Duolingo for building AI Agents

COMPLETE

4 weeks

$20,000

5 features

4 milestones

1 role

Project Overview

Problem Statement

People want to learn AI agents but get stuck between complicated docs, random tutorials, and messy repos. The app teaches agentic AI by having users ship real agents through guided lessons and quests (like Duolingo).

Ideal Customer Profile

Complete beginners who want to learn agentic AI by building real agents step-by-step (little to no prior coding/AI experience).

App Audience

Public-facing app

Project Type

Greenfield (new build)

Integrations

TBD (unknown yet)

Tech Stack Preferences

Open to engineer choosing; MVP should support web + mobile clients.

Deployment Preferences

Fastest and cheapest viable deployment for MVP (open to suggestions).

Design Status

No designs yet; needs a designer.

Features

Leaderboards

Basic leaderboard(s) to increase motivation (e.g., weekly XP leaderboard) for web + mobile.

Define leaderboard rules
Decide leaderboard type (weekly/all-time), scopes (global/friends), reset schedule, and anti-cheat considerations.
Leaderboard data model & aggregation
Implement storage/aggregation for XP totals per time window; compute ranks efficiently.
Leaderboard UI
Build leaderboard screens/components on web + mobile, including user highlighting and pagination.

MVP content seeding (hardcoded lessons)

For MVP, ship with a small set of lessons hardcoded/seeded rather than building a full curriculum admin panel.

Define initial lesson curriculum (MVP scope)
Write and structure a minimal set of lessons/steps (e.g., Day 1 simple agent) aligned with the content model.
Seed lesson content into app
Implement hardcoded or seeded lesson data in code/DB for initial release.
Content iteration workflow
Document how to update lessons in code and redeploy; optional simple scripts to reseed content.

Authentication & user accounts (Clerk)

User sign-up/login via Clerk so learners can save progress, XP, and streaks across web + mobile.

Set up Clerk project & environments
Configure Clerk app, keys, allowed domains, and dev/prod environments.
Integrate Clerk auth in web app
Implement sign-up/sign-in UI and protected routes for the web client.
Integrate Clerk auth in mobile app
Implement sign-up/sign-in and session handling for the mobile client.
User profile + identity mapping
Store minimal user record in app DB linked to Clerk userId; handle first-login bootstrap.
Auth-protected API endpoints
Verify Clerk JWT/session on backend; enforce per-user access to progress data.

Payments & subscriptions (Stripe)

Enable paid access via Stripe subscriptions for the public-facing app (web + mobile as applicable).

Define subscription model
Decide plans (monthly/annual), trial, free vs paid gating rules, and what content/features are behind paywall.
Stripe setup
Create Stripe account/products/prices; configure webhooks; manage test/live keys.
Checkout & customer portal (web)
Implement Stripe Checkout flow and customer portal for managing subscription.
Subscription status sync
Handle Stripe webhook events to update user entitlements in the app DB.
Paywall gating
Enforce access rules in UI and API based on subscription status.
Mobile payments approach
Decide and implement mobile payment handling (e.g., web checkout vs native IAP); document any MVP limitation.

Core learning loop (Lesson → Run agent → pass/fail → streak/xp)

Duolingo-like lesson flow for beginners: guided interactive steps, ability to run an agent, automated checks for completion, and progress mechanics like streaks/XP.

Define lesson content model
Design data model for lessons, steps, prompts, expected outputs, and completion criteria.
Lesson player UI (web + mobile)
Build the lesson screen(s): step navigation, instructions, inputs, run button, output panel, next/continue.
Run agent execution flow
Implement backend (or serverless) endpoint to execute lesson-specific agent code/prompt safely and return outputs.
Validation & pass/fail checks
Implement rules to evaluate user run results (simple string matching/JSON schema/expected fields) and mark step complete.
Progress tracking
Store user progress per lesson/step; resume; completion status.
Gamification basics
Implement XP and streak tracking; basic UI indicators.

Milestones

Milestone 1

Milestone 1: Foundations + Auth

Project setup, core architecture, Clerk authentication, basic lesson content model and scaffolding.

$5,000

Assigned Features

Authentication & user accounts (Clerk)

Milestone 2

Milestone 2: Lesson Player + Agent Runs

Implement the lesson player (web + mobile) and agent execution/validation with progress tracking.

$5,000

Assigned Features

Core learning loop (Lesson → Run agent → pass/fail → streak/xp)

Milestone 3

Milestone 3: Payments + Leaderboards

Stripe subscriptions + paywall gating and basic leaderboards.

$5,000

Assigned Features

Leaderboards
Payments & subscriptions (Stripe)

Milestone 4

Milestone 4: Content seeding + Deployment + App store submissions

Seed initial lessons, polish, QA, deployment, and release readiness including iOS/Android app store submissions.

$5,000

Assigned Features

MVP content seeding (hardcoded lessons)

Skills Needed

Full-Stack Developer

Build the web + mobile MVP including lesson player, agent execution backend, authentication, payments, leaderboards, and deployment.

Product engineeringReactReact NativeTypeScriptBackend APIsDatabase designLLM/agent frameworks (TBD)Clerk authenticationStripe subscriptionsWebhooksMobile app release basics (iOS/Android)Cloud deployment (fast/cheap)

Open Questions

Which third-party integrations should the MVP support (LLM providers, external APIs like Gmail/Slack/Notion/GitHub, payments, etc.)?

Integrations will impact curriculum design (API-connection lessons), architecture, and scope for a 4-week MVP.

For mobile, should subscriptions be handled via native in-app purchases (Apple/Google) or via web-based Stripe checkout (with potential platform policy constraints)?

Mobile subscription implementation affects scope, timeline, and compliance. MVP may choose web checkout for speed, but native IAP may be required for certain digital content sales.