Kai predicts

Put your money where your mouth is. Reimagining social prediction markets.

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Inspiration

The recent prediction market craze around presidential elections got me thinking - why do we only predict politics when reality TV generates just as much buzz and engagement? I watched platforms like Polymarket explode with activity, but noticed a glaring gap: women, who are incredibly active in discussions about entertainment, culture, and social phenomena, had no prediction markets curated for the things they actually want to talk about.

That's when the vision for KAI crystallized - a social prediction platform that reimagines how prediction markets work, specifically designed for women who love reality TV, pop culture, and trending topics. Instead of feeling like gambling, it would feel like engaging with your favorite social media platform.

What it does

KAI is a comprehensive social prediction platform that combines Web3 smart wallets with traditional social media engagement. Users can:

  • Create and participate in prediction markets on trending topics, reality TV, and cultural events
  • Authenticate with Coinbase smart wallets for gasless Web3 transactions while maintaining familiar user experience
  • Earn tokens for accurate predictions with a sophisticated payout system (5% house fee, 1-5% creator fee, 90-94% winner distribution)
  • Share markets and predictions on social media with rich Open Graph previews
  • Engage in real-time discussions with integrated social features
  • Access comprehensive admin tools for market management and resolution

The platform features a hybrid Web2/Web3 architecture where users authenticate via Coinbase CDP but all data lives in Firebase Firestore, creating seamless real-time updates with Web3 capabilities.

How we built it

I built KAI entirely using Kiro's spec-driven development approach, which transformed my development process:

Kiro's Three-Phase Workflow:

  1. Requirements Phase: Transform ideas into EARS-format acceptance criteria
  2. Design Phase: Generate comprehensive technical architecture
  3. Implementation Phase: Create actionable task breakdowns

My Systematic Process:

  • Start with clear goals for each feature
  • Let Kiro generate technical designs and specifications
  • Refine specs until they matched exactly what I needed
  • Implement through manageable, incremental tasks
  • Avoid code bloat by building only what was necessary

This resulted in 28 feature specifications covering everything from core platform functionality to complex integrations like Coinbase CDP authentication and Firebase data storage. Each spec followed Kiro's structured approach, creating a production-grade application with comprehensive testing and error handling.

Key Technical Achievements:

  • Hybrid authentication system (Coinbase wallets + Firebase data)
  • Complex payout calculation engine with multi-tier fees
  • Real-time market updates and social sharing
  • Comprehensive admin dashboard with market resolution tools
  • Mobile-responsive design with accessibility compliance ## Challenges we ran into

Firebase + Coinbase Integration Complexity: The biggest challenge was integrating Firebase data storage with Coinbase CDP authentication. Creating a hybrid system where users authenticate with Web3 wallets but data lives in a traditional database required solving complex authentication mapping problems. We built a sophisticated wallet-to-UID mapping system and handled admin authentication across both systems.

React State Loops and Firebase Errors: Debugging Firebase internal assertion errors and React state loops felt overwhelming at times. However, Kiro's systematic error resolution approach helped me work through each issue methodically, teaching me proper debugging techniques.

Working with Real Data: Unlike building demos, KAI handles real user data and token transactions. This taught me the importance of going slow, testing thoroughly, and ensuring every operation works exactly as intended when people's tokens and predictions are involved.

Custom Code Management: Learning that once code goes custom, you need to keep AI agents aligned with specific patterns through detailed steering documents to ensure consistency and prevent code bloat.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Production-Grade Application: Built a fully functional prediction platform that works exactly as envisioned, complete with real wallet integration, token transactions, and social features.

Comprehensive Testing Infrastructure: Generated 200+ test files covering unit tests, integration tests, and edge cases I never would have considered, catching potential bugs before they became production issues.

Complex System Integration: Successfully integrated Coinbase CDP smart wallets with Firebase Firestore, creating a seamless hybrid Web2/Web3 experience that maintains user familiarity while enabling gasless transactions.

Systematic Development Process: Demonstrated that AI-assisted development through Kiro's spec-driven approach can handle enterprise-level complexity while maintaining development velocity and code quality.

Personal Transformation: Went from business analyst to technical founder, gaining deep understanding of modern software architecture, dependencies, components, and API integrations.

What we learned

Technical Architecture Understanding: Gained comprehensive knowledge of how complex systems work together, especially hybrid Web2/Web3 architectures and real-time data synchronization.

Database-First Thinking: Learned the critical importance of speccing out database schemas before implementation. Changes become exponentially more difficult once you have real user data.

AI-Assisted Development Best Practices:

  • Spec first, code second - always start with clear requirements
  • Keep AI agents aligned through detailed steering documents
  • Testing is non-negotiable - comprehensive test suites prevent production bugs
  • Go slow with real data - methodical development beats speed

Systematic Problem Solving: Kiro's structured approach taught me to think systematically about problems and solutions, breaking complex challenges into manageable components.

The Power of Incremental Development: Building features systematically with proper testing and validation at each step creates more maintainable and reliable software.

What's next for KAI

Immediate Goals:

  • Take KAI public with the strong foundation now in place
  • Implement smart contracts for automated market resolution
  • Enhanced Web3 functionality and multi-chain support

Technical Roadmap:

  • AI-powered market creation with automated trending topic identification
  • Advanced analytics dashboard for user engagement metrics
  • React Native mobile app using existing Kiro specs as foundation
  • Enterprise features for white-label prediction platform capabilities

Development Approach: Continue using Kiro to build systematically, one day at a time, adding features incrementally rather than rushing. The platform has proven that sustainable development means building with proper testing and validation at each step.

Vision: KAI represents the future of AI-assisted development, where non-technical founders can bring complex technical visions to life. The combination of domain expertise, clear vision, and AI-powered development tools creates possibilities that democratize technical innovation and enable sophisticated applications to be built faster than ever before.

Built With

  • api
  • coinbase-developer-platform-(cdp)
  • embedded
  • firebase-firestore
  • jest
  • next.js
  • next.js-15
  • radix
  • react
  • react-19
  • smart
  • tailwind-css
  • testing
  • typescript
  • vercel
  • wallets
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