I built a habit tracker app with Xano

Test Login

Email: [email protected]

password:12345678

The AI Prompt I Used

Original prompt for my backend

Create a habit tracking backend with accountability features:

1. 
   

   Database tables:

   
   
   
   
   
   • Users (authentication enabled)
   
   
   • Habits (linked to users): name, description, category, frequency, target_days array, is_active, is_public
   
   
   • Habit_Logs: habit_id, user_id, log_date (unique together), completed boolean, notes, mood
   
   
   • Accountability_Partners: user_id, partner_id, status (pending/accepted)
   
   
   • Encouragements: messages between partners
   
   
   • Achievements: track user milestones
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Core API endpoints:

   
   
   
   
   
   • Auth: signup, login
   
   
   • Habits: CRUD operations, get user's habits
   
   
   • Logs: POST /habits/{id}/log (mark complete/incomplete), GET /habits/{id}/logs (history)
   
   
   • Stats: GET /habits/{id}/stats (current streak, completion rate, total completions)
   
   
   • Dashboard: GET /dashboard (today's habits, overall stats)
   
   
   • Partners: send/accept requests, view partner progress
   
   
   • Encouragements: send/receive messages
   
   
   
   


3. 
   

   Business logic:

   
   
   
   
   
   • Calculate current streak (consecutive days completed)
   
   
   • Calculate completion rate (percentage over time period)
   
   
   • Check if habit is due today based on target_days
   
   
   • Prevent duplicate logs for same date
   
   
   • Auto-award achievements (7-day streak, 30-day streak, etc.)
   
   
   
   


4. 
   

   Security:

   
   
   
   
   
   • All endpoints require authentication
   
   
   • Users can only access their own data
   
   
   • Partners can only see habits marked as public
   
   
   
   

Use proper indexing and data validation.

How I Refined the AI-Generated Code

Didn't really have to do much work because my prompt was very detailed, and luckily, the Co-pilot and the Xanoscript extension knew how to execute it well.

All I had to do was refine the user table, and add security.create_auth_token to my login and signup endpoints.

My Experience with Xano

I find Xano to be a simple way to build full-stack applications. The fact that it could host my static frontend with just a click of the button on VS Code made it even more interesting for me. I also appreciate that I could set up authentication that easily.

As for challenges, I think that not being able to inspect a variable or add a breakpoint to my debugging can be time-consuming for robust applications; thankfully, my application was just something simple so I had less bugs to deal with.