ToolMate

🛠️ Project: ToolMate

The Vibe: A platform built on MeDo to help students find free alternatives, transport deals, and manage their budget without losing their minds.

✨ Key Features

🔍 AI Search: Task-first search that actually gets what you need.

💻 Software & Tools: Deep dives into free alternatives with honest comparisons.

🚌 Transport: The plug for student discounts and cheap travel by city.

🎓 Courses & Certs: A curated list of free certifications that actually look good on a resume.

💸 How Broke Am I?: Personalized "free" recommendations based on your actual budget.

🏆 Savings Leaderboard: Gamifying the grind by ranking how much you've saved globally.

⚙️ How I Built It

Built during a first-ever hackathon using MeDo.

Used MeDo’s backend to handle community tips and the leaderboard.

Deployed with a one-click setup to get it live instantly.

🚧 Challenges

Scope Creep: It started as "vague student frustration," but had to be narrowed down to specific, usable features.

AI Utility: Moving past a "list of links" to make the AI search feel genuinely helpful took some serious iteration.

📈 Post-Game Analysis

💡 What I Learned Personal frustration = the best product ideas.

Structure your app before you start building.

No-code tools like MeDo are high-key powerful for fast prototyping.

🚀 What's Next

Smarter Search: Moving to a custom-tuned model for opinionated, specific advice (e.g., "Use Canva, save $13/month").

Hyper-Local: Adding city-specific data for places like Muscat, London, and Nairobi.

Live API Integrations: Connecting to GitHub Student Pack, Coursera, and UNiDAYS for verified deals.

Community Scaling: Turning tips into a peer-verified database—basically Reddit meets Wirecutter.

Savings Analytics: Monthly reports and shareable stats to keep users hooked.

Built With

• html
• javascript
• medo