MealCircle: A Retention-First Nutrition Coaching SaaS

MealCircle is my own product, not a client engagement. I designed, built and operate it as the sole engineer, and it is the system I point to when someone asks whether I have shipped healthcare software end-to-end myself.

What it is

A retention-first clinical nutrition SaaS for dietitians and nutrition practices. Coaches lose clients between sessions because nothing keeps the client connected to their care plan between appointments. MealCircle is that layer: meal logging and progress tracking in a mobile app for patients, and a web app for coaches with the client's adherence trend, messaging, and alerts when someone is falling off.

Why retention-first changes the data model

Most nutrition apps model meals. MealCircle models adherence: each log entry is a data point on the relationship between what the coach recommended and what the client actually did. That is what lets the platform score adherence over time and surface drifting clients to the coach before the next session, rather than after a no-show.

Architecture

• Multi-tenant from the first migration: every table carries the practice identifier and PostgreSQL row-level security enforces isolation in the database, not just in application code. Each practice is a separate covered entity, so a cross-tenant leak would be a breach regardless of cause.
• Google Cloud, built to HIPAA requirements: Cloud SQL for PostgreSQL with Cloud KMS encryption at rest, Cloud Audit Logs enabled before the first user, Secret Manager for every credential, TLS everywhere, and a BAA in place with the cloud provider and every service that can see patient data.
• Stripe subscription billing on a per-practice flat rate with usage-based add-ons, with subscription state reconciled from webhooks.
• An EHR integration path designed around FHIR R4 rather than per-vendor connectors, so a practice's EHR can be connected when it exposes FHIR.

What it proves for a client build

The same patterns I use on client platforms were exercised here under my own name: tenant isolation, audit logging, managed infrastructure that keeps operations small enough for one engineer, and billing built early instead of "later". The technical write-ups are in the MealCircle articles under insights.