This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Garg garg
This is a submission for the World’s Largest Hackathon Writing Challenge: Beyond the Code.
Hackathons are often remembered for sleepless coding marathons, rapid prototypes, and caffeine-fueled breakthroughs. But for me, the Bolt Hackathon 2025 became something deeper — a personal journey in building with empathy.
I created MindMeld, an AI-powered mental wellness companion, not just to solve a technical challenge, but to craft a tool that could offer emotional support, reflection, and calm — even when no one else is around.
Solo Builder. Shared Vision.
Yes, I built this solo — from ideation and design to integration and deployment. But I never felt alone.
The Bolt.new ecosystem, open communities around Supabase, Tavus, and ElevenLabs, and the encouraging vibe of the hackathon provided a sense of shared purpose. Every forum reply, documentation tip, and community post became part of my extended support network.
Working solo meant I had to wear every hat — developer, designer, QA, UX, even therapist (briefly!). But that also meant every breakthrough was deeply personal and fulfilling.
Community That Showed Up
While I built MindMeld alone, the community stood behind me:
Devs on Discord helped debug async race conditions
Supabase threads guided me through Row Level Security
ElevenLabs enthusiasts helped refine my voice output for a therapeutic tone
Tavus’ developer support team saved me hours by helping optimize real-time video rendering
It reminded me: solo doesn’t mean isolated.
Why MindMeld?
Because mental wellness is often neglected. Because I’ve seen people I care about struggle in silence. And because I believe AI can do more than automate — it can comfort.
MindMeld guides users through emotional check-ins using AI, voice narration, and video guidance — all built with:
Bolt.new (for backend logic and UI flows)
Supabase (for auth, journaling, and session storage)
ElevenLabs (to voice emotions with empathy)- Tavus (to generate video reflections)
Netlify (to deploy the final product to the world)
Not Just About Shipping
This project tested my technical limits — async API orchestration, emotion detection modeling, privacy-first storage — but it also challenged my ability to design with care.
I spent as much time thinking about the emotional tone of the app as the code behind it. What should the first message feel like? How should it respond if someone types “I’m not okay”? These are not technical decisions — they’re human ones.
What I’ll Take With Me
- You don’t need a big team to make a big impact
- Human-centered design is harder — and more rewarding
- Building alone can still feel collaborative, thanks to community
- The best projects come from places of purpose
Thanks + Credits
- Built solo by: @garg80884
- Powered by: Bolt.new, Supabase, ElevenLabs, Tavus, Netlify
- Demo: https://chic-narwhal-fe6136.netlify.app/
Final Reflection
MindMeld is more than an app — it’s my statement that tech can be tender, too.
If even one person finds comfort, clarity, or calm through it, then this journey was worth every solo hour.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Garg garg