Frontend changes

.gitignore

@@ -1,11 +1,25 @@
-# See https://help.github.com/articles/ignoring-files/ for more about ignoring files.
+node_modules
+dist
 .env
+backend/.env
+backend/firebase-service-account.json
 # dependencies
 /node_modules
 /.pnp
 .pnp.js
+backend/.venv/
+__pycache__/
+*.py[cod]
 
 
+# local audio recordings and generated voice responses
+*.mp3
+*.m4a
+*.wav
+*.webm
+*.ogg
+/tmp_pdf_pages_v2
+
 # testing
 /coverage
 
@@ -23,4 +37,4 @@ exampleGuide
 npm-debug.log*
 yarn-debug.log*
 yarn-error.log*
-yarn.lock
+*.log

README.md

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+# DevDay 2026 — Frontend Starter
+
+Welcome to the HackUTD DevDay 2026 frontend workshop.
+
+During this workshop, we will turn a simple React recipe browser into an AI-powered cooking assistant.
+
+## Requirements
+
+Before starting, make sure you have:
+
+- Git
+- Node.js 20.19 or newer
+- VS Code or another code editor
+
+## Clone the starter branch
+
+```bash
+git clone -b frontendStarter https://github.com/hackutd/DevDay-2026.git
+cd DevDay-2026

backend/.env.example

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key_here
+ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your_elevenlabs_api_key_here
+ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID=your_elevenlabs_voice_id_here
+FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH=./firebase-service-account.json

backend/.python-version

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+3.11

backend/firebase_service.py

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import os
+import firebase_admin
+from firebase_admin import credentials, firestore
+from fastapi import HTTPException
+
+# make sure Firebase is initialized before accessing the database
+def get_firestore_db():
+    service_account_path = os.getenv("FIREBASE_SERVICE_ACCOUNT_PATH")
+    if not service_account_path:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Missing Firebase service account path")
+
+    if not firebase_admin._apps:
+        cred = credentials.Certificate(service_account_path)
+        firebase_admin.initialize_app(cred)
+
+    return firestore.client()
+
+
+def get_favorites(user_id: str) -> list:
+    db = get_firestore_db()
+    favorite_doc = db.collection("favorites").document(user_id).get()
+
+    if not favorite_doc.exists:
+        return []
+
+    favorite_data = favorite_doc.to_dict() or {}
+    return favorite_data.get("items", [])
+
+
+# code for toggling user favorites: 
+def toggle_favorite(user_id: str, food: dict) -> list:
+    db = get_firestore_db()
+    favorite_ref = db.collection("favorites").document(user_id)
+    favorites = get_favorites(user_id)
+
+    # Code here to add the food to favorites or remove it if already favorited
+    food_id = food.get("id")
+    already_favorited = any(item.get("id") == food_id for item in favorites)
+
+    if already_favorited:
+        favorites = [item for item in favorites if item.get("id") != food_id]
+    else:
+        favorites.append(food)
+
+    favorite_ref.set({"items": favorites})
+    return favorites

backend/main.py

@@ -0,0 +1,191 @@
+# import some important libraries
+import os
+
+import requests
+from dotenv import load_dotenv
+from fastapi import FastAPI, File, HTTPException, UploadFile
+from fastapi.middleware.cors import CORSMiddleware
+from fastapi.responses import Response
+from firebase_service import get_favorites, toggle_favorite
+from google import genai
+from pydantic import BaseModel
+
+load_dotenv() 
+
+# define some of our constants
+GEMINI_MODEL = "gemini-3.5-flash-lite"
+ELEVENLABS_MODEL = "eleven_multilingual_v2"
+ELEVENLABS_STT_MODEL = "scribe_v2"
+
+# create our fast api app 
+app = FastAPI(title="Chef Voice Backend") # this line wont be here in hacker version
+
+# need this so our frontend and backend can talk to each other
+app.add_middleware(
+    CORSMiddleware,
+    allow_origins=["*"],
+    allow_credentials=False,
+    allow_methods=["*"],
+    allow_headers=["*"],
+)
+
+
+# code health endpoint here:
+# to test if our backend is running
+@app.get("/health")
+def health():
+    return {"status": "ok"}
+
+
+# helper function to generate a chef-like reply using Gemini API
+def make_chef_reply(user_text: str, gemini_api_key: str) -> str:
+    prompt = (
+        "You are a distinguished chef with a quirky sense of humor. Listen for a user's cooking question or request.  "
+        "Always be very concise: answer in 1 to 2 short sentences max. "
+        "Focus on practical cooking help. "
+        "Use simple words, light humor, and occasional clever rmarks "
+        "Do not use markdown, lists, or long explanations. "
+        f"User: {user_text}"
+    )
+
+    # code gemini api call here: 
+    try:
+        client = genai.Client(api_key=gemini_api_key)
+        gemini_response = client.models.generate_content(
+            model=GEMINI_MODEL,
+            contents=prompt,
+        )
+        reply_text = gemini_response.text.strip()
+    except Exception as error:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=502, detail=f"Gemini request failed: {error}")
+
+    if not reply_text:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=502, detail="Gemini returned no text")
+
+    return reply_text
+
+# function to make audio from the chef reply using ElevenLabs API
+def make_audio(reply_text: str, elevenlabs_api_key: str, voice_id: str) -> bytes:
+    # code elevenlabs text-to-speech API call here:
+    elevenlabs_response = requests.post(
+        f"https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/text-to-speech/{voice_id}",
+        headers={
+            "xi-api-key": elevenlabs_api_key,
+            "Content-Type": "application/json",
+            "Accept": "audio/mpeg",
+        },
+        json={
+            "text": reply_text,
+            "model_id": ELEVENLABS_MODEL,
+        },
+        timeout=300,
+    )
+    # end of elevenlabs text-to-speech API call
+
+    # if there is an erorr we will return a 502 error to the frontend
+    if elevenlabs_response.status_code != 200:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=502,
+            detail=f"ElevenLabs audio generation failed: {elevenlabs_response.text}",
+        )
+
+    return elevenlabs_response.content
+
+
+# function to transcribe audio using ElevenLabs API
+
+def transcribe_audio(file: UploadFile, elevenlabs_api_key: str) -> str:
+    audio_bytes = file.file.read() # file is an object which has a file attribute, read bytes with .read()
+    if not audio_bytes:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=400, detail="Uploaded audio file is empty")
+
+    # code elevenlabs speech-to-text API call here:
+    stt_response = requests.post(
+        "https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/speech-to-text",
+        headers={"xi-api-key": elevenlabs_api_key},
+        files={
+            "file": (
+                file.filename or "recording.webm",
+                audio_bytes,
+                file.content_type or "audio/webm",
+            )
+        },
+        data={"model_id": ELEVENLABS_STT_MODEL},
+        timeout=300,
+    )
+    # end of elevenlabs speech-to-text API call
+
+    # check if the transcription was successful
+    if stt_response.status_code != 200:
+        raise HTTPException(
+            status_code=502,
+            detail=f"ElevenLabs transcription failed: {stt_response.text}",
+        )
+
+    # get transcript from the response
+    transcript = stt_response.json().get("text", "").strip()
+    if not transcript:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=502, detail="ElevenLabs returned no transcript")
+
+    return transcript
+
+
+# to generate a chef-like voice from an audio file
+@app.post("/chef/voice/audio")
+def create_chef_voice_from_audio(file: UploadFile = File(...)):
+    # code here
+    gemini_api_key = os.getenv("GEMINI_API_KEY")
+    elevenlabs_api_key = os.getenv("ELEVENLABS_API_KEY")
+    voice_id = os.getenv("ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID")
+
+    # code here : if missing some of our API keys, return an error
+    if not gemini_api_key:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Missing Gemini API key")
+    if not elevenlabs_api_key or not voice_id:
+        raise HTTPException(status_code=500, detail="Missing ElevenLabs API key or voice ID")
+
+    # code here
+    # call our helper functions
+    transcript = transcribe_audio(file, elevenlabs_api_key)
+    reply_text = make_chef_reply(transcript, gemini_api_key)
+    audio_bytes = make_audio(reply_text, elevenlabs_api_key, voice_id)
+
+    # return our audio
+    return Response(
+        content=audio_bytes,
+        media_type="audio/mpeg",
+    )
+
+
+#add request models here: 
+# make a model for food items for the favorites endpoint:
+class FoodItem(BaseModel):
+    id: int
+    name: str
+    emoji: str
+    description: str
+    cookTime: int
+    difficulty: str
+    ingredients: list[str]
+    instructions: list[str]
+
+# make a model for favorite requests for the favorites endpoint:
+class FavoriteRequest(BaseModel):
+    userId: str
+    food: FoodItem
+
+#code get favorites endpoint here:
+@app.get("/favorites/{user_id}")
+def get_user_favorites(user_id: str):
+    return {"favorites": get_favorites(user_id)}
+
+
+# make endpoint for toggling user favorites
+@app.post("/favorites/toggle")
+def toggle_user_favorite(request: FavoriteRequest):
+    updated_favorites = toggle_favorite(
+        request.userId,
+        request.food.model_dump(exclude_none=True),
+    )
+
+    return {"favorites": updated_favorites}

backend/requirements.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+fastapi==0.115.6
+uvicorn==0.34.0
+pydantic==2.12.5
+python-dotenv==1.0.1
+google-genai==2.13.0
+requests==2.32.3
+python-multipart==0.0.20
+firebase-admin==7.5.0