There are several administrative tasks I need to perform regularly in UPC Code Manager; bulk orders (yay!), refunds (boo!), checking and refilling inventory.

Right now, I manage these through a series of lightweight node scripts. They are easy to run, but they do require a bit of mindshare, since there is a little bit of room for bad error.

Users are able to purchase a "pack" of codes, and then "spend" them in two independant actions. In that cents (🙄) UPC Code Manager acts like a UPC "Bank" where my currency is the codes themselves, and I act as a custodian for thousands of merchants at any given time.

For that reason, I'd prefer not store the logic for the administrative work, which typically gets performed in "god mode" stored on the servers and exposed over the public internet.

It is not a crazy-hard security project, but I am like any good engineer, lazy. Additionally after running UPC Code Manager in public for a year, I have grown quite fond of passive income, and will do anything I can to avoid any flavor of active income, unless I am quite certain the work performed will return multiples (more on that in a later article).