Runes

📚 Inspiration

In the age of fast-paced learning, I found myself juggling between lectures, online courses, podcasts, and self-study materials—with no smart way to capture and retain it all. I wanted a tool that could think with me, helping me not just take notes, but actually understand and remember them. Inspired by the idea of runes—symbols of wisdom—I created Runes, an AI-powered personal learning assistant that transforms spoken thoughts into structured knowledge.

💡 What It Does

• Runes helps users capture, organize, and reinforce knowledge smarter and faster using AI. It:
• Transcribes live audio using Whisper API
• Summarizes key insights in real time with Gemini/GPT
• Auto-categorizes notes by topic, date, or custom tags
• Allows users to generate quizzes and flashcards from their saved notes
• Includes a searchable archive and exportable notes
• Offers personalization through quiz settings, reminder options, and (soon) progress tracking

🛠️ How I built it

The project is a web app developed with:

• Frontend: React + Vanilla CSS for a clean, responsive UI
• Authentication: Firebase Auth for user sign-up/login

• Backend/AI Integration:

  • Whisper API: for real-time audio transcription
  • Gemini/GPT API: for AI-powered summarization and quiz generation

• Database: Firestore for storing user data, notes, and quiz progress

• Future Export: Integration with Google Docs API and PDF generator planned

The current build includes a functional frontend with pages for onboarding, authentication, live transcription, AI summarization, notes archive, quizzes, settings, and user profile.

⚔️Challenges I ran into

• Realtime Transcription Accuracy: Handling long audio inputs and ensuring transcript quality required careful handling and planning.
• API Token Management: Managing and securing API keys for Whisper and AI services in development.
• State Management: Keeping user data and summaries synchronized across multiple components was tricky before considering a proper state solution.
• Time Constraints: As a solo developer, balancing frontend polish with backend functionality during the hackathon timeframe was intense but rewarding.

🏆 Accomplishments That I'm Proud Of

• Built a clean, functional, responsive UI solo within the hackathon timeframe
• Implemented Firebase authentication and full route protection
• Designed and structured an app that’s scalable and feature-rich
• Created placeholder and scaffolded logic for all AI integrations
• Prioritized UX with a fun, modern layout and thoughtful user journey

🌱What I learned

• Implementing audio transcription using Whisper API
• Structuring an app with AI at its core
• Firebase integration for secure authentication and real-time updates
• Balancing UI/UX with technical functionality
• Scoping features for a Minimum Viable Product within a time constraint

🧭 What's Next for Runes

• Enable real-time saving and editing of notes
• Add comments and highlights within saved transcripts
• Polish quiz generation based on user's actual study material
• Integrate export features (PDF, Google Docs)
• Launch a study progress dashboard with AI-based recommendations

“Capture thoughts. Summon runes. Learn smarter.” Runes is more than a tool—it's the bridge between curiosity and clarity.

Built With

• firebase
• react
• supabase