A while back I had a fun little idea: what if I built a cutesy habit tracker for myself, and used it as an excuse to see how various levels of building an app with AI assistance would look like? I didn't just let AI run but rather I used it collaboratively as a building partner for the whole app, front to back, just to see what came out the other side.
That app is Daily Do's, and after tinkering off and on for a couple months the latest iteration is live. What started as a fun personal experiment, using a classic "build a to-do list app" task, turned into something I'm growing fond of — and, it turns out, something other people might find useful too.
Starting simple
The first version was just for me: a place to check off the small things I actually want to do every day, with a little momentum and some streaks to make it satisfying. React and TypeScript on the front end, a lightweight PHP API on the back end, nothing fancy. I wanted to move fast and see what AI-assisted development actually looked like when the stakes were low and the scope was entirely mine to define.
It was fun and new with AI in the mix. Genuinely fun, in a way side projects are supposed to be. I'd describe what I wanted, work through the decisions, and watch a real feature go from an idea to working in a session or two as time allowed.
Then: what if other people could use this too?
Once the basics worked, the obvious next question showed up: what if I could share a "do" with someone else in a friendly competition or just trying to build the same habit. So I added sharing — a simple link you can send to someone, and now you're tracking the same "do" together, checking off your own progress and seeing theirs.
Getting that to feel right took more care than I expected. Share links needed to look good when they land in a text message or group chat, which meant teaching the server to serve up a nice preview and description without duplicating the whole app just for that one page. Small problem, but the kind that's satisfying to solve in sometimes creative ways.
Privacy stayed the non-negotiable part
The one thing I didn't loosen up on, even while moving fast: optional email addresses, forever. You can use Daily Do's completely anonymously — your data syncs across your devices through a private token, not an account tied to your identity. If you do want a username and password, forgetting it doesn't mean digging through your inbox for a reset link; it's a one-time recovery code instead. I wanted people to just be able to use it, without having to hand over information the app doesn't actually need.
Where it landed
Daily Do's runs on ordinary, inexpensive hosting — no exotic infrastructure, nothing that needs babysitting. It works offline, installs like a real app on your phone (a just not from the app store), and syncs cleanly across devices without losing anything if you're offline on one and online on another (harder to get right than it sounds — that part took some real thought).
What started as "let's see what AI can actually help me build" turned into a small app I use every day, and that a few friends now use too. If a simple, private way to track habits — solo or with someone else — sounds useful to you, give Daily Do's a try. It's free for now, and may stay free forever, who knows.
