WILD QUEST-Touch the grass

A developer built WildQuest, an open-source AI-powered outdoor adventure generator that turns a simple walk into an interactive quest. The project uses a React frontend and a Python FastAPI backend, with Google's Gemini model via the google-genai SDK generating structured, trackable outdoor tasks, and it is deployed live on Vercel with the API key kept in environment variables.

This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass https://dev.to/challenges/hacktoberfest-week1-2026-10-05 We spend a lot of time staring at screens, even when we want to take a break and go outside. But sometimes, the hardest part of going outdoors is figuring out what to do. That's why I built WildQuest — an AI-powered outdoor adventure generator that turns a simple walk outside into a fun, interactive quest. Instead of endlessly scrolling for things to do, you can generate your own outdoor adventure based on your interests, surroundings, and available time. 🌱 What can you do with WildQuest? WildQuest is designed for anyone who wants to take a break from their screen, get moving, and make their time outdoors a little more interesting. The idea is simple: use AI to help people spend less time on screens and more time experiencing the real world. 🌐 Try WildQuest live: https://wild-quest-4auzlw2dk-devansh-55f9.vercel.app/ https://wild-quest-4auzlw2dk-devansh-55f9.vercel.app/ Generate a quest, head outside, complete the challenges, and track your progress 💻 GitHub repository: https://github.com/Devansh270/WildQuest https://github.com/Devansh270/WildQuest The project is open source, and you can explore the implementation, run it locally, or contribute improvements. I built WildQuest with a React frontend and a Python FastAPI backend, with Google's Gemini model powering the quest-generation experience. Here's the tech stack: google-genai SDK. The frontend lets users customize their adventures, interact with generated tasks, and track their progress. The FastAPI backend handles quest-generation requests and communicates with Gemini to generate structured outdoor activities. I also implemented API health checks, configured cross-origin requests between the deployed frontend and backend, and kept the AI API key in environment variables rather than exposing it in the frontend. One of the important design decisions was to make the output actionable rather than simply generating a paragraph of suggestions. WildQuest returns structured quests with individual tasks that users can complete and track. I wanted to build something that wasn't just another AI chatbot wrapped in a website. Open innovation makes it possible for developers to experiment, learn from existing tools, share their work, and build applications that others can inspect and improve. For WildQuest, open-source development means that anyone can explore how the application works, suggest new quest types, improve the user experience, or contribute features of their own. Using an accessible AI development stack also made it practical for me to connect a modern generative model to a small, independently built application without needing to train a model from scratch. A closed API can provide powerful AI capabilities, but the openness of the surrounding project matters too: people should be able to understand the application, inspect its implementation, and help shape what it becomes. I'd love to see WildQuest grow through contributions from people who care about outdoor exploration, gamification, and building useful AI-powered tools. I haven't included a DevRelay agent-session recording in this submission. This submission is for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass . WildQuest started with a simple question: What if AI didn't give us another reason to stay online, but gave us a reason to step outside? That's what I wanted to explore with this project. I'd love to hear your ideas for new outdoor quests, features, or ways to make exploring the world more fun. 🌿 Try it out, check out the code, and let me know what you think