Restaurants (Windows desktop app)
Timeline Restaurants POS
Free offline restaurant POS for Windows. Tables, dine-in/takeout/delivery, recipe-based inventory, EOD reports, local backup. Ships as a single 96 MB installer.
- Software Cost
- $0/mo
- Card Cut
- 0%
- Offline
- 100%
01Timeline Restaurants POS: The Challenge
Independent restaurants on processor-bundled POS pay a cut of every card sale (Square's free plan charges 2.6% + 15¢ per in-person card payment in the USA, roughly $4,700 a year on $15K of monthly card sales) and can lose service when the Wi-Fi drops. We wanted to ship a free Windows POS that took no card cut and ran fully offline.
02Timeline Restaurants POS: The Solution
Built a single-installer Windows POS on local SQLite with table management, modifier groups, recipe-based inventory, EOD reports and zip backups. 198+ country presets and full sales-tax configuration. We don't process cards. Operators bring whatever merchant account they already use.
03Timeline Restaurants POS: The Results
First public release (v1.0.0) in May 2026; the current version, 2.0.0, ships as a single 96 MB Windows installer with tables and bar seats, dine-in, takeout and delivery orders, menu modifiers, recipe-based inventory, end-of-day reports and local zip backup. It is free to download from timelinedigi.com/timeline-restaurants-pos, and restaurants that need multi-location sync or a kitchen display can have it extended through custom POS development.
Technology stack
Services on this build
At a glance
Timeline Digital (in-house product). These are facts about the product itself, not results measured at a client.
$0/mo
Software Cost
0%
Card Cut
100%
Offline
Why this tech stack
We pick technology based on the production load, the integration footprint and the long-term maintenance reality, not the latest framework on Hacker News. For Timeline Restaurants POS, the stack we chose:
Electron
In production use on this build.
Windows
In production use on this build.
SQLite
In production use on this build.
Node.js
In production use on this build.
TypeScript
In production use on this build.
ESC/POS
In production use on this build.
Questions about this build
How long did the Timeline Restaurants POS build take?
6 months. We worked with short, regular updates and a working demo at each check-in, so progress stayed visible throughout the build.
What technology did Timeline Digital use to build Timeline Restaurants POS?
Electron, Windows, SQLite, Node.js, TypeScript, ESC/POS. We pick the stack based on the production load, integration requirements and the team's long-term maintenance capacity, not the latest framework on Hacker News.
What industry was Timeline Restaurants POS built for?
Restaurants (Windows desktop app). The patterns we used here transfer to similar businesses with comparable scale and regulatory requirements. Reach out if you operate in this space and want a similar build.
Can Timeline Digital build something similar for our team?
Yes. We start by understanding how your team works, plan the solution around your workflow, select the right technology, and build a free pilot of your most important modules before the full project. An NDA can be signed before you share sensitive details, and the project source code is yours on full payment. Book a free first call and we will walk you through it.
More of our work
Timeline POS for Retail
Free offline retail POS for Windows. Billing, inventory, customer management, sales tax and sales reports. No subscription, no transaction fees.
HR & Payroll (Windows desktop app)Timeline Payroll
Free offline payroll software for Windows: employees, attendance, overtime, gross-to-net calculation, payslips and reports, with no subscription and no per-employee fee.
Sales & CRM (Windows desktop app)Timeline CRM
Free offline CRM for small businesses on Windows: lead and deal pipelines, customers, tasks, quotations, PDF invoices and sales reports, with no per-seat fee.
Start a conversation
Tell us how your business works.
Describe what is slowing your team down. We will help you work out what to build, and how a free pilot lets you judge our work before the full project.
Prefer WhatsApp? Start a chatWhat happens next
You send a short brief
The problem, the people involved and any target date. A senior engineer replies within 4 business hours.
We understand your workflow
A first call about how your business works today. An NDA can be signed before you share details.
You test a free pilot
You choose 2 to 3 key modules and we build them first, so you judge real software before the full project.