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🎣 HookED – Learning That Slaps

A gamified microlearning app for neurodivergent minds and curiosity-driven learners—powered by the Perplexity Sonar API.

In One Line

HookED turns learning into a real-time, scrollable experience—powered by AI, structured by story, and gamified for curiosity.

🌟 Inspiration

"What if learning felt like scrolling TikTok—but actually made you smarter?"

HookED was born from frustration with traditional learning and a desire to create something that speaks to how people actually absorb information—especially those with ADHD, burnout, or short attention spans.

We saw the power of stories, analogies, and visual reinforcement—and paired that with cutting-edge AI to build a new way to learn.

🚀 What It Does

HookED is a mobile-first app that delivers:

  • 📌 60-word hooks powered by the Perplexity Sonar API
  • 📚 Real-time sources and citations
  • 🧠 Instant quizzes to reinforce key ideas
  • 🧭 Optional “Hook Quests” for deeper exploration

Along the way, users collect XP, badges, and streaks—making learning feel like leveling up in a game.

🏗️ Architecture Overview

Component Technology Used Purpose
Mobile App React Native Custom UI for onboarding, search, quizzes, Hook Feed, and quests
Backend Python + FastAPI Routing, XP logic, profile management, and API calls
Database MongoDB Atlas Stores users, history, XP, quest states, and badge data
AI Engine Perplexity Sonar Pro API Generates hooks, analogies, citations, and quiz prompts
Visual Layer LangChain + Gemini 2.0 Flash Creates visuals to reinforce learning
Hosting AWS Full-stack deployment

🤖 AI Integration Details

Perplexity Sonar API: Real-Time Relevance

  • Trained on live web data
  • Handles informal, meme-like prompts
  • Outputs structured developer-friendly JSON

Integration Flow:

  1. 🧱 Prompt templating via LangChain
  2. 🧾 Output schema for hook, analogy, quiz, riddle
  3. 🔍 Fallback JSON parser (extract_valid_json)
  4. 🧵 Used to generate Feed Cards and HookQuests

See more in Feed and Trending.

📂 Documentation Sections

Navigate through each key component of the system:

🧩 Engineering Challenges

Not Everything Was Plug-and-Play

  • Hooks had to be carefully trimmed and cleaned to stay below 60 words.
  • Quizzes needed post-processing and logic to balance difficulty.
  • UI needed dopamine without distraction—especially for neurodivergent users.
  • Chain-of-thought logic was simulated via custom thread-like design.

🏆 Accomplishments

  • ✅ AI-powered, real-time educational feed
  • 🎯 Designed for ADHD, anxiety, and cognitive load
  • 🧭 Story-driven “HookQuests”
  • 📱 TikTok-style UI for knowledge
  • 🧠 Turned raw LLM output into structured learning moments

📚 Lessons Learned

LLMs are powerful—but unpredictable.

Prompt engineering is a full-time job. We learned to debug and mold outputs for precision and emotional tone.

  • Designing for neurodivergent users means optimizing for safety and clarity.
  • Gamification must be earned, not forced.
  • React Native + FastAPI = fast iteration.
  • AI text → structured logic = creative problem solving.

🔮 What's Next

  • 🧠 Hook History & Recommendations
  • 👥 Social Learning & Study Squads
  • 🧪 Contextual Quiz Engine
  • 🎭 Mood-Based Hooking
  • 🌍 Offline Mode + Multilingual Support

🎥 Demo

📺 Watch Demo (3 mins)

🔒 Repository

GitHub Repo

API link

Shared With: - james.liounis@perplexity.ai
- sathvik@perplexity.ai
- devrel@perplexity.ai
- testing@devpost.com

🏷 Submission Info

Category: Education, Health, Fun and Creative
Bonus: Deep Research
Team: Aishwarya Jakka, Rahul Rao, Siddarth Karmokar
Main Tool: Perplexity Sonar API

📬 Contact

Created by:

📜 License

MIT License — Open for educational, non-commercial, and community use.