bldr

The problem

Course registration is one of the most universally stressful experiences for college students. Every semester, University of Kansas students juggled multiple browser tabs — the course catalog, a spreadsheet, sometimes a photo of last semester's schedule — manually cross-checking meeting times for conflicts. One missed overlap could derail an entire semester's plan.

bldr replaces that fragmented process with a single visual surface: search, drop a section onto the calendar, and conflicts, seat counts, and instructor details are all resolved in place.

Design decisions

• Weekly calendar as the primary canvas, not a list — spatial layout makes overlaps obvious at a glance instead of requiring manual comparison.
• Color-coded blocks by department so a schedule stays scannable once it has 5+ courses on it.
• Seat-availability indicators (green / yellow / red / gray) surfaced directly on search results, since seat scarcity is often the deciding factor in registration timing.
• Multiple saved schedule variations per user, so exploring 'what if I swap this lecture section' doesn't risk losing a working plan.
• Read-only share links for schedules, so students can sanity-check a plan with an advisor or friend without granting edit access.

Under the hood

The frontend is a Next.js 16 / React 19 app with a real-time class-search API, backed by Supabase (Postgres + Auth) with row-level security enforcing that a schedule is only editable by its owner. Toast feedback, keyboard-navigable search, and Framer Motion transitions round out the interaction layer.

Research & validation

TODO: add findings from usability sessions with KU students during registration week — task-success rate on 'build a conflict-free 15-credit schedule,' time-on-task versus the old catalog + spreadsheet workflow, and direct quotes on the seat-indicator and share-link features.

Outcome

bldr is live at kubldr.com and in active use by KU students each registration cycle. TODO: replace with real adoption numbers (registered users, schedules created, repeat usage across semesters) once available.