Leo's Last Hope

Combat doom scrolling. Stay focused. Lock in.

Leo's Last Hope is a VS Code extension designed to keep your attention on your screen during those critical moments when you're waiting for Copilot or Codex to generate code. Instead of reaching for your phone and losing focus, Leo's Last Hope serves you a personalized feed of curated articles on topics you care about—keeping your mind engaged and your focus intact.

demo1.mov

The Problem

As a developer, those 1-2 minute wait times while Copilot generates code are productivity killers. The screen goes silent. Your brain gets restless. You reach for your phone. You doom scroll. By the time the code arrives, you've already mentally checked out. Getting back into flow state takes minutes.

The result? Fragmented focus, reduced productivity, and that nagging feeling that you're not truly "locked in."

The Solution

Leo's Last Hope fills those idle moments with value in two ways:

Option 1: Stay Sharp with Articles

Instant Feed Display – Press Cmd+Shift+G (or trigger manually) to see a personalized feed
Smart Scraping – Automatically fetches articles from your configured websites and interests
AI Summarization – Articles are summarized into digestible 3-4 paragraph reads
Stay Locked In – Read relevant content without ever leaving VS Code

Option 2: Decompress with Games When you're stressed, tired, or mentally drained, shift gears and play our fun, self-developed CS mini-games. Learn computer science terms in a lighthearted way while your brain gets a break from code.

Instead of doom scrolling on your phone, you're:

Reading industry news relevant to your interests OR playing a fun CS game
Learning something new (whether technical articles or CS fundamentals) in under 2 minutes
Staying mentally engaged and ready to tackle the next task

Features

🎯 Personalized Feed

Configure your interests and favorite sources in VS Code settings. Leo's Last Hope learns what matters to you.

🚀 One-Command Updates

Press Cmd+Shift+G to scrape 4 new articles from your configured websites, summarize them with AI, and add them to your feed instantly.

📖 AI-Powered Summaries

Uses OpenAI's GPT-4o-mini to create intelligent, readable summaries of full articles—no fluff, just the essentials.

🎮 CS Learning Game

When stress and fatigue hit, play our custom-built mini-games to learn computer science terms in a fun, interactive way. Master CS concepts wrongly! while taking a mental break from coding.

🔄 Smart Mode Switching

Seamlessly toggle between reading mode (for focused learning) and game mode (for stress relief and fun).

⚙️ Full Customization

Choose your topics (e.g., "AI", "Startups", "Web Development")
Select your sources (e.g., tldr.tech, Medium, Dev.to)
Set preferences in VS Code settings

Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/nictjh/lockINorOut.git
cd lockINorOut

Install dependencies:

npm install
cd game && npm install
cd ../serp-fetcher && npm install

Set up environment variables:

serp-fetcher/.env

DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/your_db"
EXA_API_KEY="your_exa_api_key"

game/.env

OPENAI_API_KEY="your_openai_api_key"
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/your_db"
VITE_SCRAPING_API_URL="http://localhost:3000/api/scrape-and-summarize"

Build and run the extension:

npm run compile

Getting Started

Start the Backend Services

Terminal 1: Database + Backend API

cd serp-fetcher
npm run build
npm run server  # Starts on http://localhost:3000

Terminal 2: Game/Feed Frontend

cd game
npm run dev  # Starts on http://localhost:5173

Configure Your Preferences

Open VS Code Settings (Cmd+,)
Search for "IdleMode"
Configure:
- IdleMode: Interests – Topics you care about (e.g., ["AI", "Startups", "Web Dev"])
- IdleMode: Websites – Sources to scrape (e.g., ["tldr.tech", "medium.com", "dev.to"])

Load the Extension

Open the extension workspace: File > Open Folder > Select attemptVSCExt
Press F5 to launch the VS Code extension host
The extension loads automatically

Use Leo's Last Hope

Option 1: Manual Trigger

Cmd+Shift+G  →  Scrape articles  →  View feed automatically

Option 2: Command Palette

Cmd+Shift+P  →  Search "IdleMode: Scrape and Update Feed"  →  Enter

Architecture

VS Code Extension (Leo's Last Hope)
    ↓
    ├─ Reads configuration (interests, websites)
    └─ Calls API endpoint on Cmd+Shift+G
            ↓
    serp-fetcher Backend
        ├─ Exa API (search articles from websites)
        ├─ Fetch full content from article URLs
        ├─ OpenAI (summarize articles)
        └─ PostgreSQL (store summarized articles)
            ↓
    game Frontend (SvelteKit)
        ├─ Displays personalized feed
        ├─ Shows loading/error states
        └─ Renders in VS Code webview panel

Core Components

Extension (src/extension.ts)

Registers commands
Handles keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+Shift+G)
Makes API calls to scrape-and-summarize endpoint
Manages webview display and overlay

Backend API (serp-fetcher/src/server.ts)

POST /api/scrape-and-summarize – Scrape websites + summarize articles
GET /api/feed – Retrieve all summarized articles

Scraper (serp-fetcher/src/fetcher.ts)

Phase 1: Fetch article links from websites using Exa API
Phase 2: Fetch full article content from URLs
Phase 3: Summarize content using OpenAI

Frontend (game/src/routes/+page.svelte)

Fetches feed from backend
Displays articles in card layout
Expandable summaries with read more functionality
Loading and error states

Database (serp-fetcher/prisma/schema.prisma)

SummarizedArticle model stores: title, summary, url, source, topic, timestamp

API Endpoints

Scrape and Summarize

POST /api/scrape-and-summarize
Content-Type: application/json

{
  "interests": ["AI", "Startups"],
  "websites": ["tldr.tech"]
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "articlesCount": 4,
  "articles": [
    {
      "id": "cuid...",
      "title": "Article Title",
      "summary": "3-4 paragraph summary...",
      "url": "https://...",
      "source": "tldr.tech",
      "timestamp": "2026-01-18T..."
    }
  ]
}

Get Feed

GET /api/feed

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "articles": [...],
  "count": 4
}

Configuration

Edit VS Code settings to personalize Leo's Last Hope:

{
  "idlemode.interests": ["AI", "Startups", "Web Development"],
  "idlemode.websites": ["tldr.tech", "medium.com", "dev.to"]
}

Note: Don't include https:// in website URLs. Just use tldr.tech, not https://tldr.tech.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd+Shift+G`	Scrape new articles and update feed
`Cmd+Shift+P` + "IdleMode: Scrape and Update Feed"	Alternative trigger

How It Works

Reading Mode (Focused Learning)

You're waiting for Copilot – Code generation is running
Press Cmd+Shift+G – Leo's Last Hope springs into action
Backend scrapes – Exa API searches your configured websites for articles matching your interests
Content fetched – Full article text is retrieved from each URL
AI summarizes – OpenAI creates concise 3-4 paragraph summaries
Feed displays – Articles appear in your VS Code webview instantly
You read – Stay engaged, maintain focus, learn something useful
Code arrives – You're ready to dive back in with fresh context

Game Mode (Stress Relief)

You're overwhelmed – Deadlines, complex debugging, mental fatigue
Open the game – Switch to game mode for a mental reset
Learn CS concepts – Play engaging games about CS terms and fundamentals
Decompress – Have fun while reinforcing your knowledge
Return refreshed – Get back to work with renewed mental clarity

Tech Stack

Frontend: SvelteKit, Vite, TailwindCSS, Svelte
Backend: Express, TypeScript, Prisma ORM
Database: PostgreSQL
AI: OpenAI API (GPT-4o-mini)
Search: Exa API
Extension: VS Code API, TypeScript

Environment Variables

serp-fetcher/.env

DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/database
EXA_API_KEY=your_exa_api_key

game/.env

OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-proj-...
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@localhost:5432/database
VITE_SCRAPING_API_URL=http://localhost:3000/api/scrape-and-summarize
VITE_APP_NAME=IdleMode

Troubleshooting

"Please configure Leo's Last Hope interests and websites in settings first"

Open VS Code Settings (Cmd+,)
Search for "IdleMode"
Add your interests and websites

"Failed to connect to server"

Ensure serp-fetcher is running: npm run server in serp-fetcher directory
Check it's on http://localhost:3000
Verify your .env files are set up correctly

"No articles found"

Verify your website domains are correct (e.g., tldr.tech not https://tldr.tech)
Check EXA_API_KEY is valid in serp-fetcher/.env
Verify PostgreSQL is running and DATABASE_URL is correct

Articles not displaying in feed

Ensure game dev server is running: npm run dev in game directory
Check OPENAI_API_KEY is set in game/.env
Verify database connection string is correct

Project Structure

attemptVSCExt/
├── src/
│   ├── extension.ts          # VS Code extension main file
│   └── test/
├── game/                      # SvelteKit frontend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── routes/
│   │   │   ├── +page.svelte  # Feed display
│   │   │   └── api/
│   │   │       ├── feed/     # Feed endpoint
│   │   │       └── summarize/# Summarization endpoint
│   │   └── lib/
│   └── ...
├── serp-fetcher/             # Express backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── server.ts         # API routes
│   │   ├── fetcher.ts        # Scraping logic
│   │   ├── index.ts          # Batch scraper
│   │   └── ...
│   ├── prisma/
│   │   └── schema.prisma     # Database models
│   └── ...
└── package.json

Future Enhancements

honestly a whole lot of possibilitiesss

Contributing

Found a bug? Want to help improve Leo's Last Hope? PRs are welcome!

License

leCOOKEd

Stay on screen. Stay sharp. Stay locked in.

Built with ❤️ by developers, for developers who refuse to doom scroll. Leo we got you.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 35 Commits
.vscode		.vscode
game		game
serp-fetcher		serp-fetcher
src		src
.gitignore		.gitignore
.vscode-test.mjs		.vscode-test.mjs
.vscodeignore		.vscodeignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
README.md		README.md
esbuild.js		esbuild.js
eslint.config.mjs		eslint.config.mjs
package-lock.json		package-lock.json
package.json		package.json
tsconfig.json		tsconfig.json

Folders and files

Latest commit

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Leo's Last Hope

The Problem

The Solution

Features

🎯 Personalized Feed

🚀 One-Command Updates

📖 AI-Powered Summaries

🎮 CS Learning Game

🔄 Smart Mode Switching

⚙️ Full Customization

Installation

Getting Started

Start the Backend Services

Configure Your Preferences

Load the Extension

Use Leo's Last Hope

Architecture

Core Components

API Endpoints

Scrape and Summarize

Get Feed

Configuration

Keyboard Shortcuts

How It Works

Reading Mode (Focused Learning)

Game Mode (Stress Relief)

Tech Stack

Environment Variables

Troubleshooting

Project Structure

Future Enhancements

Contributing

License

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