Inspiration
We often make plans and promises to ourselves, whether it's studying for an exam, exercising regularly, or completing an important task. But what we intend to do and what we actually do don't always match. We wanted to build something that helps people recognise this gap without judging them. That's how Reality Check came to life: an accountability companion that encourages users to be honest with themselves, understand their habits, and take practical steps towards improvement.
- What It Does
Reality Check helps users turn their intentions into measurable actions. Users can create commitments, record what actually happened, and compare their planned effort with their real outcomes.
Key features include:
Commitment Tracking: Create and manage personal commitments. Outcome Logging: Record the actual time spent, completion status, and notes about each commitment. Reality Checks: Compare planned commitments with actual outcomes. Progress Insights: Use recorded outcomes as a foundation for understanding habits and identifying areas for improvement. Actionable Feedback: Encourage users to take realistic next steps instead of making repeated promises without reflection.
Our goal is to make accountability more practical, personal, and constructive.
- How We Built It
We built the frontend using React and Vite to provide an interactive user experience. The backend uses FastAPI with Python to handle API requests and manage commitment data.
The application connects the frontend and backend through REST API endpoints. Users can create commitments, retrieve dashboard information, update outcomes, and request a Reality Check based on recorded information.
We focused on connecting the main application features and making outcome logging part of the user's workflow.
*Challenges We Faced
One of our main challenges was connecting the existing frontend with the backend while keeping the API contracts consistent. We needed to ensure that commitment information and outcome updates were handled correctly across both parts of the application.
We also worked on making outcome logging straightforward, including capturing actual time, completion status, and notes. Another important consideration was separating local development data and environment settings from the files intended to be shared through GitHub.
- What We Learned
This project helped us understand how a frontend and backend work together in a real application. We gained practical experience with API integration, request handling, data persistence, and collaborative development using Git and GitHub.
We also learned that an accountability tool should do more than record tasks. It should help users reflect on their actions and make their next steps more achievable.
*What's Next
We want to improve Reality Check with richer progress visualisations, more reliable pattern detection based on recorded outcomes, and personalised recommendations. We also aim to explore voice-based interaction through Amazon Alexa technologies so users can manage commitments and review their progress more naturally.
Our long-term vision is to make Reality Check a supportive companion that helps people build self-awareness, develop consistency, and turn intentions into meaningful progress.
Built With
- css
- fastapi
- html
- javascript
- python
- react
- rest
- vite
