CosmicGazzer

Inspiration

The idea for Cosmic Gazzer came from a simple desire: to create a digital space where stargazers, astronomy nerds, and skywatchers can share their experiences and plan events — all in one place. Most social apps are too broad, and event platforms lack community. We wanted something that felt like a cosmic hub — where you don’t just watch the stars, you talk about them.

🛠️ How We Built It We used React Native with Expo Router to build a smooth, cross-platform mobile experience. The backend is powered by Express.js and MongoDB, offering a clean RESTful API to manage users, posts, and events.

The full stack includes:

Frontend: React Native + Expo Router + Context API

Backend: Express.js + MongoDB (Mongoose)

Authentication: JWT-based login/register system

Design: Custom dark-mode theme with linear gradients for that “space vibe”

📚 What We Learned Building a mobile-first community platform requires careful planning around state, routing, and responsiveness.

We gained deep experience with Expo Router and token-based authentication.

Learned to optimize user flows (e.g., using useFocusEffect to refresh data on screen re-entry).

Understood how to design scalable REST APIs for real-world use.

🚧 Challenges I Faced Managing token persistence and authentication across screens was tricky at first.

Creating a smooth create/view/update flow for both posts and events without bugs or race conditions required state management discipline.

Handling navigation back from post creation required using React Navigation’s useFocusEffect, which was a key technical learning.

Balancing design and functionality under time constraints during the hackathon.

🎯 The Goal To give the stargazing community a place where they can:

Discover real-time events

Share photos, thoughts, and questions

Build a community beyond just watching the sky

Built With

• bcrypt
• cors
• expo.io
• express.js
• javascript
• jwt
• mongoose
• typescript