Alternative Asset Valuation and Opportunity Cost Comparison Engine
AltCost is an analytical web and desktop application designed to model historical dollar-cost averaging (DCA) and opportunity costs of recurring discretionary cash outflows against benchmark market indices (S&P 500 / SPY) and tangible alternative asset classes (Vintage Collectibles, Luxury Timepieces, Precious Metals, and Bitcoin).
- Historical Compounding Engine: Computes annualized returns (CAGR), net capital gains, and inflation-adjusted trajectories for daily, weekly, or monthly recurring allocations from 2015 to 2026.
- Tangible Asset Conversion: Translates accrued capital into tangible equivalent asset units alongside total market value.
- Interactive Trajectory Visualizer: Side-by-side comparative area charts with currency tooltips, custom date windows, and series toggling powered by Recharts.
- Preset Expense Profiles: Rapid baseline modeling for common recurring expenditure streams.
- Dual Web & Desktop Distribution: Unified codebase deployed as a responsive web application and packaged into standalone Windows executables via Electron.
- Automated Release Pipeline: CI/CD GitHub Actions workflow automating static deployment to GitHub Pages and artifact compilation for GitHub Releases.
- Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS, Lucide Icons
- Data Visualization: Recharts
- Desktop Packaging: Electron, Electron-Builder
- Build Tooling: Vite, PostCSS
- CI/CD: GitHub Actions (GitHub Pages + GitHub Releases)
- Node.js 18+
npmoryarn
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/valliente/altcost.git
cd altcost
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Start Vite web dev server
npm run devThe web application runs locally at http://localhost:5173.
npm run electron:devnpm run distOutput installers are generated in dist-electron/.
Pushing a version tag triggers .github/workflows/build-release.yml:
git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0- Web Deployment: Automatically compiles and pushes static assets to the
gh-pagesbranch. - Desktop Artifacts: Compiles standalone setup executables and attaches them to the tagged GitHub Release.
Distributed under the MIT License. Compound asset calculations are derived from historical index and auction data from 2015–2026 for modeling and educational purposes. Historical performance is not indicative of future returns.