click Create User.

Step 2 — Connect a Cloud Database

MERIT needs a cloud database so your products, inventory, users, and financials persist even when the app restarts. Connect Turso (recommended) or Supabase — or both for redundancy. Both are free for VEI firms.

Option A — Turso (Recommended)

Turso is a fast, distributed SQLite database — simple to set up and free for VEI firms.

1. Sign in to Turso

Go to turso.tech and sign in with your VE email.

2. Create your database

1. On the Databases page, click Create database.
2. Name — enter your organization name (e.g. bluepeak-ventures).
3. Leave the Group as the default.
4. Click Create database.

3. Copy your Database URL

On the database page, look in the Connect section and copy the libsql:// link. It looks like: libsql://[your-org-name]-[username].turso.io

Paste it into Settings → Database → Turso → Database URL.

4. Get your Auth Token

Right below the libsql:// URL on your database page you will see a Create a token link — click it.

• Expiration: 1 year
• Authorization: Read & Write

Click Create and copy the long string that appears (starts with eyJ…).

Paste it into Settings → Database → Turso → Auth Token.

Warning

This is a database-specific token. Do NOT use the Platform API token from the sidebar avatar menu — that token only manages Turso itself and will be rejected with a 401 error.

5. Set up tables

In MERIT go to Settings → Database and click Setup Turso Tables. This creates all MERIT tables in your Turso database and syncs your users and roles from Step 1.

Option B — Supabase

Supabase is a PostgreSQL-based cloud database. It works well for larger firms or those already using Supabase.

1. Sign up at Supabase

Go to supabase.com → Sign Up with your VE email.

2. Create a new project

Field	What to enter
Organization	Your VE email (pre-selected)
Project name	Your VEI firm name (e.g. BluePeak Ventures)
Database password	Create your own — do NOT use Generate. Write it down.
Region	Closest to your location

Click Create new project and wait about 60 seconds.

3. Get your connection string

1. Click the green Connect button at the top right.
2. Select the Session Pooler tab.
3. Copy the connection string: postgresql://postgres.xxxxxxxxxxxx:[YOUR-PASSWORD]@aws-0-us-east-1.pooler.supabase.com:5432/postgres
4. Go to Settings → Database and paste it, then click Setup Tables.

4. Get your Anon Key (for API Endpoints)

1. Supabase Dashboard → gear icon → Project Settings → API.
2. Under Legacy API keys → copy the anon / public key (starts with eyJ…).
3. Paste it into Settings → Database → Supabase Anon Key.

Step 3 — Set Up Image Hosting

Product images must be hosted online to appear in emails and on your storefront. Pick one free service and use your official VE email when signing up.

Option A — Freeimage.host (recommended)

1. Go to freeimage.host and sign in.
2. Click the top-left menu → API → copy your API key.
3. Paste it into Settings → Image Hosting.

Option B — Imghippo

1. Go to imghippo.com → create a free account.
2. Go to Settings → API Keys → copy the API Version 1 key.
3. Paste it into Settings → Image Hosting.

Step 4 — Configure Gmail SMTP

MERIT sends order emails via your official VE Gmail account. An App Password is required for secure authentication.

1. Go to myaccount.google.com → Security → enable 2-Step Verification.
2. Search for App passwords → create one named MERIT Email.
3. Copy the 16-character password Google shows you.
4. In Settings → Email, paste your VE Gmail address and the App Password.

Step 5 — Set Sender Identity

Controls who the email appears to come from.

1. In Settings → Email, fill in Sender Identity:
   • From Name — Your VEI firm name (e.g. Acme VEI).
   • Default Subject Line — e.g. Your order from Acme VEI.

Step 6 — Save Secrets TOML (Final Step)

Streamlit Cloud forgets everything on reboot. Saving a Secrets TOML makes all your credentials permanent.

1. Go to Settings → Secrets TOML and copy the generated code block.
2. In Streamlit Cloud, click Manage app (bottom-right) → ⋮ → Settings → Secrets.
3. Paste the code and click Save.
4. The app reboots and Get Started disappears from the sidebar — setup is complete.

Pages Overview

Page	What it does
Get Started	Interactive setup wizard — walks through all six steps with live status indicators
Mass Email	Upload CSV orders, send bulk emails, manage templates and campaigns
Products	Add, edit, and delete products with images and descriptions
Inventory	Stock overview, adjust stock, original stock tracking, and outbound logs
Financials	Revenue overview, ledger, order history, and product revenue breakdowns
Settings	All credentials — Turso, Supabase, email, image hosting, and team management
API Endpoints	Pre-built SQL and JavaScript code to connect your website to the live database

Database Architecture

MERIT uses a three-layer database approach.

Layer	Role
Turso (primary cloud)	Recommended. Distributed SQLite — fast, free, and no extra packages required. All reads and writes hit Turso when connected.
Supabase (secondary cloud)	Optional PostgreSQL backup. Also provides the Anon Key for storefront API access.
SQLite (local cache)	Always present. Used for initial setup before cloud credentials are saved, and as an offline fallback.

When both Turso and Supabase are connected, MERIT writes to all three simultaneously so your data is always consistent. See docs/database.md for technical details.

API Endpoints

Connect your storefront website (Bolt.new, Lovable, Cursor, etc.) directly to your MERIT database for real-time product and inventory data.

Table	Purpose
inventory	Live stock levels and product details for your storefront catalog
products	Clean catalog listing for external integration and display
outbound_logs	Audit trail of sent emails including subtotal, tax, and shipping data

Tip

Use the API Endpoints page inside the app to access pre-generated SQL and JavaScript code for fast integration.

Privacy and Security

Direct Connection — Data travels directly from your application to Gmail, Turso, and Supabase. Nothing passes through a third party.

Full Ownership — All credentials are stored exclusively in your Streamlit Secrets or local configuration files. We never see them.

Open Source — The full source code is available for review so your firm can verify exactly what MERIT does with your data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to know how to code? No coding is required. Setup involves copying and pasting configuration keys from one service into another.

Which database should I use — Turso or Supabase? Start with Turso. It is simpler to set up, requires no extra Python packages, and is free for VEI firms. Add Supabase later if you need the Anon Key for storefront API access or want a PostgreSQL backup.

Can multiple people use MERIT at the same time? Yes. Once Turso or Supabase is connected, all firm members can manage inventory and send emails simultaneously using their own accounts.

What if Streamlit is blocked at school? Some school networks block Streamlit. Use a personal device to complete the initial setup. Once your Secrets TOML is saved, the app is accessible from any browser on any network.

Can I set up MERIT on my phone? Yes. The setup steps work from a phone or tablet browser. Open your Streamlit app URL, fill in your credentials, and copy the Secrets TOML before the session ends.

What happens if Streamlit restarts? Streamlit Cloud restarts periodically and clears local files. Your Secrets TOML preserves all credentials, and Turso/Supabase preserve all your data. The app resumes exactly where it left off.

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Built for VEI Firms worldwide.