DEV Community: Priya Rani

InboxZen AI: Your Smart Email Assistant Powered by Open-Weight Gemma

Priya Rani — Fri, 23 Oct 2026 15:55:20 +0000

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 3: Slow and Steady

What I Built

I am building InboxZen AI, an AI-powered email and message productivity assistant inspired by the idea of working smarter, not harder.

Writing replies, drafting emails, and summarizing long messages can take up valuable time. InboxZen AI aims to make these everyday tasks easier with a simple interface and an open-weight AI model.

The project is designed around three core features:

AI Reply Generator: Generate context-aware replies in professional, friendly, formal, polite, or concise tones.

Email Drafter: Turn a short description into an editable email with a subject and body.

Message Summarizer: Extract key points and action items from long messages.

Users can review, edit, and copy the generated content instead of starting every message from scratch.

The goal is not to send emails without human involvement. It is to reduce repetitive writing while keeping the user in control.

Demo

Live application-https://inboxzen-ai.netlify.app/

Code

GitHub repository: https://github.com/priyarani22023-max/InboxZen-AI

The repository includes the frontend, serverless AI functions, deployment configuration, and setup instructions.

How I Built It

I used Google AI Studio to help build and refine the application, React and Vite for the frontend, and Netlify for hosting and serverless backend functions.

The AI integration uses Google's hosted API to access the open-weight Gemma 4 26B A4B Instruct model (gemma-4-26b-it). The application sends requests through a server-side Netlify Function so that the API key is not exposed in browser code.

The main request flow is:

The user enters a message and selects an AI task.

The frontend sends the request to a Netlify Function.

The function validates the input and calls Gemma.

The generated result is returned to the interface for review and editing.

The model is configurable through an environment variable, allowing the inference configuration to be changed without embedding model settings in the frontend.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

Open innovation makes it possible for developers to build on open-weight models, experiment with their behavior, and explore different deployment approaches.

For InboxZen AI, Gemma provides an open-weight model that can power everyday text-generation tasks. This creates opportunities to study the model, experiment with prompts, and potentially move to a self-hosted inference setup in the future.

For this initial version, inference is hosted through an API rather than running locally. That means the application still depends on an internet connection and an external inference service. Text submitted for generation is sent to that service, so users should avoid entering sensitive information.

A future local-inference version could offer more control over where personal messages are processed. Open-weight AI gives developers room to explore that possibility instead of being locked into one model or deployment approach.

My Agent Session

CraftSeller AI: Empowering Handmade Sellers with Open-Weight AI

Priya Rani — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 18:31:43 +0000

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 2: Side Hustle

What I Built

I built CraftSeller AI, an AI-powered assistant designed for artisans, handmade product creators, and small business owners.

Many talented artisans create beautiful handmade products but struggle to write attractive product descriptions, promote their work on social media, and calculate fair selling prices. CraftSeller AI helps simplify these tasks so they can focus more on their creativity and business.

Demo

Live Demo: craftseller.netlify.app

Code

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/priyarani22023-max/CraftSeller-AI

How I Built It

I built CraftSeller AI using a web-based frontend, server-side API routes, and Netlify Functions for deployment.

The project is designed around Gemma, an open-weight AI model, to generate product listings, social media content, and pricing explanations. The application uses an API integration to connect the model to the user interface while keeping the API key on the server side.

Technologies and tools include:

React and TypeScript

Gemma open-weight model

Google AI Studio for development and model access

Netlify Functions for server-side API handling

GitHub for version control and open-source collaboration

Netlify for deployment

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

Open innovation gives developers and small businesses more flexibility to experiment with AI-powered tools. Open-weight models such as Gemma make it possible to build specialized applications, adapt workflows, and explore different deployment approaches.

For CraftSeller AI, the goal is to make AI assistance more accessible to artisans who may not have the time or resources to create professional marketing content themselves. Supporting both Hindi and English also helps make the experience more approachable for Indian craft sellers.

Prize Categories

Open-Source AI
Side Hustle

🌱 GreenBuddy AI: Touch Grass with an Open-Source AI Nature Companion

Priya Rani — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 18:03:18 +0000

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

What I Built

🌱 GreenBuddy AI is a nature companion designed to help students and people who spend too much time on screens reconnect with the real world.

It encourages users to take outdoor breaks through simple nature quests and activities.

Key Features:

🌿 Nature quests and outdoor activities
🎯 Activities for different time limits
🏆 Progress tracking and streaks
📱 Responsive and user-friendly interface
🌐 Offline-friendly fallback quests

The goal is simple: Less Scrolling. More Growing!

Demo

https://greenbuddy-ai.netlify.app/

Code

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/priyarani22023-max/GreenBuddy-AI

Explore the project source code and follow its development on GitHub.

How I Built It

I built GreenBuddy AI as a web application focused on helping people take meaningful breaks from screens.

The project explores the use of Gemma, an open-weight AI model, to suggest nature activities. It also includes the idea of offline-friendly fallback quests so users can access basic activities even when AI services are unavailable.

The goal is to combine accessible web technology with open-source AI to encourage healthier screen habits and more time outdoors.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

Open innovation makes AI more accessible to students, developers, and independent creators. Open-weight models provide opportunities to experiment, customize AI experiences, and explore different deployment options.

With GreenBuddy AI, I want to explore how open AI technology can support a simple real-world goal: encouraging people to spend less time scrolling and more time connecting with nature.

🌱 Technology should not only keep us online; it can also inspire us to step outside!

Prize Categories

Open-Source AI / Gemma (if applicable to the challenge's official categories).

🌱 GreenBuddy AI: Touch Grass with an Open-Source AI Nature Companion

Priya Rani — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 17:57:51 +0000

What I Built

🌱 GreenBuddy AI is a nature companion designed to help students and people who spend too much time on screens reconnect with the real world.

It encourages users to take outdoor breaks through simple nature quests and activities.

Key Features:

🌿 Nature quests and outdoor activities
🎯 Activities for different time limits
🏆 Progress tracking and streaks
📱 Responsive and user-friendly interface
🌐 Offline-friendly fallback quests

The goal is simple: Less Scrolling. More Growing!

Demo

https://greenbuddy-ai.netlify.app/

Code

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/priyarani22023-max/GreenBuddy-AI

Explore the project source code and follow its development on GitHub.

How I Built It

I built GreenBuddy AI as a web application focused on helping people take meaningful breaks from screens.

The goal is to combine accessible web technology with open-source AI to encourage healthier screen habits and more time outdoors.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

With GreenBuddy AI, I want to explore how open AI technology can support a simple real-world goal: encouraging people to spend less time scrolling and more time connecting with nature.

🌱 Technology should not only keep us online; it can also inspire us to step outside!

My Agent Session

Optional: Add your DevRelay agent session link here if you have one. Otherwise, remove this section.

Prize Categories

Open-Source AI / Gemma (if applicable to the challenge's official categories).

StudyMate AI: A Personal Open-Weight AI Study Companion for a Friend

Priya Rani — Mon, 05 Oct 2026 06:57:51 +0000

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend

What I Built

I built StudyMate AI, a personal AI study companion designed for a college-student friend who often struggles with understanding difficult topics, reviewing long notes, and preparing for exams.

StudyMate AI brings several study tools into one place, including AI-powered learning assistance, note summarization, quiz generation, and study planning. The goal is to make revision faster, simpler, and more interactive.

I built it around the idea that a student should be able to ask a question, simplify notes, and practice a topic without needing multiple separate tools.

Demo

Live Demo:
https://stydymate12.netlify.app/

You can also add a short screen-recorded demo here showing the main StudyMate AI features.

Code

GitHub Repository:
https://github.com/priyarani22023-max/StudyMate-AI

How I Built It

StudyMate AI is built as a student-focused web application using React for the frontend and a modern AI-powered application architecture.

The AI foundation is Google Gemma, an open-weight model. The application uses Gemma as the core intelligence behind the study experience rather than using AI only as a coding assistant.

The project includes features such as:

AI Tutor for answering study questions
Notes Summarizer for simplifying long notes
Quiz Generator for creating practice questions
Study planning and progress-oriented features

The project was designed with a clean, responsive interface and a light education-focused visual style.

Why Does Open Innovation Matter?

Open innovation matters for StudyMate AI because students should have access to useful AI tools without every part of the experience depending on a closed system.

Using an open-weight model such as Gemma gives developers more control over how the AI is integrated into an application and creates opportunities for privacy-focused, customizable, and student-specific AI experiences.

For this project, open-weight AI made it possible to build the study experience around an AI model that we can understand, experiment with, and integrate directly into the product architecture.

Prize Categories

Gemma

Intro

Priya Rani — Sat, 03 Oct 2026 17:02:40 +0000

My name is Priya. I'm a Student.

My Intro

Priya Rani — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 18:35:54 +0000

My name is Priya. I am a student.