QuackStack

Files and code editor
Github repository selection
Chat with Quack

Inspiration: Confused with the CI/CD pipeline

We were inspired by the concept of Rubber Duck Debugging in which you explain your code to a rubber duck to help you find errors in your code.

What it does

The website is an IDE that is linked with your GitHub to help you with your CI/CD journey. The user is able to write their code in the IDE, easily push any changes to GitHub, and ask their duck companion for AI powered help and encouragement in the process. The IDE also has interactive duck animations to help with user retention and enjoyment without impeding the development process.

How we built it

We used Go, Scaleway, and Docker for the backend, and react, tailwind, and the Monaco code editor.

Challenges we ran into

We initially implemented ChatGPT API with Python as some of the team members had implemented the API with Python before; however, coding in python required extra work to integrate with the rest of our backend in Go. Integration was successful, however, the increased project complexity of including competing programming languages meant that the API requests had to be implemented in Go. While the Python code set a foundation from which the Go code could be written, the added time taken in a time pressured project provided challenge.

The ChatGPT was also challenging as the API cost money to get responses from. Luckily a team member had an OpenAI account with credit to allow us to integrate the AI.

Finally, we had an AI feature that completed speech to text conversion so that user’s could speak into their microphone instead of typing, however, we unfortunately ran out of time to implement this on the website.

We also faced time constraints as two of our members were members of the BCSS committee and had to give presentations, help other teams, and organise the event and thus were unavailable at times to develop QuackStack.

In development, we decided to use React and Go. Three of our team members had never used Go before, and one of our team members had never used React. More knowledgeable team members helped upskill these team members which obviously cost time and development power.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of integrating GitHub, using the ChatGPT API especially with all the challenges mentioned above, creating a consistent aesthetically pleasing brand and design, and upskilling team members to the point of implementation in new programming languages.

What we learned

We learned new programming languages Go and react, designing in tailwind, GitHub authorisation, saving to Scaleway Cloud, time management skills, and of course, how to better sleep on Chancellor’s floors or pull an all-nighter.

What's next for QuackStack

We will implement a feature where you can then run your code once its been pushed and it will display all of the Git logs to you. If your code runs successfully there will be a cool animation of fireworks and you will receive points, otherwise it will explain any error messages in plain English and give you suggestions on how to fix it.