Today, I reached another milestone with Carventory, a command-line application I’ve been developing using C++ on my Manjaro Linux computer! The idea behind Carventory came from wanting a better way to keep track of everything I have in my car, especially when I remove something and need to remember to put it back. Instead of creating a graphical interface, I wanted something that could run directly in the terminal and allow me to navigate through my inventory. Carventory also includes a separate section for information that should not be displayed alongside ordinary inventory items. Throughout development, I worked with ChatGPT and Mistral Vibe to build and test the application, troubleshoot compilation errors, recover from Git repository problems, and improve how the program works. One of the interesting parts of this project was seeing Mistral Vibe interact with Carventory and navigate its inventory.
After working through several challenges involving Snapcraft, Multipass, Linux file permissions, and Snap confinement, I successfully published Carventory 0.2.1 to the Snap Store’s edge channel on October 25, 2026! I also installed and tested the published version on my own computer. Because my computer sometimes crashes unexpectedly, preserving project files and recording progress were important parts of getting this release completed. I selected the Apache 2.0 license because I want developers and people using AI programming tools, including ChatGPT, Mistral Vibe, Claude, and Google AI, to be able to use, modify, and build upon the source code under the license’s terms. Carventory is now available on GitHub and the Snap Store, where Linux users can install the current edge release using sudo snap install carventory --edge. This project demonstrates how a relatively simple idea can turn into a useful application through experimentation, troubleshooting, and continued development.
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