Threshold
Turns a dreaded task into the smallest possible first action, then starts a two-minute timer. Built for Cold Open — build a tool that helps someone do the very first step of a task they have been avoiding. Task decomposition, the timer, and persistence across reloads. The interface is deliberately narrow: one path, done properly, rather than a broad surface that half-works at the deadline.
Gallery
Screens
Threshold — main view
Threshold — result state
On the clock
What shipped, what didn't
Completed in time
Task decomposition, the timer, and persistence across reloads.
Unfinished / faked
No accounts — everything lives in localStorage.
Obstacles
Lost four minutes to an auth redirect loop that turned out to be a trailing slash.
Lessons learned
Boring, well-understood tools beat interesting ones when there's no time to debug.
Process
Prompting approach
Started from a single system prompt describing the user and their constraint, then iterated with the assistant on the Threshold data model before writing any interface code. Full prompt log is in the repository under /prompts.
Fairness
Disclosures
Declared by the builder at submission time, visible to judges before scoring.
Reused a personal utility file for date formatting (~40 lines), linked in the repo README.
Judging
Public feedback
Judges' private notes stay private — this is what they chose to say publicly.
Elena Voss
VP of Engineering, Harbor Compute
Genuinely useful. I would install this. The limitations section is honest, which makes me trust the rest of the submission more.
Hana Kobayashi
Principal Research Engineer, Independent
The scope discipline here is the whole story. One path, finished, demoed without a stumble. That is what a 30-minute build should look like.
Tomas Eriksen
Developer Advocate, Independent
The scope discipline here is the whole story. One path, finished, demoed without a stumble. That is what a 30-minute build should look like.
Discussion
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