Ascend

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  Ascend Dashboard

Inspiration

Productivity is a huge problem for students and builders: most people want to be consistent, but motivation drops fast when goals are vague, solo, and not tracked. We were inspired by one core idea: discipline is easier when it’s social and measurable.

So we built a gamified accountability app where users:

create daily/weekly quests, verify completion with AI, earn XP and rank up, and stay motivated through friends/squads and leaderboards. In short, we wanted productivity to feel less like a chore and more like a game with teammates.

What it does

Ascend is a social productivity app that turns self-improvement into a team game.

Users create and track daily/weekly quests. An AI coach helps generate realistic, personalized quests based on goals. An AI verifier checks quest completion responses for specificity and plausibility, so progress stays honest. Completing quests earns XP and levels users through rank tiers (Bronze → Legendary). Users can add friends, join squads, and compete on a live leaderboard for accountability and momentum. The app combines streaks, rank progression, and social pressure to make consistency easier and more fun.

How we built it

We built the app with Next.js + React for the frontend and app routes, then connected:

Auth0 for secure login/session handling Supabase for user profiles, friendships, squads, XP/rank persistence Anthropic Claude for: generating personalized quest suggestions (coach mode), verifying whether quest completion evidence is specific/plausible We also designed a custom mobile-first UI system (phone-frame layout, rank visuals, streak components, leaderboard cards) to make the experience feel polished and game-like.

Challenges we ran into

Balancing strict vs fair AI verification We had to tune prompts so the verifier rejects vague responses (“I did it”) but accepts short, specific proof (“ran 3 miles in 27 min”).

State synchronization across local UI + backend XP/rank/quest state needed to feel instant in the UI while still syncing reliably to Supabase.

Social features data modeling Friend relationships and squad membership required careful schema logic (mutual friendship inserts, squad limits, ownership/leave rules).

Keeping UX motivating, not overwhelming We iterated heavily on layout hierarchy so users see what matters first: rank progress, today’s quests, and social accountability loops.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

Prompt design can directly shape product behavior and trust. “Gamification” only works when feedback loops are tight, clear, and meaningful. Social accountability features can be more motivating than solo streak counters. Fast iteration on UI/flows is critical in hackathons — polish changes adoption.

What's next for Ascend

We want to turn Ascend from a hackathon MVP into a long-term accountability platform. Next steps:

Smarter AI coaching

Goal-based long-term plans (weekly/monthly arcs) Better adaptive quest difficulty based on consistency and burnout risk Richer verification

Optional proof modes (photo, screenshot, workout/import integrations) More nuanced confidence scoring instead of binary pass/fail Squad progression systems

Shared squad quests, raid-style challenges, and squad streak multipliers Squad seasons and rewards for collective consistency Deeper analytics

Habit trends, streak resilience metrics, and dropout prediction Weekly reflection summaries with actionable insights Integrations

Calendar/task sync (Google Calendar, Notion, Todoist) Health and fitness integrations for automatic quest evidence Production hardening

Better abuse prevention and moderation Improved reliability, monitoring, and performance for scale

Built With

• anthropic
• auth0
• css
• cursor
• html
• javascript
• next.js
• node.js
• postgresql
• react
• sql
• supabase
• tailwind