SpendWise — AI Hobby Spending Advisor

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  add wishlist

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  refuse

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  wishlist management

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  assets management

What it does

SpendWise is a conversational mobile web app that acts as your personal hobby spending advisor. Before you buy that camera, drone, or fishing rod, you chat with an AI that helps you think through whether it's worth it, whether now is the right time, and whether it truly fits your needs.

## How we built it

We used an AI-driven spec-to-code workflow to go from idea to working app:

• React 18 + Vite 5 + Tailwind CSS — mobile-first responsive design
• localStorage — local data persistence, no backend needed
• Configurable AI API — supports OpenAI/Anthropic/compatible endpoints
• Structured JSON instructions — AI returns actionable JSON commands that drive frontend data operations (add/remove wishlist items, record assets, log saving events)

The AI doesn't just chat — it takes action. When it recommends a product, the item automatically appears in your wishlist. When it talks you out of a purchase, it logs how much money it saved you. It knows your existing gear and proactively warns you about duplicate purchases.

## Key features

• Conversational purchase analysis — Tell the AI what you want to buy, and it walks through your use case, budget, and motivations before giving a personalized recommendation
• Smart wishlist management — AI adds/removes items based on its analysis — no manual tracking needed
• Asset tracking — Records what you've bought and why, creating a spending history that helps the AI give better advice over time
• Savings report — AI generates a personalized summary of how much you've saved through smarter decisions
• Duplicate purchase detection — AI cross-references your existing assets before recommending new gear

## What we learned

This project was built using a structured AI engineering workflow — learner profile → scope → PRD → technical spec → build checklist → implementation. The full process documentation is included in the docs/ folder, showing how spec-driven development with AI tools can take a project from idea to working product in a hackathon timeframe.

Built With

• react
• tailwind
• vite