How I Built a WhatsApp Receipt Cleaner in 10 Days to Solve a Real Freelance Pain

I recently built a tool called WhatsApp Receipt Cleaner in 10 days, and it’s probably the most satisfying project I’ve shipped as a developer so far.

🤔 The Problem

I use WhatsApp a lot for client work, especially small freelance jobs. But when it comes time to look back at who paid what, or find old payment confirmations—it’s a mess.

Exporting chats gives you a .txt file, but digging through it is frustrating. Payment amounts are buried in long threads, emojis, and random banter. I needed something cleaner.

🛠 The Solution

So I built a simple web app where you:

• Upload your exported .txt WhatsApp chat
• It filters messages that contain currency values like R500, $200, or €100.00
• Displays a clean, timestamped list (date, sender, message)
• Exports the results to PDF

All of it runs in the browser. No backend, no data storage—just a fast, focused tool that does one thing really well.

⚙️ Tech Stack

• Next.js 15 App Router
• TypeScript
• Tailwind CSS + shadcn/ui
• jsPDF for exporting

📦 Try It Out

👉 https://whatsappp-reciept-cleaner.vercel.app/

It's 100% free and open to feedback.

🧠 What I Learned

• Building a tool for yourself = 10x more motivation
• Tiny projects are the fastest way to learn + ship
• A clear pain point is better than a “big idea”
• Frontend-only tools can still create value

If you’ve got any thoughts, feedback, or similar tools you’ve made, drop them below. Always keen to learn from others building useful stuff.