सारथि — the charioteer. We guide Indian school students from "what do I want to become?" to a real, step-by-step plan.
Every year, 28 million Indian students finish Class 10. Most have no idea what careers are even possible beyond "doctor or engineer," and even those who do pick a path have no roadmap for how to actually get there.
Sarthi closes that gap. Pick a career. See the exact subjects to take in 11th/12th, the entrance exams to write, the colleges to apply to, the scholarships you qualify for — all tailored to your state, income, and category. Ask our AI counsellor anything, anytime, with full context of where you are in the journey.
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Visual career grid | Eight high-impact careers (Commercial Pilot, NDA, Doctor, Fashion Designer, Robotics Engineer, Astronaut, IAS, CA) shown as rich, photo-driven cards with hot tags for trending paths |
| Interactive roadmap | A chronological stepper per career: subjects → exams → colleges → training → career outlook → skills |
| Rich college cards | Fees (Rs Lakh / Crore), duration, placement %, average salary, accreditation pills — for every major Indian institution |
| Personalised scholarships | Filters 23+ verified government schemes by your grade, state, family income, and category. Each card shows why you qualify and links to the official .gov.in portal |
| AI counsellor, always on | Floating chat bubble on every page. Knows your career, current roadmap stage, and profile. Asks questions like "What if I wear glasses?" or "Are bank loans easy for this?" get grounded answers |
| Real Indian data | Every college, exam, and scholarship is verified against NIRF, AICTE, UGC, or the relevant .gov.in portal |
- See fees upfront — no surprises
- Filter scholarships your child actually qualifies for (not generic "apply for everything")
- State-specific schemes (Kanyashree, SVMCM, Vidyasiri, Maharashtra DBT) surfaced automatically
- Free to use, no signup
- Mobile-first (most Class 9-12 students browse on phones)
- Designed for low-bandwidth: lazy imagery, optimistic UI, no heavy video
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The Visual Hook — "What do you want to become, my friend?" A gamified grid of career cards. No forms, no friction. Just browse.
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The Interactive Roadmap — Pick a career and see it as a timeline. Each stage is a node you can tap to dive deeper.
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Rich Data Cards — Tap a stage like "Colleges" to see actual institutions with fees, placements, and accreditation. Not generic advice.
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Personalisation — A 30-second form (grade, state, income, category) unlocks tailored scholarship matching and refines every recommendation on the page.
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AI Counsellor — Always-on chat that already knows what page you're on, what career you're exploring, and what stage of the roadmap you're looking at. No "please describe your question" filler.
| Path | Gateway | Hero Institutions |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial Pilot | DGCA Class 2 Medical + Flying School | Indira Gandhi Institute of Aeronautics, Bombay Flying Club |
| NDA / Defence Officer | UPSC NDA + SSB Interview | National Defence Academy Khadakwasla, IMA Dehradun |
| Doctor (MBBS) | NEET-UG | AIIMS network, CMC Vellore, JIPMER, KEM, MAMC |
| Fashion Designer | NIFT / NID entrance + portfolio | NIFT Delhi, NID Ahmedabad, Pearl Academy |
| Robotics Engineer | JEE Main/Advanced + IIT/IIIT | IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, IIIT Hyderabad |
| Astronaut | IIST via JEE Advanced | IIST Thiruvananthapuram (ISRO tie-up) |
| IAS / Civil Services | UPSC CSE (Prelims + Mains + Interview) | LBSNAA Mussoorie (training academy) |
| Chartered Accountant | ICAI Foundation → Inter → Final | ICAI campuses; top feeder colleges SRCC, Loyola |
- Frontend: Next.js 14 (App Router), TypeScript strict, Tailwind CSS
- Animation: Framer Motion (hero entrance, card reveals, panel transitions)
- State: Zustand with SSR-safe persistence
- AI: OpenAI
gpt-4o-ministreaming via NDJSON; graceful fallback to mock when API key absent - Markdown rendering:
react-markdown+remark-gfmfor AI chat output - Deployment: Vercel (zero-config Next.js hosting)
app/ Next.js App Router
page.tsx Landing page (Stage 1)
roadmap/[slug]/ Per-career roadmap (Stages 2-4)
layout.tsx Per-page <title> for SEO
page.tsx Roadmap + Personalize + Scholarships
api/chat/ Streaming OpenAI endpoint + rate limit
components/
landing/ Hero + CareerCard + CareerGrid
roadmap/ Stepper + StageDetailPanel
colleges/ CollegeCard
scholarships/ ScholarshipCard + filtered list
personalization/ Modal + button (portal-rendered)
chat/ ChatWindow + ChatPanel + useChatStream
store/ Zustand user profile store
lib/
data/ Verified careers, stages, colleges, exams,
scholarships, states
format.ts Indian RsL / RsCr formatter
- 91 verified college-program pairs across 8 careers
- 23 verified scholarships with official
.gov.inURLs - 26 entrance exams with conducting body, frequency, age limits
- 38 Indian states and union territories (ISO 3166-2:IN codes)
- 39 roadmap stages across all careers
Every college link, scholarship URL, and exam portal points to the live, official source. No aggregators, no fake data.
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/sarthi.git
cd sarthi
npm install
cp .env.example .env.local # add OPENAI_API_KEY for real AI responses
npm run dev # http://localhost:3000Without OPENAI_API_KEY, the chat falls back to canned mock replies so the UI is still demoable.
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
npm run dev |
Local dev server with hot reload |
npm run build |
Production build (this is what Vercel runs) |
npm start |
Run the production build locally |
npm run lint |
ESLint check |
| Name | Required? | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
OPENAI_API_KEY |
Optional | Enables real AI chat |
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL |
v2 | Will replace localStorage profile persistence |
NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY |
v2 | Same |
NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL |
Optional | Used for OG tags and absolute URLs |
Shipped in v1:
- Gamified landing with 8 career cards
- Interactive chronological roadmap per career
- Rich college data cards (91 institutions)
- Personalization (grade, state, income, category)
- Scholarship matching (23 schemes, career-aware)
- Context-aware AI chat (OpenAI streaming)
- Rate limiting + per-page SEO metadata
Coming in v2:
- Real Supabase persistence (replace localStorage)
- College data scraping pipeline (NIRF annual JSON)
- OG image generation for WhatsApp previews
- Hindi + regional language toggle
- Component tests for scholarship filter logic
- More careers: Lawyer, Architect, Journalist, Game Designer
This is a student-focused project. If you know an Indian scheme, college, or exam that we should add, open an issue or PR. Accuracy matters more than volume — every data point should be traceable to an official source.
MIT