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Better Call Sohal
Better Call Sohal

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Why I Built a 100% Offline Insurance Broker Suite with Tauri & SQLite (No Cloud, Zero Subscriptions)

#rust #webdev #opensource #showdev

For the past 8 months, I’ve been building PelSure — an offline-first Windows desktop suite designed specifically for independent insurance brokers and small agencies.

Most insurance agency management systems (AMS) like Applied Epic or EZLynx follow a predictable pattern:

  • $150 to $500 per month per seat.
  • All confidential client data lives in someone else's cloud.
  • 500 MB+ bloated Electron installers that chew through RAM.
  • Total vendor lock-in with tedious migration paths.

I wanted to challenge that entire model. Independent brokers shouldn't have to surrender their client books or pay thousands of dollars a year just to quote policies and keep track of renewals.

Here is the technical and architectural breakdown of how I built an offline-first alternative that runs in an 8 MB footprint.

🛠️ The Tech Stack

Instead of bundling Chromium and Node.js via Electron, I went with Tauri 2.0:

  • Desktop Shell: Tauri 2.0 (Rust backend leveraging system native WebView2)
  • Frontend: React 18 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS
  • Database: Local SQLite powered by Drizzle ORM
  • State Management: Zustand
  • Icons: Phosphor Icons (enterprise design system)
  • Packaging: NSIS Windows Installer (~9.6 MB total download)

Why Local SQLite Over Cloud SaaS?

In insurance brokerage, data sovereignty is everything. Brokers handle confidential commercial records, vehicle fleets, health details, and premium schedules. Regulations like UK GDPR, Singapore MAS, and India DPDPA place immense liability on data breaches.

By using local SQLite:

  1. Zero telemetry & zero third-party leakage: Data literally never leaves the broker's Windows hardware.
  2. Instant reads and writes: Complex multi-insurer premium comparisons execute in single-digit milliseconds without network latency.
  3. True offline capability: Brokers working on site or in remote areas can quote, issue schedules, and manage books with zero internet connection.

Key Features Shipped

  1. Multi-Insurer Quoting Matrix: Instant side-by-side premium breakdown across Motor, Fire, Marine, and Personal Accident policies.
  2. 5-Lane Master Migration Center: Spreadsheet ingestion engine with Zod schema validation that imports from Excel, CSV, EZLynx, Applied Epic, or HawkSoft with auto-deduplication.
  3. Direct WhatsApp Schedule Dispatch: Generates schedule summaries and deep-links directly into desktop WhatsApp to message clients with one click — zero SMS gateway fees.
  4. Local Document Generator: Generates print-ready proposal PDFs and receipts locally inside the WebView.

Free Beta for Independent Brokers

The core desktop application is 100% free forever for independent brokers.

Would love feedback from the dev community on our offline-first architecture and performance!

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