This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Pilar Rius
This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot Challenge : New Beginnings
What I Built
I often like to improve me, wether is phisically, mentally, economically I always want to be better but I find that whenever I try to set a goal and putting it into motion I get overwhelmed by the amount of information out there on how to do it, when to do it, keep track of it all... so I build:
CocoonApp is a transformative app designed to help you address current challenges in your life and improve various aspects of it. By leveraging a database of holistic remedies and the power of committing to 21 days of change, Cocoon guides you through a journey of personal growth. Just like a caterpillar in a cocoon that emerges as a butterfly, CocoonApp empowers you to transform your habits and create lasting positive change. One can start by either selecting a category for change or using the chat to obtain answers. The outcome is a set of routines based on holistic techniques, herbal remedies and other activities that one can select and add to your daily routines. In the user routines one can set alarms, view for how many days one has been doing them and vote the effectiveness of the routine to help others in selecting routines. In that way we can also capture what are the best routines to fix or improve something.
The Tech stack: is React front end, typescript and Node.js for back end, MongoDB for the database and Render for deployment.
Demo
https://cocoonapp.onrender.com
Repo
https://github.com/PilarRius/CocoonApp
Copilot Experience and Git hub models
Throughout the development of Cocoon, I relied heavily on GitHub Copilot to guide me through the process, especially since I had no prior experience building apps in React or Node.js. As a data scientist, I had limited exposure to full-stack development (mainly shinny app and some Vue/Javascript learnt on the job), so gotta give the credit 100% to Copilot. I just prompt and copy paste
Did not use much the autocomplete feature because as I said I dont know react so mainly I use the prompts and suggestions it offered. Copilot's chat feature was useful for learning through the copy pasting, I told the chat to give me what i need but to explain why and what we were doing so I fell like I learnt lots about Full Stack in general. I had to switch the model few times as some bugs were getting into a loop with GPT4 o and switching to Claude 3.5 Sonet would at least give you other solutions. Thanks to GitHub Copilot, I was able to successfully develop Cocoon from beginning to an end in 24h with no experience whatsoever. I’m grateful for how it enhanced my learning and made building this project a much smoother experience.
Conclusion
Building CocoonApp in just 24 hours was an incredible journey that challenged my skills as a data scientist venturing into the world of full-stack development. With little prior experience in building apps using React and Node.js, the process was initially overwhelming, but leveraging GitHub Copilot throughout the entire development process made it not only manageable but also a learning experience.
GitHub Copilot’s code completion suggestions, model switching, and real-time debugging support were instrumental in overcoming the challenges I faced while learning and implementing new technologies. As a data scientist, my main focus was on understanding the core features of the app, and Copilot’s suggestions allowed me to quickly build out frontend components, set up Node.js backend routes, and integrate basic functionalities without needing to write every line of code from scratch. This was especially helpful given my unfamiliarity with frameworks like React and tools like Vite.
The concept behind CocoonApp—helping users improve their lives through small habits and holistic remedies—was shaped through my own needs and I believe the needs of everyone. Copilot not only helped with generating the basic structure of the app but also allowed me to experiment with new ideas, such as interactive popups, user data management, and enhancing the user experience with personalized features.
In the end, CocoonApp became a reality within a day, driven by a blend of AI-driven assistance and passion to create something impactful. As a result, this project stands as a testament to the power of modern development tools like GitHub Copilot, which can empower anyone—regardless of their experience level—to tackle ambitious projects and prototype innovative solutions in a short amount of time.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Pilar Rius
Pilar Rius | Sciencx (2025-01-19T15:48:00+00:00) Building Cocoon in 24 Hours: A Data Scientist’s Journey into Full-Stack Development with GitHub Copilot. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/01/19/building-cocoon-in-24-hours-a-data-scientists-journey-into-full-stack-development-with-github-copilot/
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