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Cover image for RESET-Return to What Matters
Aayushi Shinde
Aayushi Shinde

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RESET-Return to What Matters

#devchallenge #hf26challenge

Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass Submission 🌿

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass

What I Built

Re:Set is an open-source, open-weight AI experience designed to help people reclaim their attention from screen addiction and return to tactile offline life—starting with reading.

We built AI that can write code and generate images; we wanted to build an AI whose sole purpose is to help people stop using AI and put down their phones.

Instead of trapping users inside another gamified productivity dashboard, endless chatbot loop, or streak tracker, Re:Set is built on an inverted design principle:

"The better Re:Set works, the less time the user spends inside Re:Set."

How It Gets People Off the Screen and Into the World

  1. Low-Friction Spark: The user shares what is keeping them from reading (e.g., "I used to read a lot, but now I spend my free time scrolling"), and how much time they have (15, 30, or 60 minutes).
  2. Open-Weight Gemma Generation: Google's Gemma 2 synthesizes a tactile, single-action offline ritual featuring a physical location rule, a phone-separation rule, and an attention anchor.
  3. Deliberate Shutdown (The Offline Screen): As soon as the user clicks Begin Re:Set, the application transforms into a serene, distraction-free screen: > "Your reset has started. You don't need this app anymore. Put your phone away. 🌿"
  4. Non-Judgmental Reflection: When they return, Gemma synthesizes their takeaway with zero streaks, zero guilt, and zero gamified penalties—because returning to a habit matters far more than unbroken consistency.
  5. Community Silent Reading Gatherings: Re:Set features a physical Venue QR Gathering System that allows independent bookstores, libraries, and cafés to host silent group reading hours with privacy-preserving attendance verification.

Who Is It For?

  • Anyone who loves books, nature, and quiet thought but feels their attention hijacked by notification loops and algorithmic feeds.
  • Independent bookstores, community libraries, and local cafés seeking to host silent reading gatherings without forcing intrusive surveillance onto attendees.

Demo

  • Interactive Walkthrough Mode: The app includes a "⚡ 1-Minute Judge Walkthrough" banner and a "Simulate 30 Minutes" button so judges can experience the full end-to-end ritual without waiting half an hour or needing a secondary device.

The 10-Step Experience Flow:

  1. The Spark: Express your personal friction and select a duration.
  2. Gemma Challenge: Receive your customized location rule and tactile anchor.
  3. Offline Transition: App steps out of the way; phone goes face-down.
  4. Community Venue Check-In: Scan the physical START QR at your local venue.
  5. Show Up, Not Tracked: Venue displays real-time collective presence (27 checked in).
  6. Session Completion: Scan the COMPLETE QR upon finishing.
  7. Honest Reflection: Share a private takeaway without surveillance.
  8. Gemma Synthesis: Non-judgmental distillation celebrating presence.
  9. The Passport: View cumulative offline time returned to real life (e.g., 2h 15m returned).
  10. The Exit: "The best AI interaction might be the one that ends with you closing the app."

Code

GitHub logo AayushiShinde / RESET

Re:Set

Return to what matters.
An AI that helps you use your phone less.

Built for Hacktoberfest 2026 Open-Source AI Challenge — Week 1: Touch Grass.

Core Product Principle

"The better Re:Set works, the less time the user spends inside Re:Set."

Re:Set is not another AI chatbot, productivity dashboard, habit tracker, streak app, or wellness assistant. It is a bridge between artificial intelligence and real-world life.

1. The Problem

People increasingly spend their free time trapped in infinite feeds and notification loops, even when they genuinely want to return to offline activities they love: reading physical books, walking in nature, moving their bodies, and gathering in person.

Traditional apps claim to solve this by adding more screen time: demanding daily check-ins, punishing broken streaks, sending artificial notifications, and treating attention as an engagement metric.

2. The Idea

Re:Set uses an open-weight AI model (Gemma 2) to create…

View on GitHub

Deployed on

https://reset-touch-grass.onrender.com)

Re:Set is 100% open-source under the Apache-2.0 license.

Architecture Highlights

  • Client: React 18, Vite, Lucide Icons, QRCode.react, crafted with an editorial, paper-inspired aesthetic and zero telemetry scripts.
  • Server: Node.js, Express, Mongoose.
  • AI Engine: Decoupled AIService routing to Google Gemma 2 (via Hugging Face API or local Ollama) with a deterministic offline fallback.
  • Database: MongoDB Atlas for community gatherings and offline passports (with automatic in-memory fallback for local environments).
  • Observability: Custom Sentry agent tracing around generateReset(), completeSession(), and analyzeReflection().

How I Built It

1. Open-Weight AI Architecture (Google Gemma 2)

Re:Set is powered by Google's open-weight model family (Gemma 2 9B / 2B). We built a modular provider interface:


text
       ┌──────────────┐
       │  AIService   │
       └──────┬───────┘
              │
       ┌──────┴───────┐
       ▼              ▼
┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│GemmaProvider │ │ Gemma-Local  │
│ (Cloud Host) │ │(Ollama:11434)│
└──────────────┘ └──────────────┘

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