PLAGUE

Inspiration

We noticed that many students and self-learners struggle with one major problem: they know what they want to become, but not how to get there. Online learning platforms provide thousands of courses, but most roadmaps are generic and overwhelming. We wanted to create a system that acts like a real mentor — understanding a learner’s skills, weaknesses, goals, time constraints, and learning style to generate a truly personalized pathway. That idea became PLAGUE — Personalized Learning Pathway Agent for Guided Understanding and Excellence.

What it does

PLAGUE is an AI-powered adaptive learning platform that generates detailed, personalized learning roadmaps for users based on their:

current skills career goals time availability learning style strengths and weaknesses device and budget constraints

The platform creates:

structured learning phases recommended resources project roadmaps weekly study schedules interview preparation guidance progress tracking and milestones adaptive suggestions based on user performance

It transforms scattered learning into a clear, guided journey.

How we built it

We built PLAGUE using a modern full-stack architecture focused on scalability and personalization.

Frontend React + TypeScript Tailwind CSS Framer Motion Responsive UI with dashboard-based design Backend & AI Node.js backend Gemini API for intelligent roadmap generation Adaptive prompt engineering for personalized responses Structured AI output system for phase-based roadmaps Database & Authentication Firebase Authentication MongoDB for storing user pathways and progress Features Implemented AI-generated personalized pathways Dynamic roadmap generation Daily/weekly planner Milestone tracking Learning analytics Modern futuristic UI User profile customization Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was making the AI generate responses that felt genuinely personalized instead of generic. We spent significant time refining prompts and structuring outputs to create mentor-like guidance rather than simple course lists.

Another challenge was balancing detailed roadmap generation with response speed and UI performance. We also faced deployment issues involving environment variables, authentication handling, and API integration while hosting the project.

Designing a system flexible enough to adapt to different learners — beginners, intermediate learners, and career switchers — was also a major challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of Successfully built a fully working AI-powered personalized learning roadmap generator Designed a modern and engaging user experience Created highly detailed adaptive pathways instead of generic recommendations Integrated AI-generated schedules, milestones, and project progression Built a scalable structure for future adaptive learning features Turned a real-world educational problem into a practical product

Most importantly, we created a platform that can genuinely help learners feel less lost and more confident in their learning journey.

What we learned

Through building PLAGUE, we learned:

how important prompt engineering is in AI applications how difficult true personalization is how to structure scalable frontend and backend systems how to manage AI-generated dynamic content the importance of user-centered design in educational tools deployment and integration workflows using modern web technologies

We also learned that solving educational problems requires not just technology, but empathy and understanding of how people learn.

What's next for PLAGUE

Our vision for PLAGUE goes far beyond roadmap generation.

Next, we plan to add:

AI voice mentor and conversational guidance adaptive assessments and skill-gap analysis gamified progress tracking collaborative learning communities AI-generated quizzes and mock interviews real-time career recommendation systems recruiter-ready portfolio analysis mobile app support multilingual support deeper analytics and productivity insights

Built With

• firebase
• gemini
• mongodb
• react-vite
• typescript