The AI co-founder that turns your hackathon idea into a shipped repo with code, Cline tasks, and a pitch—all in 60 seconds.

Gradient Coach is an AI-powered hackathon assistant that validates your project's 24-hour feasibility, recommends an ultra-lean tech stack, creates a detailed timeline, generates Cline tasks, and crafts a compelling pitch—all optimized for shipping a demo fast.

Powered by DigitalOcean GradientAI 🚀

• 24-Hour Feasibility Validation: Get realistic assessment of what you can build in a hackathon
• Ultra-Lean Tech Stack: Recommendations optimized for fast shipping, not over-engineering
• Knowledge Base System: Curated templates for common project types and MLH hackathon best practices
• Smart Timeline: Phase-by-phase breakdown with realistic time estimates
• Cline Task Generation: Ready-to-use tasks for AI coding assistants
• Pitch Generation: Compelling pitch that highlights your innovation
• Repository Scaffolding: Auto-generated starter code and configuration files
• Enterprise-Ready: Professional error handling, input validation, and retry logic
• Professional CLI: Spinner indicators and clear progress feedback
• Comprehensive Testing: Full test suite with 100+ tests ensuring quality

• Node.js 18+ installed
• Anthropic API key (for Claude AI via DigitalOcean GradientAI)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/wildhash/gradient-coach.git
cd gradient-coach

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Set up your API key
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

Interactive Mode (Recommended):

npm run dev

Command Line Mode:

npm run dev -- coach --idea "A real-time collaboration tool for remote teams" --experience intermediate --scaffold

Options:

• -i, --idea <idea>: Your project idea description
• -e, --experience <level>: Your experience level (beginner/intermediate/advanced)
• -s, --scaffold: Generate repository scaffold files
• -o, --output <dir>: Output directory (default: ./gradient-coach-output)

Gradient Coach generates several files to help you get started:

gradient-coach-output/
├── README.md                    # Formatted report with all recommendations
├── gradient-coach-report.json   # Complete JSON output
├── cline-tasks.json            # Tasks for AI coding assistants
└── scaffold/                   # Generated project files (if --scaffold used)
    ├── README.md
    ├── package.json
    └── ... (starter code)

$ npm run dev

🎯 Gradient Coach - Your AI Hackathon Co-Founder

? What's your hackathon project idea? A Chrome extension that uses AI to summarize YouTube videos
? What's your coding experience level? intermediate
? Any specific features you want? (comma-separated, optional) transcript extraction, AI summary, save to notion
? Generate repository scaffold files? Yes

🚀 Starting Gradient Coach analysis...

⚡ Validating 24-hour feasibility...
   ✅ Feasibility: Feasible
   Risk Level: medium

🛠️  Recommending ultra-lean tech stack...
   ✅ Tech stack recommended

📅 Generating project timeline...
   ✅ Timeline created (18 hours)

🤖 Generating Cline tasks...
   ✅ 12 tasks generated

🎤 Crafting pitch...
   ✅ Pitch created: "SummarTube AI"

📦 Generating repository scaffold...
   ✅ 8 files generated

✨ Gradient Coach analysis complete!

📄 Full report saved to: gradient-coach-output/gradient-coach-report.json
📄 Formatted report saved to: gradient-coach-output/README.md
📄 Cline tasks saved to: gradient-coach-output/cline-tasks.json
📦 Scaffold files saved to: gradient-coach-output/scaffold/

✨ All done! Good luck at the hackathon! 🚀

Gradient Coach uses a modular architecture with specialized components:

• FeasibilityValidator: Analyzes if a project is realistic for 24 hours
• TechStackRecommender: Suggests optimal technologies for fast shipping
• TimelineGenerator: Creates phase-by-phase project timeline
• ClineTaskGenerator: Breaks project into AI-executable tasks
• PitchGenerator: Crafts compelling hackathon pitch
• ScaffoldGenerator: Creates starter project structure

All components are powered by Claude AI through DigitalOcean's GradientAI API.

Gradient Coach includes a curated knowledge base with:

• 8 Tech Stack Templates: Pre-configured stacks for common project types
  • Full-stack web apps, frontend-only apps, APIs
  • Chrome extensions, Discord bots, mobile apps (React Native)
  • CLI tools, Python ML applications
• MLH Hackathon Guidelines: Best practices, time management, judging criteria
• Common Mistakes Database: What to avoid in hackathons
• Recommended APIs: Curated list of reliable APIs by category

The knowledge base enhances AI recommendations with proven patterns and helps avoid common pitfalls.

# Run in development mode
npm run dev

# Build TypeScript
npm run build

# Run production build
npm start

# Run tests
npm test

# Run tests in watch mode
npm run test:watch

# Generate coverage report
npm run test:coverage

• First-time Hackers: Get guidance on realistic scope and tech choices
• Experienced Builders: Validate ambitious ideas and optimize for speed
• Team Planning: Align on timeline and task distribution
• Solo Projects: Break down work into manageable chunks
• AI-Assisted Development: Generate tasks for tools like Cline

Gradient Coach uses the Anthropic API (Claude). You can get an API key from:

1. Anthropic Console
2. Or use DigitalOcean's GradientAI service

Set the API key as an environment variable:

export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-api-key-here

For DigitalOcean GradientAI, you can also set a custom base URL:

export GRADIENT_AI_BASE_URL=https://your-gradient-endpoint

If you encounter any issues, see our comprehensive Troubleshooting Guide which covers:

• API key setup and validation
• Common errors and solutions
• Network and connectivity issues
• Input validation errors
• Performance optimization tips

Gradient Coach is built with enterprise-grade quality:

• Robust Error Handling: All errors caught and displayed with user-friendly messages
• Input Validation: Comprehensive validation with clear feedback
• Retry Logic: Automatic retry with exponential backoff for API calls
• Type Safety: Fully typed TypeScript codebase with strict mode
• Output Validation: Generated files validated before saving
• Professional CLI: Spinner indicators and progress feedback
• Comprehensive Testing: 100+ tests covering all functionality
• Debug Mode: Enable with DEBUG=true for detailed logging

ISC

Contributions welcome! This tool is designed to help hackers ship faster.

• Powered by DigitalOcean GradientAI
• Built for the hackathon community
• Optimized for shipping demos, not perfection

Remember: The goal is to ship a working demo in 24 hours, not build production software. Gradient Coach helps you focus on what matters. 🚀