Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
108 lines (74 loc) · 5.22 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

108 lines (74 loc) · 5.22 KB

Centsible: Making Finance "Cents-ible"

Summary ChatBot2

Inspiration

Centsible was born from a need to make finance more accessible, especially for individuals who might be unfamiliar with financial concepts. One of our team members, a first-generation immigrant to Canada, shared her experiences of struggling to understand basic financial terms, such as what a credit limit meant. Financial websites can be overwhelming with jargon like 'RRSPs' and dense information. We aimed to simplify that complexity with a virtual assistant that explains everything in plain terms—making it make cents.

What It Does

Centsible is a Chrome extension designed to simplify complex financial concepts for users of all backgrounds. It works by:

  • Summarizing financial content on websites using Hugging Face's BART model.
  • Extracting key financial terms with AI-powered keyword extraction.
  • Providing real-time, contextual explanations for financial concepts via Google’s Gemini API.
  • Featuring a built-in chatbot that enables users to ask questions about financial topics while browsing.

With these tools, Centsible ensures users can explore finance more intuitively, making complex terms and topics accessible.

Key Features

  • Financial Keyword Extraction: Automatically identifies and highlights key financial terms like 'RRSPs', 'Credit Score', etc.
  • Personalized Summarization: Leverages BART for concise summaries of web pages and articles.
  • Interactive Chatbot: Powered by Gemini 1.5, the chatbot provides real-time explanations and answers based on user queries.
  • Customization Options: Users can select different expertise levels (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced) to receive explanations suited to their financial literacy.

How We Built It

Centsible was developed as a Chrome extension using:

  • React and Tailwind CSS for the front-end interface.
  • Flask and Python for the back-end API server.
  • Google's Gemini API for real-time market data and chatbot integration.
  • Hugging Face models for summarization and keyword extraction of financial terms.

Challenges We Faced

Building Centsible came with a series of challenges:

  • API Integration: Connecting Gemini with keyword extraction and chatbot features required careful handling of response formats and data consistency.
  • First-Time Extension Development: This was the first time many of our team members worked on a Chrome extension, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Backend-Frontend Communication: Ensuring seamless data transfer between the backend Flask API and the frontend React interface presented obstacles, especially in handling real-time updates and asynchronous calls.

Accomplishments

  • Successfully integrated APIs from Google and Hugging Face, providing real-time financial insights.
  • Built a working Chrome extension despite the team’s initial unfamiliarity with this technology.
  • Created a solution to make finance more accessible and understandable, contributing to financial inclusion and literacy.

What We Learned

  • Teamwork: We learned how to collaborate effectively, utilizing each member's strengths and dividing tasks to maximize efficiency.
  • Version Control: Using Git and GitHub taught us how to manage changes and collaborate on code efficiently.
  • API Usage: We deepened our understanding of various APIs, learning how to make API calls, handle responses, and integrate third-party tools into our system.

What’s Next for Centsible

  • Resource Tab: Adding curated learning pathways (articles, podcasts, videos) based on the financial terms identified by the tool.
  • Personalization: Incorporating user profiles to customize content based on financial goals, interests, and age groups.
  • Enhanced Accessibility: Adding features like a voice plugin for reading financial terms aloud, multilingual support, and text customization.
  • Smart Recommendations: Using AI-driven suggestions based on user engagement to provide tailored financial guidance.

Tech Stack

Front-End

  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS

Back-End

  • Flask
  • Python

APIs and Libraries

  • Google's Gemini API
  • Hugging Face (BART and DistilBERT)
  • Postman for API testing
  • Axios for making HTTP requests from the front-end

Installation and Setup

To get started with Centsible:

  1. Clone the repository: 
    git clone https://github.com/yourusername/centsible.git
  2. Install dependencies in both back-end and front-end folders using: 
    npm install
  3. Compile and build front end in front end directory using:
cd centsible-frontend
npm run build
  1. Compile and run back end in back end directory using:
cd centsible-backend
python3 app.py

4. Load the dist folder in front-end folder as unpacked in Chrome extensions to use this extension. Open the extension on your financial website of choice, and choose your preferred summarization level!