FoundIt

• 

  UI

Inspiration

One time, I lost my jacket at school and never found it again. It made me realize how easy it is to lose something at school and how hard it can be to get it back, even if someone else found it.

That's what inspired me to create FoundIt, a simple lost-and-found platform that helps students find their missing belongings without having to ask everyone or search around the whole school.

What it does

FoundIt is a web app where students can browse items that have been found at school. They can search for items, filter them by category, view photos and descriptions, and see where they can collect them.

School staff can add found items with photos, descriptions, and dates. They can also mark items as returned once their owners collect them.

The goal is simple: make returning lost items easier, faster, and more organized.

How we built it

We built FoundIt using Next.js, React, Supabase, and Vercel.

Next.js and React power the website, while Supabase handles the database and photo storage. We also used a password-protected staff system so only authorized people can add items or update their status.

We used GitHub to manage our code and Vercel to deploy the app online so it can be accessed from different devices.

We focused on keeping the app simple and practical instead of adding a lot of unnecessary features.

Challenges we faced

One of the biggest challenges was connecting the frontend to a real database and making sure everything worked properly.

We had to configure Supabase, set up database permissions, handle image uploads, and make sure items stayed saved even after refreshing the page or opening the website on another device.

We also had to think about security, especially making sure regular visitors couldn't modify the database.

What we learned

Working on FoundIt taught us a lot about full-stack web development. We learned how to connect a website to a backend, work with databases, store images, manage environment variables, and deploy a real application.

We also learned that solving a problem doesn't always require something complicated. Sometimes a simple idea can make a real difference.

What's next for FoundIt

In the future, we'd like to add more features, such as notifications when a matching item is found, a system for claiming lost items, and support for multiple schools.

We hope FoundIt can eventually help more students recover their belongings and make school lost-and-found systems much easier to manage.

Built With

• css
• figma
• javascript
• nextjs
• react
• supabase
• vercel