Unthaw

When a huge assignment freezes your brain, Unthaw hides the overwhelming to-do list and gives you just one tiny 90-second action so you can finally start.

Comment

Inspiration

Have you ever sat in front of your laptop at 2:00 AM staring at a huge assignment—like a 12-page capstone thesis, a broken production bug, or a financial aid packet—where you want to start, you know the deadline is tomorrow, and your brain just freezes and scrolls your phone?

We built Unthaw for neurodivergent students (ADHD, autism, dyslexia) and overwhelmed knowledge workers facing task-initiation paralysis (executive dysfunction). Nearly every productivity app (Notion, Todoist, Jira, Linear) is built for brains that are already calm. When you are in executive freeze, normal to-do apps make the paralysis worse: they dump 15 unstarted checkboxes in your face at once, flash red overdue warnings, and list vague multi-hour tasks with no physical starting point.

What it does

Instead of giving you another giant list to manage, Unthaw changes how a task meets your brain:

  1. Dump and Pick Your Brain Battery: Paste any messy assignment or backlog and choose your real-time energy level (Low Battery 90s–2m, Steady 5m, or Deep Flow 10m).
  2. Short Imperative Micro-Step Compiler (Under 8 Words): Scans the text for cognitive-overload triggers and rewrites vague obligations into short, imperative physical first moves under 8 words—for example, turning a 12-page thesis into "Open a blank file, type three words." with the task name shown gently as a small subline below.
  3. Blindfold Focus Tunnel and Paused-First Timer: Locks Steps 2 through 5 out of sight behind a Blindfold Shield. You only see Step 1 and a calm circular timer that starts paused until you tap Start, so you never feel ambushed by a ticking clock.
  4. Still Too Scary? Split in Half (S): If Step 1 still feels intimidating, one tap cuts it into a 45-second physical warm-up ("Open the file and place your cursor.") and a completion step.
  5. Neuro-Inclusive Accessibility Suite: Includes Cryo Dark and Warm Flow Light modes, loosened sans-serif step typography, Dyslexia spacing toggle, High contrast mode, Web Speech API Read-Aloud (R), and single-key shortcuts.
  6. Before-vs-After Impact Receipt: Drops visible tasks from 15 to 1, reduces the Cognitive Intimidation Score from 98/100 down to 18/100 (-82% friction), and shrinks time-to-first-action from 3+ hours of blank-screen freeze to 90 seconds.

How we built it

  • Frontend and Neuro-Inclusive UX: Next.js 15.5.28 App Router, React 19, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS with ARIA live regions, single-key shortcuts, Web Speech synthesis, dyslexia typography tokens, High contrast mode, and a non-overlapping bottom navigation dock.
  • Deterministic Unthaw Engine: Built from scratch in TypeScript (src/lib/unthaw-engine.ts) with Node crypto SHA-256 caching and sliding-window API rate limiting. Runs 100% deterministically with zero external API keys required so judges can test every preset and custom input immediately.
  • Automated Verification: 9/9 automated tests (npm test) verifying battery tier sizing, cognitive-load scoring, under-8-word imperative headlines, recursive step splitting, SHA-256 caching, rate limiting, and accessibility controls.
  • Pre-Existing Components Disclosure: 100% of Unthaw was designed and built from scratch during the Taskforge hackathon period using standard open-source frameworks.

Challenges we ran into

Early prototypes showed longer multi-line instructions in condensed serif text and started the countdown clock immediately, which still felt pressuring for an overwhelmed brain. Through iterative usability refinement, we shortened every micro-step headline to under 8 imperative words with no quoted task titles, switched step text to loosened sans-serif typography, moved the task name to a quiet subline, and made the timer start paused until the user taps Start.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Turning a 98/100 wall-of-text freeze into an 18/100 single 90-second physical action (-82% cognitive friction reduction).
  • Building a deterministic verb-first compiler and recursive Split-in-Half engine backed by 9/9 passing automated tests.
  • Crafting a calm Cryo-to-Warmth studio interface where workspace temperature warms from -18°C to +24°C as you complete each micro-step.

What we learned

For overwhelmed and neurodivergent minds, productivity is not about packing more features or checkboxes onto the screen—it is about lowering activation energy and hiding everything except the single next physical move.

What's next for Unthaw

  • Browser extension for one-click unthawing directly inside Canvas, Blackboard, GitHub Issues, and Google Classroom.
  • Optional body-doubling ambient soundscapes paired with the paused-first micro-step timer.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates

Submission history