SigmaScholar

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Inspiration

We all doomscroll. Instead of fighting that habit, we asked: what if doomscrolling worked for you? SigmaScholar was born from the idea of habit-stacking: injecting five-second mastery checks into feeds we already open 100 times a day. If memory follows a forgetting curve \( R(t) = e^\left(-\frac{t}{\tau}\right) \), then frequent, low-friction retrieval should push \(\tau\) higher without demanding extra willpower.

What it does

SigmaScholar is a Chrome extension that turns YouTube Shorts into micro-study reps. Every few videos, it pauses the feed and presents a goal-aligned, AI-generated quiz.

Answer right, keep scrolling. Answer wrong, your next checkpoint arrives sooner (gentle “punishment” that nudges practice).

It personalizes question phrasing with context from the current short/reel (title/caption/hashtags/transcript) and your chosen topics. Lightweight progress tracking shows streaks, weak concepts, and time converted from doomscrolling into learning.

How we built it

Client (Chrome MV3)

Content script watches youtube.com/shorts/* via MutationObserver + URL changes.
Extracts lightweight context (title, caption, hashtags, channel).
Renders a full-screen overlay that pauses video, blocks scroll, and collects an answer.
Popup/Options (React + Vite/CRXJS) for sign-in, topic setup, min/max interval, and penalty tuning.
State persisted in chrome.storage.sync.

Backend

Firebase Cloud Functions expose:
- Builds a prompt from user topics + reel context, calls Cohere/Gemini to generate a concise MCQ/short-answer + rationale.
- Logs correctness and updates per-topic stats.

Frontend

React
TypeScript
Vite

Prompting

Few-shot templates emphasize concise, unambiguous stems, 1 correct + 3 plausible distractors, and a 120-character explanation for misses.

Challenges we ran into

Getting Cohere set up was tricky at first. The platform is designed for enterprise-level use, which made it feel a bit heavy for a hackathon-sized project. After some trial and error, we managed to simplify the setup and get it working smoothly for our needs.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud to have built something that could genuinely help millions of people. SigmaScholar transforms doomscrolling into learning, turning time that usually feels wasted into engaging, knowledge-building sessions.

What we learned

We learned how to manage a project under tight deadlines with teammates from very different backgrounds. By leaning on each other’s strengths, we maximized what we could achieve in a short timeframe. We also sharpened our ability to quickly pick up new tools and concepts on the fly.

What's next for SigmaScholar

Right now, SigmaScholar works best with YouTube Shorts. Our next step is to expand to Instagram Reels and TikTok, making more platforms for doomscrolling both fun and productive.