Skimmly

Inspiration came from the frustration of managing scattered academic files across multiple platforms and the lack of meaningful peer collaboration in learning environments. We built Skimmly using Flask with dual Firebase/JWT authentication, SQLAlchemy ORM for complex relationships, and AWS S3 storage with PIL-powered image processing for automatic thumbnail generation and metadata extraction. The React frontend communicates through RESTful APIs to provide features like social following, nested comments, real-time notifications, and advanced search capabilities. Key challenges included implementing secure dual authentication systems, designing efficient database relationships for social features, handling file uploads with proper validation and storage redundancy, and creating a scalable thumbnail generation pipeline that processes multiple image sizes while extracting color metadata. We learned to architect systems with graceful failovers, implement comprehensive security through rate limiting and input validation, and design APIs that balance performance with feature richness. The platform transforms isolated study habits into collaborative academic communities by combining personal file management with social discovery, making quality educational resources more accessible while providing the organizational tools students need to effectively share their learning materials.

Built With

• css
• html
• java
• python