StudyNest

This is a submission on the behalf of my daughter - Neha Arun, who is under age. She is currently a 9th grader at Henry M. Jackson High School in Mill Creek, WA

Inspiration

As a student, I found it frustrating to use multiple apps while studying and constantly switch between them to check which assignments, exams, or projects needed to be completed and when they were due. Having everything spread across separate apps also made it harder to stay organized and motivated.

I created StudyNest to make it easier to keep track of schoolwork, plan study time, and focus without moving between several different tools. I wanted it to be pretty, fun, and engaging while still being useful and functional.

Instead of making productivity feel like another chore, I wanted studying to feel like progress.

What It Does

StudyNest combines several parts of a student’s study routine into one cozy, phone-first application.

Students can:

Create, prioritize, complete, and filter tasks
Track due dates and overdue work
Arrange study blocks using an immersive calendar-planning mode
Reschedule calendar events with long-press gestures
Run configurable Pomodoro focus sessions
Earn coins by completing tasks and focus sessions
Spend coins on upgrades, themes, and decorations
Customize a personal study space
Create notes, study guides, flashcards, quizzes, and formula sheets
Track habits
Save progress locally with optional Firebase account synchronization

The intended use of StudyNest is:

Plan your work, focus, earn rewards, and personalize a space that makes you want to return.**

How I Built It

I built StudyNest with Flutter and Dart so the same foundation can eventually support Android, iOS, and the web.

SharedPreferences provides local-first storage, while Firebase Authentication and Cloud Firestore support optional accounts and cloud synchronization.

During OpenAI Build Week, I used Codex with GPT-5.6 through several feature-specific chats. Each major feature had its own focused thread, branch, and pull request. This made it easier to keep the context for navigation, rewards, filters, testing, and calendar planning separated while still maintaining one shared project.

Codex helped me:

Refactor large screens into reusable controls and components
Improve onboarding and shared navigation
Protect locally stored data during Firebase authentication changes
Design a configurable coin and reward system
Implement task filters and calendar-rescheduling behavior
Diagnose Flutter widget lifecycle problems
Write unit and widget regression tests
Build, sign, install, and verify the Android judging APK
Document which work existed before Build Week and which work was eligible

I made the product decisions around the student experience, reward balance, visual direction, and overall study loop. Codex helped accelerate the implementation, debugging, testing, and release preparation.

Challenges I Ran Into

One major challenge was keeping StudyNest’s state consistent across local storage, Firebase synchronization, anonymous accounts, and authenticated accounts.

Account transitions needed to preserve the correct user’s data without accidentally loading another account’s cached information.

The rewards system was another challenge because tasks, focus sessions, coins, shop purchases, and unlocks all needed to work consistently together. Adding configurable rewards required changes across the state model, persistence system, user interface, and tests.

The immersive calendar-planning mode was the most technically complex new feature. It required timeline calculations, event positioning, editing controls, long-press rescheduling, and layouts that still worked on narrow phone screens.

I also had to balance adding features quickly with keeping the application stable. Automated tests and smaller, feature-specific Codex threads helped me catch regressions while the project was changing rapidly.

Accomplishments I’m Proud Of

I am especially proud that StudyNest feels like one connected experience rather than a collection of unrelated study tools.

Tasks, planning, focus sessions, rewards, and customization all support the same progression loop.

During the Build Week submission period, I completed:

18 product-development commits
6,262 additions
2,153 deletions
Changes across 53 files

The eligible work included:

Improved onboarding and navigation
Stronger account-data isolation
Configurable rewards
Custom Pomodoro session lengths
Task filtering
An immersive calendar-planning mode
Long-press event rescheduling
Expanded automated testing

The project now passes 55 automated tests, builds successfully as an Android APK, and passed a fresh-install test on a physical Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16.

What I Learned

I learned how important it is to separate product decisions from implementation details.

Defining the main study loop first made it easier to decide which features belonged together and which additions would only create unnecessary complexity.

I also learned more about:

Local-first architecture
Firebase authentication boundaries
Persistent application state
Gesture-driven calendar interfaces
Flutter widget testing

Working with Codex taught me to use focused conversations for individual features, provide clear requirements, review generated changes, and rely on tests and commit history instead of treating AI-generated code as automatically correct.

Breaking the work into feature-specific threads helped me move faster without losing control of the application’s direction.

What’s Next for StudyNest

The next step is preparing StudyNest for public mobile distribution. This includes production signing, privacy documentation, more device testing, TestFlight, and Google Play testing.

I also want to:

Conduct usability testing with students
Improve accessibility
Create shareable notes, quizzes, study guides or flashcards
Add optional reminders and notifications
Refine calendar and assignment workflows
Expand study-space customization
Improve cloud-sync recovery and account management
Explore a browser version after the mobile experience is stable
Continue balancing rewards so they encourage studying without becoming distracting

My longer-term goal is to make StudyNest a study companion that students enjoy opening—not just another productivity app they feel obligated to use.