DEV Community: amna sarwar

🌟 "My First App, My First Hackathon — A Journey of Belief and Determination"

amna sarwar — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 15:13:14 +0000

🌟 "My First App, My First Hackathon — A Journey of Belief and Determination"

mentalhealth

nocode

womenintech

ai
Building MindEase: My Journey with Bolt. New at the World’s Largest Hackathon By Amna Sarwar · Published July 20, 2025 When I saw the announcement for the World’s Largest Hackathon—130,000 builders strong—I knew this was my chance to merge mental health advocacy with my native language, Urdu. In just four intense days, I built MindEase: a no-code AI therapist that chats in Urdu, Roman Urdu, and English—entirely within Bolt. News’ intuitive interface.

🛠️ Why I Chose No-Code & Bolt. Ne,w I’m a graphic designer-turned-first-time builder, not a professional developer. Bol News’s promise—"build stunning apps by chatting with AI"—was perfect for me. Instead of wrestling with code, I focused on: Conversational UX: Crafting flows that feel natural in U, u Prompt Engineering: Tuning GPT-powered replies for warmth and cultural nuance, Rapid Prototyping: Seeing updates instantly, with no deployment hassles, Bolt.new took care of the boilerplate. I focused entirely on MindEase’s heart and soul.

💡 My 7-Day Journey: From Giving Up to Going All In
When the hackathon started, I was super excited and quickly began working on my idea. But soon, I paused. Life distractions took over, and my project sat incomplete.
Then, with only 7 days left, I thought:

“Why not try again? Maybe I can still create something meaningful — maybe even win.”

That decision changed everything. I returned with new energy and gave my best each day.

🗓️ Day 1 – Rekindling the Spark
Opened my old project on Bolt after a long pause

Reviewed my idea: a friendly mental health AI that speaks Urdu, Roman Urdu & English

Cleaned up the cluttered interface and pre-defined prompt

🗓️ Day 2 – Language with Soul
Tuned the app’s responses to sound human and caring

Focused on making the tone soft, comforting, and empathetic

Added cultural context to make it feel like a real desi dost

🗓️ Day 3 – Roman Urdu Integration
Rewrote major chunks of the app to support Roman Urdu

Balanced simplicity with depth, so anyone could use it

Tested emotional replies and adjusted tone for natural flow

🗓️ Day 4 – Interface Revamp
Redesigned the app UI in Bolt: added peaceful visuals and calming tone

Added language toggle feature: English, Urdu, Roman Urdu

Made sure UX was smooth and distraction-free

🗓️ Day 5 – Emotional Intelligence
Created sample prompts that feel relatable and real

Adjusted assistant behavior to show empathy and patience

Added mental health-specific guidance (without sounding robotic)

🗓️ Day 6 – Testing & Feedback
Shared beta version with friends for review

Noted down emotional reactions and wording suggestions

Made key improvements based on how it felt, not just how it worked

🗓️ Day 7 – Final Polish & Pride
Prepared my demo, screenshots, and Devpost page

Polished UI one last time, fixed prompt typos, and finalized everything.g

Submitted MindEase with a full heart, knowing I gave it my best

🕒 Days Spent Building
I started working on this app at the beginning of the hackathon, but due to personal reasons, I left it halfway. When there was only 1 week left, I restarted the project with a new mindset — thinking “Maybe I can still finish strong and even win 1st place.”
I worked consistently, put in double the effort, and completely rebuilt the app to make it much better than before.

💡 Inspiration
In many countries like Pakistan, mental health is often overlooked or considered taboo. Many people struggle to express themselves in English or fear being judged.
I was inspired to build MindEase — an Urdu, Roman Urdu, and English-speaking AI therapist app — to give people a safe, relatable space to talk and find emotional peace.

🧠 What It Does
MindEase is a multilingual AI therapy chatbot that provides emotional support in Urdu, Roman Urdu, and English. It listens like a close friend, helps reduce stress, and guides users through their thoughts with compassion.

🔧 How We Built It
I used Bolt.new, a powerful no-code AI builder, to create the app. I designed multilingual logic, empathy-focused prompts, and tested various emotional response flows.
I also used Canva to create visuals and promotional material for the project.

🧱 Challenges We Ran Into
– Making the chatbot feel emotionally warm and not robotic
– Handling Urdu and Roman Urdu inputs effectively
– Designing conversations that feel natural and comforting in three languages

🏆 Accomplishments We're Proud Of
– Built a complete AI therapy app in 3 languages
– Successfully created a culturally relevant mental wellness tool
– Learned and applied no-code AI tools effectively
– Received positive feedback that the app truly feels calming and helpful

📚 What We Learned
– No-code tools can be used to build meaningful and functional apps
– Designing with empathy is more important than just logic
– Language inclusion makes a huge difference in accessibility

🔮 What’s Next for MindEase
– Add offline mode and emergency support
– Collaborate with mental health professionals for deeper therapy integration
– Launch on mobile platforms
– Collect user feedback to improve and personalize conversations even more

🛠️ Built With
Bolt.new (No-code AI builder)

Canva (Design & visuals)

Multilingual AI logic & empathy prompts

🔗 Try It Out
[https://preeminent-kangaroo-13121c.netlify.app/]

🔸 Not a Developer, Just a Dreamer 💭
When this hackathon began, I started working on this app, MindEase, with full motivation. But due to personal reasons, I left it halfway.
Then, when there was only 1 week left in the hackathon, I thought:
"Why give up? What if I can still make it to the top?"

So I started again from scratch. I worked hard again and again to improve it as much as I could in this short time.

I have only built the frontend of the app for now.
There's no backend yet.
If people like this app, I plan to consult real psychologists and therapists to expand its features and bring this idea to life properly.

I am not a developer,
I’ve never built an app before,
I’ve never joined any hackathon or competition in my life.
This is my first time —
Building an app, joining a global hackathon, and sharing my idea with the world.

Yes, you might find mistakes in my project —
But I request you not to focus on that.
Instead, see the courage it took for a beginner like me to show up and share something that I believe the world needs.

MindEase is a simple idea, but it's based on a deep human need —
Mental peace. Especially in our language.

Please support my app by giving it a like ❤️
Your support means everything and will help me continue this journey.
My dream is to reach the top spot.
And you can make that dream possible.

— Amna Sarwar

🌟 "My First App, My First Hackathon — A Journey of Belief and Determination"

amna sarwar — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 15:03:29 +0000

Building MindEase: My Journey with Bolt. New at the World’s Largest Hackathon By Amna Sarwar · Published July 20, 2025 When I saw the announcement for the World’s Largest Hackathon—130,000 builders strong—I knew this was my chance to merge mental health advocacy with my native language, Urdu. In just four intense days, I built MindEase: a no-code AI therapist that chats in Urdu, Roman Urdu, and English—entirely within Bolt. News’ intuitive interface.

“Why not try again? Maybe I can still create something meaningful — maybe even win.”

That decision changed everything. I returned with new energy and gave my best each day.

🗓️ Day 1 – Rekindling the Spark
Opened my old project on Bolt after a long pause

Reviewed my idea: a friendly mental health AI that speaks Urdu, Roman Urdu & English

Cleaned up the cluttered interface and pre-defined prompt

🗓️ Day 2 – Language with Soul
Tuned the app’s responses to sound human and caring

Focused on making the tone soft, comforting, and empathetic

Added cultural context to make it feel like a real desi dost

🗓️ Day 3 – Roman Urdu Integration
Rewrote major chunks of the app to support Roman Urdu

Balanced simplicity with depth, so anyone could use it

Tested emotional replies and adjusted tone for natural flow

🗓️ Day 4 – Interface Revamp
Redesigned the app UI in Bolt: added peaceful visuals and calming tone

Added language toggle feature: English, Urdu, Roman Urdu

Made sure UX was smooth and distraction-free

🗓️ Day 5 – Emotional Intelligence
Created sample prompts that feel relatable and real

Adjusted assistant behavior to show empathy and patience

Added mental health-specific guidance (without sounding robotic)

🗓️ Day 6 – Testing & Feedback
Shared beta version with friends for review

Noted down emotional reactions and wording suggestions

Made key improvements based on how it felt, not just how it worked

🗓️ Day 7 – Final Polish & Pride
Prepared my demo, screenshots, and Devpost page

Polished UI one last time, fixed prompt typos, and finalized everything.g

Submitted MindEase with a full heart, knowing I gave it my best

🛠️ Built With
Bolt.new (No-code AI builder)

Canva (Design & visuals)

Multilingual AI logic & empathy prompts

🔗 Try It Out
[https://preeminent-kangaroo-13121c.netlify.app/]

So I started again from scratch. I worked hard again and again to improve it as much as I could in this short time.

MindEase is a simple idea, but it's based on a deep human need —
Mental peace. Especially in our language.

Please support my app by giving it a like ❤️
Your support means everything and will help me continue this journey.
My dream is to reach the top spot.
And you can make that dream possible.

— Amna Sarwar