Dharma

Inspiration

We noticed that people always need help with small everyday things, but finding someone reliable nearby is hard. Some apps focus only on paid gigs, while others focus on community, but nothing really brings both together. We wanted to create something where helping your neighbor and earning money can exist in the same space.

What it does

Dharma is a local marketplace where you can either get help or offer help anytime.

You can post a task, find someone nearby, or pick up a job yourself. The app uses AI to match people based on skills, distance, trust, and past behavior. It also helps with pricing and coordination.

There is a karma system that tracks how reliable and helpful you are, so trust builds over time. It supports both paid work and volunteering, and even lets students turn their work into real experience.

How we built it

We built the app using React Native with Expo for the frontend and Firebase for authentication and database.

We added an AI layer that understands user requests, matches the best people, and helps with negotiation. We also built a karma system that updates based on user activity and task outcomes.

Everything is designed to feel real time, simple, and easy to use.

Challenges we ran into

One of the hardest parts was designing a trust system that actually feels fair and useful.

We also had to figure out how much control to give AI versus the user, especially in negotiations. Matching people accurately with limited data was another challenge.

Balancing both paid work and volunteering in one platform without confusion was also tricky.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a fully working marketplace with AI features in a short time.

The karma system turned out to be a strong core idea that makes the app feel different. We also successfully added AI into chat for negotiation instead of just suggestions.

Most importantly, we created something that feels both practical and meaningful.

What we learned

We learned that trust is more important than features in a platform like this.

AI is helpful, but it has to feel clear and not confusing to users. We also realized that people care about purpose, not just transactions.

Keeping things simple makes a big difference.

What's next for Dharma

We want to add identity verification and stronger safety features.

We also plan to improve AI so it can give better recommendations and predict needs. Another goal is helping students turn their work into verified experience they can use for resumes.

In the future, we want to test this in real neighborhoods and campuses and grow it from there.