All dev work

Syllabug

Web App

nmillrr

Role:

Developer

Date:

Apr 2025

Preview

Vercel

Coding a lightweight application to help students convert class syllabi into assignment calendars

At the beginning of every semester, I would spend an hour or two compiling all of my course syllabi, combing through the text to find assignment due dates, and copying them all down into my planner, Notion, or whatever agenda system I was using that year.

Although the process only had to be done once a semester, it was tedious work that I knew could be automated. I built Syllabug as a way to efficiently turn syllabi into simple assignment schedules!

In the world of digital products and services, most users skip over the lengthy terms and conditions agreements (alternatively called 'EULA's, or end-user license agreements). These agreements may contain complex legal jargon, thousands of words, and other obstacles that make a thorough read-through unrealistic for the average user.

Termes delivers an accessible solution to this problem: a browser extension that helps users better understand what they are agreeing to. There are three major parts to Termes: a grading scale (inspired by ToS;DR), a highlight of any violation of rights, and a high-level summary of the terms.

Syllabug accepts whatever PDF or DOCX file your syllabus is in, then extracts all of the text. The contexts are processed with OpenAI's GPT, and turned into JSON data that is used to populate a CSV. At this stage, users can edit the CSV to correct any errors, and then export it for their use case. The next planned feature is to implement a calendar export, where Syllabug will automatically convert the CSV file into a downloadable file for Google Calendar, iCalendar, etc.

This project is live! The backend is hosted by Render an the frontend on Vercel. The complete project files are on GitHub. Currently working on the CSV to calendar conversion feature to help users better visualize their schedules.