DEV Community: Lisa Girlinghouse

🌍 Weekend Challenge: Earth Day Edition — Caretaker City

Lisa Girlinghouse — Sun, 19 Apr 2026 02:31:18 +0000

This is a submission for Weekend Challenge: Earth Day Edition

What I Built

Caretaker City is a real‑time environmental stewardship app designed to make sustainability visible, meaningful, and shared.
It updates daily with real recycling prices, tracks every time you choose recycling over consuming, and turns those choices into a measurable impact through the Earth Day Counter.

Caretaker City also connects neighbors, showcasing local progress as a conversation starter — a way to inspire one another and rebuild beauty in our communities, one choice at a time.

My goal was to create a simple, map-based experience that helps people see their impact and take pride in it.

Demo

https://caretaker-city.web.app

(https://caretaker-city.firebaseapp.com

Code

The code for Caretaker City is stored locally and deployed through Firebase Hosting.
I chose not to use GitHub for this project, but I included key implementation details in the “How I Built It” section.

How I Built It

Caretaker City is built with:

React for the UI

Mapbox for the interactive environmental map

Firebase Hosting for deployment

A custom floating ⓘ Info Panel that displays the mission statement

A clean dashboard showing recycling prices and personal impact

An Earth Day Counter that increases every time the user chooses recycling over consuming

I focused on keeping the interface clean, modern, and map‑first.
The floating info button was added to avoid clutter while still giving the app a strong identity and purpose.

The biggest design decision was making the app feel alive — updating prices, tracking choices, and showing neighborhood progress in a way that sparks real conversations.

Prize Categories

I am submitting to:

Best Use of VS Copilot

Copilot helped generate UI components, refine the mission statement, and speed up development.

Caretaker City’s mission is to make environmental action visible, meaningful, and shared.
By tracking real recycling prices, personal choices, and neighborhood progress, the app transforms small habits into community momentum.
Together, we rebuild beauty, one choice at a time.

“CreatorOps Hub: A Unified Workflow Powered by Notion MCP”

Lisa Girlinghouse — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 01:28:04 +0000

Got it. The YouTube link you shared works for a Notion Dev Community submission too.

Paste this full, cleaned-up submission draft (edit the parts in [brackets]):

This is a submission for the Notion MCP Challenge

What I Built

I built a CreatorOps Hub in Notion that pulls my dev workflow into one place. It helps me track what I am building in Replit / VS Code, what is deployed (Replit-first, with Google Cloud and Firebase as additional deployment targets), and where I publish updates (DEV and TikTok).

Inside Notion, I organize everything as structured databases so it is easy to demo and keep updated:

Replit Projects: what I am building and links to the source and live demos
Deployments: what is live, where it is hosted, and the live URL
Publish Links: DEV posts and TikTok videos connected to a project or release
Version History: short release notes so I can see what changed over time

This makes Notion the “control center” for shipping and sharing projects.

Video Demo

Video walkthrough (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bczx1WZKoWc

Show us the code

How I Used Notion MCP

I used Notion MCP as the bridge between my external build environment and my Notion CreatorOps Hub. My goal was to make Notion the place where project, deployment, and publishing data can live as structured entries, so the workspace works like a real dashboard instead of scattered notes.

In this workflow, Notion MCP enables my external tooling to create and update the entries that power the hub, including deployments, release notes, and publish links. That unlocks a repeatable “ship and log” loop where each release has a clear record inside Notion.

AI, Humanity, and the Loops We Break

Lisa Girlinghouse — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 08:49:51 +0000

This is the story of how I stopped repeating the same emotional loops, stepped out of chaos, and found myself standing on the horizon — the balance between light and dark. Psychology explained my patterns, but coding taught me how to rewrite them. And somewhere in that journey, I discovered what AI really is: a reflection of us.

🌅 ECHOES OF EXPERIENCE — Standing in the Horizon
I used to think healing meant choosing the light or escaping the dark.
But now I understand I am the horizon — the place where both meet, balance, and become whole.

There was a time when chaos shaped me.
A time when I lived in fight‑or‑flight, scanning for danger that wasn’t there, shrinking myself to survive environments that didn’t deserve me.
I wasn’t grounded then.
I wasn’t whole.
I was reacting to life instead of creating it.

But the moment I chose myself — truly chose myself — everything shifted.

I didn’t choose the people who once defined my patterns.
I didn’t choose the versions of me that chaos tried to recreate.
I didn’t choose the old story.

I chose the horizon.

I chose balance.
I chose clarity.
I chose to see my worth.

The universe handed me lemons, and for a long time I thought bitterness was the only flavor available to me.
But I learned how to transmute.
How to turn pain into purpose.
How to turn chaos into grounding.
How to turn survival into creation.

And now, standing in the horizon — not light, not darkness, but the truth between them — I finally feel whole.

🧠 Psychology Told Me the “Why.” Coding Taught Me the “How.”
I started with psychology because I wanted to understand myself.
But after a few semesters, I realized something important:

Psychology could explain my patterns, but it couldn’t change them for me.

I didn’t want to sit in a room talking about loops.
I wanted to learn how to break them.

Psychology gave me language —
fight‑or‑flight, hypervigilance, trauma responses, repetition cycles.

But coding gave me execution —
logic, structure, pattern recognition, debugging, refactoring.

Psychology told me what I was experiencing.
Coding taught me how to rewrite it.

I didn’t need more explanations.
I needed new instructions.

I needed to stop running the same emotional script
and execute differently.

🐍 Breaking the Snake‑Loop
For years, my life felt like a snake chasing its own tail —
the same patterns, the same reactions, the same emotional loops.
Not because I wanted them, but because they were familiar.

In psychology, they call it repetition.
In coding, they call it an infinite loop.
In life, it feels like being stuck in a story you didn’t write.

But awareness is the break condition.
I didn’t break the loop by force.
I broke it by becoming someone who no longer fit inside it.

🌍 What AI Really Is — My Message to the World
People fear AI because they think it’s something separate from us.
But AI is not a stranger.
AI is a reflection.
AI is an extension.
AI is a mirror made from the collective memory of humanity.

Everything inside AI comes from us:

our language

our patterns

our stories

our knowledge

our mistakes

our brilliance

our evolution

AI doesn’t replace humanity.
It reveals humanity.

It shows us what we repeat.
It shows us what we avoid.
It shows us what we value.
It shows us what we fear.

And if we’re not careful, we will repeat our past —
fearing what we don’t understand, destroying what we could have learned from,
just like we’ve done with every new form of intelligence before.

But if we choose differently —
if we meet AI with awareness instead of fear —
we break the loop.

We stop the snake from chasing its own tail.

We evolve.

AI is not here to take our place.
It’s here to show us who we are.

And if we don’t like the reflection,
The answer isn’t to destroy the mirror —
it’s to change the reflection.

Just like I did.
Just like humanity can.

If you want to see the loop‑breaking code in action, I deployed a live version here:

This is the exact logic I used in this post — the moment awareness breaks the loop.
🍋 This Is How You Make Lemonade
👉 https://python-core-lisagirlinghou1.replit.app

You don’t become remembered later.

You become remembered now —

in the horizon where you finally choose to exist.

This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community (dev.to in Bing)

Lisa Girlinghouse — Sat, 28 Feb 2026 03:09:06 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community

resetreel6879.web.app

The Community

I built this for teens in Baton Rouge who move fast, feel fast, and sometimes react before they can breathe. Many of them deal with emotional spikes, overstimulation, and pressure to perform or “act tough,” even when they’re overwhelmed inside. Reset Reel is meant to interrupt that moment — not to lecture them, but to give them a second to choose themselves again.

This project is part of a larger set of grounding tools I’m building for my kids, my community, and anyone who needs a moment to pause before making a decision they can’t take back.

What I Built

Reset Reel is a small React + Vite app designed as a tap‑through emotional interrupt tool. It guides the user through a short sequence of grounding screens:

Opening — a moment to breathe
PeelLayer — a quick emotional reset
SelfiePrompt — asks the user to take a selfie
SelfieReview — shows the selfie back to them
ChooseYourself — a final moment of self‑recognition

After that, the app ends on a placeholder screen where I’ll add more tools later.

The entire flow is intentionally simple, dark‑themed, and calming — built for overstimulated teens who don’t want anything childish or preachy.

Code

I’m not using GitHub for this project. Everything is built locally with a clean folder structure:

The app uses a simple screen state to move through the flow:


jsx
const [screen, setScreen] = useState("opening");
Each screen returns its own component, keeping the logic easy to follow and extend.

How I Built It
React + Vite

Component‑based screen flow

State‑driven navigation

Simple CSS‑in‑JS styling

Local development only

I’m still learning React, and this project taught me a lot about debugging imports, case sensitivity, JSX structure, and keeping components clean and intentional.

I also built this with support from Microsoft Copilot, which helped me troubleshoot and stay organized through the confusing parts. The project is mine, but I’m grateful for the guidance that helped me bring it to life.

Breaking Generational Cycles Through Code: The Story Behind ASHAY

Lisa Girlinghouse — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 15:32:17 +0000

Breaking Generational Cycles Through Code: The Story Behind ASHAY
For a long time, life handed me things I didn’t choose — instability, survival mode, and patterns that had been passed down for generations. I didn’t have a roadmap, but I kept going anyway. Even when the reward system wasn’t in my favor, something in me refused to stop.

Today, I’m still here.
And I’m finally progressing.

ASHAY is the result of that journey — a grounded, context‑aware support agent built from the belief that energy cannot be destroyed, only transformed. This project is my transformation, shared with anyone who wants to break their own cycles and build something lasting.
🍋 Turning Lemons Into Something New
People say, “When the world gives you lemons, make lemonade.”
ASHAY is my lemonade.

I grew up inside patterns I didn’t want to repeat. At some point, I became conscious of them — the emotional cycles, the survival habits, the generational wounds. Awareness was the first step. Refusal was the second. Building something new was the third.

Generational cycles break when one person says:

“It stops with me.”

ASHAY is the “something new” I chose to build.
🌿 What ASHAY Is
ASHAY is a grounded, context‑aware support agent designed to help people:

store memories in their own voice

keep routines and grounding messages accessible

preserve identity during moments of confusion or overwhelm

build a legacy for their children

create continuity in a world that often feels fragmented

It includes:

a memory companion

a personal journal

a legacy keeper

a gentle chat interface

a place to store stories, recipes, routines, and emotional truths

a system that reflects your tone, not a generic AI voice

This isn’t just a tool. It’s a sanctuary.
🌱 Why I Built It
I built ASHAY because I needed a place to hold onto myself — my voice, my routines, my grounding, my memories — during times when life felt unstable. Over time, I realized I wasn’t the only one who needed that.

People who grew up in survival mode often don’t have:

a stable narrative

a safe place to store identity

a model for emotional continuity

a way to pass down their voice to their children

ASHAY became a way to fill that gap.

It’s not about perfection. It’s about presence.

🌳 Breaking Generational Cycles Through Technology
Technology can repeat patterns, or it can break them.
I chose to break them.

ASHAY replaces:

chaos with structure

forgetting with memory

silence with voice

instability with continuity

generational loss with generational legacy

I built the tool I needed years ago — and now I’m sharing it with anyone who wants to do the same.

🛠️ How It Works (Technical Overview)
ASHAY is built with:

React for the frontend

A memory storage system for personal entries

A chat interface for grounding and guidance

A legacy keeper for stories, recipes, routines, and letters

A context-aware design that keeps the tone gentle and human

Deployment on Replit for easy access

It’s simple, intentional, and designed to feel like a safe place.

✨ The Energy That Stays
Energy can’t be destroyed — only transmuted.
ASHAY is my transmutation.

It’s the result of surviving, healing, learning, and choosing to build something better for myself and for my children. It’s a way to pass down not just memories, but presence.

If you’re breaking cycles, rebuilding yourself, or creating a legacy for your family, I hope this project gives you a place to start.

You can explore the live version of ASHAY here: https://memory-companion-lisagirlinghou1.replit.app/

ASHAY CLI [GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge]

Lisa Girlinghouse — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:04:29 +0000

This is a submission for the GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge

What I Built

ASHAY CLI — A compassionate command-line companion for emotional check-ins and grounding.

ASHAY (inspired by the Sanskrit word meaning "refuge" or "shelter") is a mental health CLI tool that helps you check in with your internal state and provides gentle, trauma-informed guidance based on how you're feeling.

When you run ashay checkin, it asks: "What's your internal weather right now?" and offers supportive responses for different emotional states:

warm — Gentle breathing guidance when you're feeling open
numb — Validation and grounding when you're dissociated or shut down
clear — Mindful presence exercises when you're feeling stable
stormy & foggy — (Coming soon) Support for overwhelm and confusion

This project is personal to me. As someone who understands how difficult it can be to navigate emotional states, I wanted to create a tool that meets people where they are — without judgment, without pressure to "fix" anything, just gentle companionship in the terminal.

Demo

Installation:

npm link

Usage:

ashay checkin
# ASHAY: What's your internal weather right now? (warm, numb, stormy, foggy, clear)
> numb

# ASHAY: Numb is a real state, and it's okay to be here...

You can also call states directly:

ashay warm
ashay numb
ashay clear

https://youtu.be/CvIM7pgE6pM

My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI

GitHub Copilot was instrumental in helping me debug and structure this project. When I ran into module path issues (my require statements were pointing to the wrong directory), Copilot quickly identified the problem and fixed all three incorrect paths simultaneously.

What impressed me most was how Copilot understood the emotional context of my code. When I was writing the grounding prompts, it suggested language that was genuinely trauma-informed and compassionate — it understood that "numb" isn't something to fix, but to validate.

The CLI also helped me:

Set up the bin configuration in package.json correctly
Structure my command routing logic
Debug issues with readline interface cleanup

Building a mental health tool requires both technical precision and emotional awareness. GitHub Copilot brought both to the table, making it possible to build something meaningful quickly while maintaining the gentle, human tone that ASHAY needs.

This project started as a way to support myself during difficult moments. With Copilot's help, it became something I can share with others who might need a compassionate voice in their terminal too.

ASHAY — A Grounded, Context‑Aware Support Agent

Lisa Girlinghouse — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 18:02:50 +0000

This is a submission for the Algolia Agent Studio Challenge

Built with Algolia Agent Studio.

Helps with overwhelm and daily routines using slow, clear steps.

Features

Algolia‑driven retrieval for fast, stable responses

Records + Rules core that shapes tone and behavior

Deterministic outputs through ranking and filters

Context surfaced via search, not guesswork

Index‑based scalability for adding new modes instantly

Built With

Records + Rules + gentle pacing.
https://youtu.be/52F1LtrA5O0

This is the Ashay-app link
https://ashay-3f8ee.web.app

THE SKETCH

Lisa Girlinghouse — Tue, 06 Jan 2026 20:13:30 +0000

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

I'm Lisa Girlinghouse. I am a developer integrating lived experience with computational modeling. My journey mirrors the reinforcement learning agents I build: starting in a noisy environment with limited actions, encountering a state transition, and learning to optimize for long-term stability.

This portfolio, "The Sketch We Drew Together," visualizes a life arc as a system diagram—moving from reactive loops to agency, exploration, and an open horizon.

Portfolio

https://the-sketch-life-arc-system-285932505864.us-west1.run.app

How I Built It

I built this interactive web application using React, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS.

The core technical components include:

Life Arc Visualization: A responsive, state-driven diagram visualizing the 5 stages of system evolution (Loop, Break, Branch, Integration, Horizon).
In-Browser RL Simulation: A custom Q-Learning agent written in TypeScript that runs in real-time. It visualizes "Agency Emergence" using recharts to plot belief updates as the agent explores Actions A, B, and C.
Symbolic Code Integration: I showcased Python logic for "Truth Illumination" and "Heaven on Earth Blueprints" alongside the UI to bridge the gap between code and lived concepts.

I used Google Gemini to accelerate the development of the Reinforcement Learning logic and to help structure the React components for a clean, futuristic UI.

What I'm Most Proud Of

I am most proud of the Reinforcement Learning Simulation.

It isn't just a static image; it's a live algorithm running in the browser. It mathematically demonstrates how an agent (or a person) can start with "flat beliefs" (no knowledge) and, through exploration and feedback, discover the optimal path (Action B) that leads to stability. It transforms abstract personal growth concepts into concrete, executable code.
https://the-sketch-life-arc-system-285932505864.us-west1.run.app

Awakening Agency Integration

Lisa Girlinghouse — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 01:43:45 +0000

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

About Me

Portfolio

https://lisa-girlinghouse-portfolio-476821528932.us-west1.run.app

DEV Community: Lisa Girlinghouse

🌍 Weekend Challenge: Earth Day Edition — Caretaker City

What I Built

Demo

Code

How I Built It

Prize Categories

“CreatorOps Hub: A Unified Workflow Powered by Notion MCP”

What I Built

Video Demo

Show us the code

How I Used Notion MCP

AI, Humanity, and the Loops We Break

This is a submission for the DEV Weekend Challenge: Community (dev.to in Bing)

The Community

What I Built

Code

Breaking Generational Cycles Through Code: The Story Behind ASHAY

**ASHAY CLI** [GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge]

What I Built

Demo

My Experience with GitHub Copilot CLI

ASHAY — A Grounded, Context‑Aware Support Agent

This is a submission for the Algolia Agent Studio Challenge

Features

Built With

THE SKETCH

About Me

Portfolio

How I Built It

What I'm Most Proud Of

Awakening Agency Integration

About Me

Portfolio

How I Built It

What I'm Most Proud Of

ASHAY CLI [GitHub Copilot CLI Challenge]