SlugMind-the ambient AI co-pilot that works while you focus

Inspiration

Every UCSC student knows the feeling — you're deep in a coding assignment, and suddenly you're context-switching to Gmail to reply to a professor, then to Google Calendar to reschedule a conflict, then back to your work having lost 20 minutes of focus. We wanted to build something that eliminated that entirely. The idea was simple: what if your AI assistant never made you leave what you were doing?

What it does

SlugMind is an ambient Chrome extension that watches your Gmail and Google Calendar silently in the background. When a real email arrives from a professor or classmate, it drafts an AI reply using Gemini and slides a notification panel in from the right side of whatever page you're on — no tab switching required. When two calendar events conflict, it alerts you instantly with reschedule suggestions. A built-in focus timer silences all notifications during deep work sessions, and a smart to-do list tracks what needs attention today, tomorrow, or later. Everything is logged to a live Vercel dashboard.

How we built it

Chrome Manifest V3 extension with a persistent service worker polling Gmail and Google Calendar APIs every 60 seconds Gemini 2.5 Flash API for drafting context-aware email replies Google OAuth via chrome.identity for seamless auth Ambient panel injected into every webpage via content scripts — works on Canvas, YouTube, Google Docs, anywhere Next.js + Tailwind CSS dashboard deployed on Vercel for settings and activity logging Ollama llama3.2 running locally for pattern detection and smart reminders Built entirely solo in one hackathon day

Challenges we ran into

Gmail's strict Content Security Policy blocked every external CDN — Phosphor Icons, Google Fonts, all of it. We had to strip every external dependency and rebuild with system fonts and inline styles. Getting the Chrome content script to inject reliably across all pages took multiple manifest iterations. The service worker kept going inactive until we moved all alarm creation to the top level. OAuth token management across extension reloads was another constant battle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Getting a fully ambient pipeline working in one day — the service worker detects a real email, Gemini drafts a reply, and a panel slides in on whatever webpage you're on without any user action. The focus timer correctly suppresses all notifications during deep work and shows a summary of what SlugMind handled when the session ends. The extension correctly filters 100% of promotional and automated emails while passing through real human messages.

What we learned

Chrome extensions have far more security constraints than regular web apps — CSP, module restrictions, and content script isolation all behave differently than expected. Building ambient UI that works across every website without breaking the host page is genuinely hard. We also learned that a focused MVP that does three things really well beats a sprawling feature list every time.

What's next for SlugMind-the ambient AI co-pilot that works while you focus

-Full Google Calendar conflict resolution with one-click reschedule emails -Smart pattern detection that learns your weekly routine and sets reminders automatically -Canvas LMS integration — assignment deadlines pulled directly into the to-do list -A verified Chrome Web Store release so any UCSC student can install it in one click -Mobile companion app for on-the-go notifications

Built With

• geminiflash2.5
• gmailapi
• googlecalendarapi
• googlechrome(manifestv3)
• googleoauth
• html/css
• javascript
• next.js
• ollama
• tailwindcss