I built a habit tracker app with Xano

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Xano AI-Powered Backend Challenge: Full-Stack Submission

This is a submission for the Xano AI-Powered Backend Challenge: Full-Stack, AI-First Application



What I Built

Habit tracker, the app I built, helps people log their daily routines and track completion. It also allows you to invite an accountability partner to keep you accountable with fulfilling your habits.



Demo

Live app (via Xano static hosting): https://default-dev-8050f4-xn9g-tt4h-4ei5.n7e.xano.io/

app overview

Full code on GitHub: https://github.com/EmmanuelTheCoder/Lite-habit-tracker-xano



Test Login

Email: tester@gmail.com
password:12345678



The AI Prompt I Used



Original prompt for my backend

Create a habit tracking backend with accountability features:

  1. Database tables:

    • Users (authentication enabled)
    • Habits (linked to users): name, description, category, frequency, target_days array, is_active, is_public
    • Habit_Logs: habit_id, user_id, log_date (unique together), completed boolean, notes, mood
    • Accountability_Partners: user_id, partner_id, status (pending/accepted)
    • Encouragements: messages between partners
    • Achievements: track user milestones

  2. Core API endpoints:

    • Auth: signup, login
    • Habits: CRUD operations, get user’s habits
    • Logs: POST /habits/{id}/log (mark complete/incomplete), GET /habits/{id}/logs (history)
    • Stats: GET /habits/{id}/stats (current streak, completion rate, total completions)
    • Dashboard: GET /dashboard (today’s habits, overall stats)
    • Partners: send/accept requests, view partner progress
    • Encouragements: send/receive messages

  3. Business logic:

    • Calculate current streak (consecutive days completed)
    • Calculate completion rate (percentage over time period)
    • Check if habit is due today based on target_days
    • Prevent duplicate logs for same date
    • Auto-award achievements (7-day streak, 30-day streak, etc.)

  4. Security:

    • All endpoints require authentication
    • Users can only access their own data
    • Partners can only see habits marked as public

Use proper indexing and data validation.



How I Refined the AI-Generated Code

Didn’t really have to do much work because my prompt was very detailed, and luckily, the Co-pilot and the Xanoscript extension knew how to execute it well.

All I had to do was refine the user table, and add security.create_auth_token to my login and signup endpoints.



My Experience with Xano

I find Xano to be a simple way to build full-stack applications. The fact that it could host my static frontend with just a click of the button on VS Code made it even more interesting for me. I also appreciate that I could set up authentication that easily.
As for challenges, I think that not being able to inspect a variable or add a breakpoint to my debugging can be time-consuming for robust applications; thankfully, my application was just something simple so I had less bugs to deal with.



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