I came into the hackathon with one goal: Ship fast, experiment, and push the limits of AI-assisted development.
Instead of obsessing over polish, I treated Kiro as a second brain — helping me code, document, debug, and iterate quickly. Over the hackathon, it became a pair programmer, automation engine, and workflow multiplier all in one.
What I Built
I built NeoNest, an all-in-one mobile app for parents of preterm babies that provides doctor-backed guidance, corrected-age–aligned developmental tracking, a moderated community, and an AI-assisted play/activity content library.
It’s designed for parents of preterm infants because they often face inconsistent guidance, unclear developmental expectations, social isolation, and difficulty accessing clinicians or local resources. NeoNest reduces uncertainty, connects them to vetted experts, and provides measurable, trusted support from NICU discharge through the toddler years.
Implemented features:
- React Native Foundation: TypeScript setup, navigation, cross-platform support, testing
- Authentication: Production-ready login/register/forgot password with JWT + secure storage
- Baby Profiles: CRUD management, medical info, corrected age integration, data export
- Corrected Age Engine: Accurate age calculation with full unit tests
- Milestone Tracking: Logging, progress visualization, categorization
- Community: Forum, expert verification, moderation, category-based discussion
- Security: Encrypted storage, secure session handling, form validation
- UI/UX Design: Mobile-first, WCAG compliance, consistent branding
Vibe Coding with Kiro
- Most sessions started messy: scribbles, rough flows, half-baked ideas. I’d throw them at Kiro, and it returned structured specs, clean code, and working workflows.
- My rhythm quickly became: brainstorm → draft → refine → implement.
- Highlight: baby profile management system. Kiro built it end-to-end — schema, API, UI wiring, and edge-case tests. Felt more like a teammate than a code generator.
Hooks That Changed the Game
I set up agent hooks for automation:
- Documentation Sync: Updates docs automatically when source files change, saving hours of context rewriting.
- Bug Fix Logging: Logs bug, root cause, step-by-step fix — created a living debugging journal.
These hooks turned scattered bursts into a continuous, documented build cycle.
Build in Public
I shared daily updates throughout the hackathon — documenting everything from the challenges I ran into, to the experiments I tried, to the small wins that kept me going.
From Spec → Code
Workflow:
- Brain-dump rough ideas and flows
- Refine with ChatPRD → acceptance criteria, test cases, technical requirements, roadmap
- Kiro then consumed this spec + UI cues to generate clean, maintainable, production-ready code aligned with the product vision.
Challenges
- Corrected Age Calculation: Milestone tracking logic sometimes broke calculations; requires SME review
- File Structuring / Spaghetti Code: Kiro-generated code occasionally needed manual optimization; hooks + CodeRabbit helped
AI Integration: Plugging in a basic AI workflow via API was straightforward. Deploying a fine-tuned model with HIPAA and COPPA compliance, however, required careful handling and iterative back-and-forth. Since the proper compliance requirements aren’t fully in place yet, the AI model hasn’t been deployed in production.
Debugging Hooks & Wrong Dates: The bug-logging hook sometimes recorded incorrect dates (e.g., December 2024), which made it harder to track when and where issues occurred.
Biggest surprise: Kiro required minimal oversight to adhere to UI/UX design.
Consideration for the future: Start with more upfront context; refine progressively.
Takeaways
Shipping fast with AI isn’t about perfect prompts it’s about structuring workflows.
Kiro enabled me to:
- Vibe-code from raw ideas to production-ready code
- Automate repetitive tasks
- Focus on actually shipping
NeoNest is just the beginning. The real win? AI can change the way we build.
Stay tuned! I’ll be continuing to build NeoNest with Kiro and sharing updates along the way. There’s still so much to explore, and I’m excited to hear your thoughts and feedback as the project evolves.
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