AfterThought 📝

AI-powered journaling with behavioral insights

Afterthought is a journaling app that helps users reflect between therapy sessions by capturing not just what they write, but how they write. By analyzing timing, pauses, backspaces, and recurring themes, the app surfaces gentle, non-clinical insights and adaptive writing prompts.

Users stay fully in control of what insights remain private or are shared with a therapist.

Features

Freeform journaling (multiple entries per day)

Daily AI-generated prompts (regenerated on refresh)

Mood tracking with calendar view

Access to all journals from the current day

AI-powered reflections with private/shared toggles

End-of-session summaries with simulated “Send” action

AI Feedback Loop

User behavior → AI interpretation → UX change

Tracked signals:

App open/close times

Typing pauses and backspaces

Writing speed and hesitation

Repeated content themes

Gemini analyzes aggregated behavioral data to:

Detect hesitation or avoidance patterns

Generate gentle follow-up prompts (one at a time)

Adapt prompt tone and frequency

No diagnoses. No clinical language.

Tech Stack

Frontend:

• React

• Tailwind

• Framer

• TypeScript

Backend:

• SQLite

• Node.js

• Express.js

• Google Gemini 2.5 Pro

Running the Project

Frontend

cd frontend npm install npm run dev

Runs at http://localhost:8080

Create frontend/.env.local:

VITE_API_BASE_URL=http://localhost:3001

Backend

cd backend npm install node server.js

Create backend/.env:

GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

Get an API key from https://makersuite.google.com/app/apikey