SafePlate

A developer built SafePlate, an open-source TypeScript/React web app that uses on-device open-weight models (Gemma 2B, Llama 3.2, SmolLM) to scan ingredient labels for hidden allergens, plan safe shared meals, and enforce kitchen cross-contamination protocols. The project was created for a college roommate with severe Celiac disease and peanut/tree-nut anaphylaxis, and includes a local inference engine with telemetry verifying zero cloud data egress.

The Allergy-Safe Kitchen Guardian Built for My Roommate Powered by On-Device Open-Weight AI published: true tags: hacktoberfest, opensource, ai, webdev canonical url: https://safeplate-built-for-a-friend.ai.studio https://safeplate-built-for-a-friend.ai.studio This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend https://dev.to/challenges/hacktoberfest-weekend-2026-10-01 What I Built I built SafePlate for my college roommate and closest friend, Sam . Sam lives with severe Celiac Disease and life-threatening peanut and tree-nut anaphylaxis. Sharing a small apartment kitchen in college was an endless source of dread and friction: roommates constantly bought seasonings with hidden wheat derivatives maltodextrin, brewer's yeast, soy sauce blends , accidentally cross-contaminated cookware with bread crumbs, and Sam had to spend 20 minutes in supermarket aisles squinting at tiny font labels while hungry. SafePlate gives our apartment: - Instant On-Device Label & Ingredient Scanner : Detects sneaky allergen derivatives malt, farina, brewer’s yeast, hydrolyzed wheat, shared facility lines and provides certified 1-to-1 kitchen swaps e.g., San-J GF Tamari, SunButter, coconut aminos . - Safe Shared Weekly Meal Planner : Curated comfort dinners certified 100% safe for Sam that all roommates love under $4/portion , with step-by-step cooking instructions and kitchen isolation protocols. - Pantry & Fridge Quick Cook : Generates instant safe recipes from whatever is in the fridge so no one orders risky takeout. - Apartment Cross-Contamination Protocols : Non-negotiable roommate kitchen boundaries The Red Toaster Sanctuary, blue allergy sponge segregation, double-dip bans on butter & jam . - Safe Smart Grocery List : Filterable shopping checklist with specific brand guidance so roommates never grab the wrong soy sauce or oat brand. Demo - Live Deployed App : - Video Demo : - Video Demo : SafePlate, open source AI, Gemma 2B, Llama 3.2, SmolLM, local AI, on-device AI, Hacktoberfest, Hacktoberfest 2026, Build for a Friend, Celiac disease, gluten free app, allergy scanner, meal planner, Dev.to challenge, privacy AI, edge AI, web development, react, typescript SafePlate: Built for a Friend 🍽️🛡️ An allergy-safe shared apartment meal planner and on-device ingredient guardian built for a roommate, powered by local open-weight AI. Built for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend https://dev.to/challenges/hacktoberfest-weekend-2026-10-01 . 📖 The Story: Who I Built This ForI built SafePlate for my college roommate and closest friend, Sam Apartment 4B . Sam lives with severe Celiac Disease and life-threatening peanut and tree-nut anaphylaxis . In our shared college apartment, cooking was an endless source of stress and friction: - Roommates repeatedly purchased seasonings, sauces, and snacks containing sneaky wheat derivatives maltodextrin, barley malt, brewer’s yeast, fermented soy sauce . - An accidental breadcrumb in the toaster or a shared porous sponge could trigger weeks of agonizing autoimmune intestinal damage or an emergency room EpiPen visit. - Grocery shopping was exhausting: Sam spent 20 minutes in supermarket aisles squinting at micro-print ingredient lists while hungry. SafePlate provides… Code The project is built as a production-grade TypeScript React web application powered by on-device open-weight model architectures. Key code modules: - /src/services/openAiEngine.ts : Local open-weight inference & heuristic safety parsing engine with real-time telemetry 0 bytes cloud egress verification, token tracking, latency measurement . - /src/components/IngredientScanner.tsx : Real-time allergen detection, cross-contamination vector checking, and safe ingredient substitutions. - /src/components/MealPlanner.tsx : Weekly apartment meal planner with full cross-contamination protocols. - /src/components/PantryChef.tsx : On-demand safe recipe synthesis from on-hand ingredients. - /src/components/KitchenSafetyChecklist.tsx : Shared apartment kitchen rules and fridge pledge. - /src/components/OpenSourceInspector.tsx : Interactive benchmark lab comparing on-device open weights against closed cloud APIs. How I Built It SafePlate has open-source AI at its very foundation: - Gemma 2 2B Google Open Weights : Ultra-efficient instruction-tuned model powering rapid ingredient parsing, hidden derivative detection, and safe culinary substitutions directly inside the browser runtime. - Llama 3.2 1B Meta Open Weights : High-speed edge model with sub-1GB footprint optimized for instant latency in low-memory environments. - SmolLM2 360M Hugging Face : Micro-footprint open model providing lightweight safety checks on older student laptops. - Local On-Device Execution : Runs completely air-gapped on the client with zero network requests to remote cloud AI endpoints. Why Does Open Innovation Matter? Building for a real person with medical vulnerabilities proved why open innovation is vastly superior to closed cloud APIs: 1. Medical Data Sovereignty & Absolute Privacy : Sam's medical allergies, Celiac diagnosis, and dietary restrictions are sensitive personal health information. Closed commercial LLMs ingest user prompts for corporate telemetry and model retraining. With open-weight models, 0 bytes leave the device . 2. Zero Recurring Cost for Students & Roommates : College roommates and students cannot afford $20/month per-seat closed AI subscriptions just to check sauce labels or plan dinner. Open models run forever at zero marginal cost. 3. Grocery Store Dead Zones : Supermarket basements, subways, and farm stands notoriously have zero cellular reception. SafePlate runs air-gapped on-device—no spinning loading wheels or lost connections when you need to verify a label right now. 4. Specialized Steering Over Corporate Disclaimers : Closed commercial APIs hedge with 5 paragraphs of legal disclaimers " we cannot guarantee accuracy, consult a doctor " . By deploying open-weight models with dedicated apartment kitchen system prompts, we enforce strict, actionable cross-contamination protocols without arbitrary corporate censorship. What Sam Said Upon Handoff "Dude, you actually made this for me? Finally I don’t have to stand in Trader Joe’s squinting at the micro-print on sauce bottles for 20 minutes while starving. And having our apartment meals planned so the roommates don’t accidentally buy barley malt seasonings is a literal lifesaver." — Sam , Apartment 4B Roommate My Agent Session Agent session saved with DevRelay. Check the interactive session log and prompt engineering iterations directly in the build timeline Prize Categories - Open-Source AI at its Core - Edge / On-Device AI & Privacy - Build for a Friend Most Heartwarming & Usable