TouchGrass AI: Small Outdoor Adventures Beyond the Screen

Nivaas V — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 03:09:31 +0000

🌿 TouchGrass AI: Small Outdoor Adventures Beyond the Screen

What if technology could help us spend less time looking at screens and more time enjoying the real world?

That's the idea behind TouchGrass AI, a small web project I built for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge — Week 1: Touch Grass.

💡 What is TouchGrass AI?

TouchGrass AI encourages people to take a break from their screens through small, enjoyable outdoor missions.

Instead of endlessly scrolling, users can choose their mood and available time to discover activities they can try outside.

✨ Features

🌱 Outdoor missions inspired by nature and everyday life
😊 Mood-based mission recommendations
⏱️ Activities filtered by available time
📊 Progress tracking and completed mission statistics
🔥 Daily streak tracking
💾 Local progress saved using browser Local Storage
🎨 A clean, nature-inspired interface built with React

🛠️ Tech Stack

React
Vite
JavaScript
CSS
Browser Local Storage
Hugging Face Transformers.js exploration for browser-based AI integration

🌍 Why I Built This

Technology should help us live better, not keep us glued to a screen all day.

I wanted to build something that turns a simple reminder into an action. Whether it's taking a short walk, watching the clouds, caring for a plant, or discovering five things in nature, small activities can encourage us to reconnect with the world around us.

🔓 Why Open Innovation Matters

Open-source tools make experimentation and learning more accessible. They give developers the freedom to inspect, adapt, and improve the technology they use.

My goal is to explore browser-based AI so recommendations can eventually be generated on the user's device without requiring a paid AI API.

The current version includes mood- and time-based recommendations. The AI integration is still being developed and tested.

🚀 Try the Project

Project Links

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/nivaas219/TouchGrass-AI

Live Demo: Not deployed yet — the project currently runs locally.

The project is built with React, Vite, JavaScript, and CSS. It currently provides mood- and time-based outdoor activity recommendations. The AI integration is still being developed and tested.

🔮 What's Next?

Complete and test the open-source AI integration.
Improve personalized mission recommendations.
Make the experience even better on mobile devices.
Add more outdoor activities and achievements.

This is an ongoing learning project, and I'm excited to keep improving it.

Less scrolling. More exploring. More life beyond the screen. 🌿

devchallenge #hf26challenge

My First Open Source Contribution Got Me a Free Mug - Here's the Honest Story

Nivaas V — Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:09:48 +0000

I Got a Free Mug from Mattermost — Here's the Honest Story
I didn't plan any of this.
I was 18, just finished 12th standard, sitting at home with nothing specific to do. Started browsing GitHub randomly. Saw something called "good first issue." Clicked it. That's how this whole thing started.

The First PR
Found a small change I could make in Mattermost. Submitted it. Then refreshed GitHub probably 50 times waiting for someone to respond 😅
When it got merged on June 29, I took a screenshot. Showed my family. They didn't understand what it meant. I didn't explain. I just sat there feeling something I couldn't quite describe.

The Mug Thing
I didn't even know contributor mugs existed until someone mentioned it. Found out Mattermost sends a personalized mug for first-time contributors.
Then started the chaos 😂
I messaged Lindy Isherwood from the Mattermost team probably way too many times asking about tracking IDs, shipping dates, whether the mug was confirmed, whether my address was correct... She was patient with me throughout. More patient than I deserved honestly.
The shipment got stuck on "Out for Pickup" for 3 days straight. I called Delhivery. Emailed Shiprocket. Messaged John. Nothing moved.
Then one day I told Lindy about the problem — and it got picked up the same day. Coincidence? Maybe. But I like to think telling someone about your problem makes it disappear sometimes 😄

August 17,
Faridabad - Bangalore - Tamilnadu - my door.
When the delivery boy handed me the box I just stood there for a second.
Opened it.
Mattermost Mug

What I Actually Learned,
You don't need to be an expert. I wasn't.
Small contributions count. Mine was tiny.
Community people are more helpful than you expect — if you're respectful.
Patience is harder than coding sometimes 😅
Open source from a small village in Tamil Nadu is completely possible.

If You Want to Try,
Find a project you use. Look for "good first issue." Submit something. It'll feel scary. Do it anyway.
The mug is nice. But honestly, knowing that my code is somewhere in a product used by thousands of people — that's the real thing.
GitHub: @nivaas219 : https://github.com/nivaas219 | Twitter: @nivaas412496 : https://x.com/nivaas412496

DEV Community: Nivaas V