🌸 Patchwork: A Collaborative Emotional Quilt

Patchwork is a soothing digital space where people anonymously “sew” their emotions into a shared quilt using colored patches and AI-generated affirmations. It’s a calming, communal art experience powered by Python, Flask, WebSockets, and a sprinkle of emotional AI.

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✨ Features

• 🎨 Pick a color that reflects your current emotion
• 🧵 Sew a message patch into a live, evolving digital quilt
• 🤖 Get a comforting affirmation generated by AI (Cohere API)
• 🌐 See others’ patches update in real time (WebSockets)
• 🔁 Persistent quilt using SQLite
• 🎵 Ambient background music toggle
• ⏰ Timestamp on each patch
• 🔢 Patch counter

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🚀 Live Demo

You can try the project here: 🌸 Patchwork

Feel free to explore the quilt, share a feeling, and see what the AI has to say! 🌸

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🛠️ Tech Stack

Layer	Tech Used
Backend	Flask + Flask-SocketIO
Realtime	WebSockets (Socket.IO)
Database	SQLite + SQLAlchemy
AI	Cohere (Command R model)
Frontend	HTML, CSS, JavaScript
Visuals	Flexbox + responsive layout

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📦 Local Setup

1. Clone the repo

git clone https://github.com/your-username/patchwork.git
cd patchwork

2. Set up a virtual environment

python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # or venv\Scripts\activate on Windows

3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set your Cohere API key

Create a .env file. You can use other AI APIs too (like OpenAi, Claude, etc.)

COHERE_API_KEY=your-cohere-key-here

5. Run the app in terminal & Visit Local Host

python backend/app.py

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📂 Folder Structure

patchwork/
├── backend/
│   ├── app.py              # Flask app
│   ├── cohere_utils.py     # AI integration
│   └── patches.db          # SQLite DB
├── static/
│   ├── styles.css          # CSS styles
│   ├── app.js              # Client JS
│   ├── fabric.jpeg         # Fabric Background 
│   └── ambient.mp3         # Ambient music
├── templates/
│   ├── index.html          # Main interface
├── requirements.txt
└── README.md

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🎨 Inspiration

Patchwork was created to explore digital vulnerability and communal healing — inspired by emotional journaling, soft aesthetics, and the warmth of a hand-stitched quilt.

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🌱 Future Enhancements

🧵 Patch Replies Allow users to reply to a patch with their own — building emotional threads and soft conversations.

🧭 Emotion-Based Quilt Filters Add filters (e.g., “Show only calm patches”) or category toggles for exploring collective moods.

🗺️ Anonymous Geo Tags Show patch origin by country (using IP geolocation) to emphasize global connection.

🛠️ Switchable Themes Let users toggle between Light Mode, Soft Pastel Mode, and Dark Velvet Mode.

📬 Affirmation Archive Curated AI-generated lines in a soft-scrollable “Affirmation Garden”.

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📃 License

MIT License. Free to use and modify.

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🙋‍♀️ Author

Built by Antara Srivastava 📧 antarakyw05@gmail.com 🌐 github.com/antarades