Craft_Idea_Generator

The Craft Idea Generator is an AI-powered DIY and upcycling assistant that transforms everyday materials into creative, step-by-step craft ideas and tutorials. It is a full-stack web application built with React 19, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS, Python Flask, and MongoDB. The tool uses Google Gemini AI and an algorithmic fallback crafting engine to generate project ideas based on user-provided materials and preferences. Users can input materials such as cardboard, plastic bottles, soda tins, wool yarn, popsicle sticks, egg cartons, and old clothes, then customize results by category, difficulty, occasion, and idea count. The application provides structured craft cards with difficulty badges, estimated time, materials inventory, interactive step checklists, safety alerts, and options to print, copy, or generate similar ideas. Saved crafts are persisted in MongoDB with automatic failover to local JSON file storage and browser cache, and can be searched, filtered, and exported. The system emphasizes security by keeping API keys and database credentials server-side, with all generative AI requests routed through a Flask REST API.