See what's due, make time to study, and stay focused with Pip.
See class workloads while respecting each student's sharing choices. Sample teacher view.
Ask Pip what is due next or get help planning study time. Sample student view.
See coursework and your seven day workload forecast. Sample student dashboard.

Inspiration

As students, we know how quickly a manageable week can fill up with assignments, exams, and classes. Keeping track of each deadline is only part of the challenge. We still have to decide what needs attention first and find enough time to prepare.

We wanted to make that process feel more approachable. That idea became Boilerplate, a place where students can understand their workload, choose a next step, and get started with support from Pip. The boiler brings the Steel and Steam theme into the experience by making a growing workload something you can see.

What it does

Boilerplate brings coursework and calendars together and turns upcoming work into an animated boiler. As deadlines and unfinished tasks build up, the boiler moves from Cool to Redline. Completing a task releases its share of the pressure, while a seven day forecast helps students see busy periods ahead. The pressure reading is an estimate of workload.

Pip is a friendly study planning companion powered by Gemini. Students can ask what is due next, get help choosing an assignment, or find a study window around their classes. They review suggested study sessions before accepting them. The focus extension can then block distracting websites during the session.

Boilerplate also gives teachers and teams a shared view of workloads. Students choose who can see their boiler. Teachers can use the class view to understand how busy students are and preview how a new assignment could affect the group.

How we built it

We built the website with Next.js and React, using Supabase for accounts and saved coursework. Cloudflare hosts the app at boilerplate.select.

We connected calendar and coursework information to the workload calculation, then built the boiler and forecast around those results. Google's Gemini API gives Pip the assignment context and available study windows needed to suggest a practical next step.

We developed the browser extension to connect those plans with focus sessions. Codex and Claude helped us during development and testing.

Challenges we faced

One of our biggest challenges was deciding what workload should mean. A large exam needs preparation before its deadline, overdue assignments still need attention, and completing one task should only remove the pressure associated with that task.

Bringing calendars together introduced another challenge. Information can be incomplete or unavailable, so the app needs to make that clear. Pip also needs to suggest study time that fits the student's schedule and leave the final decision with the student.

What we're proud of

We're proud of connecting the full experience from understanding a busy week to choosing a task, planning a study session, and protecting time to focus.

Pip and the boiler give the app a personality while serving a practical purpose. We also built sharing choices into the team experience so students can receive support while deciding what others can see.

What we learned

Building Boilerplate taught us how much care goes into making planning feel simple. Calendars, coursework, and AI suggestions need to work together in a way people can understand and trust.

We learned to keep unfinished work visible, make missing information clear, and give students control over their plans and privacy. Each of those decisions shaped the experience as much as the visual design.

What's next

We want to try Boilerplate with more student schedules and use that feedback to improve the workload forecast. We also plan to make it easier to bring in coursework and refine Pip's study suggestions and focus sessions.

Our goal is to help students build a planning routine they can return to throughout the semester.