Inspiration
Revising is easier when you can practise out loud, hands-free. I wanted a study helper you can simply talk to, with no screen to tap.
What it does
Study Buddy is a voice-friendly quiz tutor for Alexa+. Say "quiz me on space" and it asks multiple-choice questions, checks your answer (a letter or the option text), explains the right answer in one sentence, and keeps your score. Replies are short plain sentences with no markdown, so they sound natural when spoken. Topics: space, science and coding.
How I built it
A Python MCP (Model Context Protocol) server over Streamable HTTP with five tools: list_topics, start_quiz, check_answer, next_question and get_score. The quiz rules live in a separate module so they are easy to test on their own. A simulated Alexa+ client turns spoken-style requests into tool calls for the demo. I built it with help from an AI coding assistant and tested it myself.
Challenges I ran into
The biggest challenge was time: I started with only a couple of days left, so I had to shrink the idea to a few tools and finish a small working version instead of a big unfinished one. I'm also still early in my coding journey, so learning how MCP servers and tools work while building was a stretch. Without a real Alexa+ device, I made a simulated client to show how the tools would be called, and designing replies that work when spoken aloud, not read on a screen, took some thought.
What I learned
I learned what an MCP server is and how exposing small, well-named tools lets a voice assistant do useful things. I also learned that keeping logic separate from the server code makes it easier to test, and that cutting scope early is what lets you actually ship.
What's next for Study Buddy for Alexa+
Fresh questions generated with Amazon Bedrock, saved progress between sessions, and more topics and difficulty levels.
Built With
- alexa+
- mcp
- python
- streammablehttp
