DormBuddy

Inspiration

The Canadian student housing crisis is real - rents are skyrocketing and finding a compatible roommate still happens through sketchy Facebook groups and Kijiji posts. I wanted to build something that actually solves both problems at once: finding affordable housing AND finding the right person to live with.

What it does

DormBuddy is a platform for Canadian students to find compatible roommates and housing in one place. Students sign up with their email, fill out a profile and lifestyle quiz, then browse or post listings filtered by city, price, and number of roommates. The Gemini API powers a compatibility score — when you view someone's profile, it compares your lifestyle answers and returns a match percentage with a plain English explanation. There's also a 3D interactive map of Canada built with Mapbox that shows active listings and students near every major university campus. Users can message each other, express interest in listings, send friend requests, and bookmark listings for later.

What's next for DormBuddy

• Student email verification to keep the platform trustworthy
• Bilingual support (English/French) for Quebec students
• Lease document sharing and signing
• Sublet-friendly listings for co-op students at schools like Waterloo
• Mobile app version

Built With

• auth0
• cloudinary
• geminiapi
• google-gemini-api
• mapbox
• mapbox-gl-js
• next.js
• supabase
• tailwind-css-v4
• tailwindcss
• typescript
• vercel