LunaCycle

Inspiration

Periods are always frustrating, experiencing random bursts of frustration, sadness, and physical lows with no answers as to why. Most apps on the market currently require payment in order to access the specific information that would be helpful to understanding your cycle. As a result, so many people still have to rely on scattered information or unscientific apps just to understand what is happening in their own bodies. We wanted to make an app that provides personalized answers as well as suggestions to what one can do to aid symptoms. We aim for our chatbot, Luna, to be a friendly source of support and answers.

What it does

The website allows users to enter the date of when their last period started, and calculates information about your cycle. There is also a chatbot, Luna, who is readily available for anyone with specific questions or concerns. There is a general information page that has FAQs, as well as a diary to write down tips you may have learned, or document feelings throughout your cycle.

How we built it

We built our chatbot utilizing Gemini API. The website was created using HTML. The backend functionality was created with Java

Challenges we ran into

We also never built utilized an API before so learning how to implement it was challenging. We also have it set up where the information you received on your calendar is automatically imputed into the chatbots memory, and having the two sources "communicate" with each other, was a task that was foreign to us. We were having difficulty updating our website using the HTML code and running it through VS Code Live Share. Although our backend was functioning correctly, the front-end changes weren’t displaying in the browser as expected. We later realized that the issue was related to Live Share not automatically reloading the updated HTML file and the server continuing to serve the older version of the page. Once we recompiled the Java server and ensured that it was correctly linked to our new index.html, the updated design and functionality appeared as intended.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of our ability to delegate tasks and split work in a timely manner. We quickly worked together to integrate front and back end processes. We’re also proud of our creative use of the Gemini API in our chatbot. We used it in an innovative way to provide personalized information about menstrual health. Lastly, we’re the proudest of our ability to create a free, accessible resource for women. We recognized the gap in inclusive, evidence-based period education and were able to fill it in.

What we learned

Throughout this project, we learned that building a tool to track cycles and hormone balance isn’t just a coding challenge it’s part of a much bigger conversation. So much of women’s health, especially around hormones, still feels like an underground topic that’s misunderstood. We realized how complex hormonal health really is every person’s cycle is different, and every variable matters. Creating this tracker reminded us how important it is to make these tools more open, educational, and accessible to everyone. Even though we’re just at the beginning, it’s exciting to know we’re contributing to something that should have be normalized.

What's next for LunaCycle

Down the road we plan to make LunaCycle into an app, as it would provide easier access for our users. We also plan to add/enhance the forum section of LunaCycle, providing a supportive, comfortable community for users to ask questions and get to know each other. We want to make the cycle prediction smarter, to tailor to those who may have irregular periods.