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Alhena

Family task app that turns email notices into drafts a parent must approve

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Sector
Family task app
Location
Online
Year
2026
Role
Design · Development
The Alhena home page on a computer: logo, the headline “Clear tasks for school and home, for today”, a short description and a button to try the app.
01Context

The brief

Notices pile up in a busy parent’s inbox. Someone has to read each one, find the dates and write the task down. Alhena reads mail from one sender, which a parent can change in Settings, and an AI model turns each message into draft tasks. The app is in Spanish and runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer.

One rule drives the design: the AI only drafts. A parent reviews each draft, then approves or dismisses it. Only approved drafts become tasks. We designed and built Alhena.

026 features

What we built

01/06

A read-only Gmail connection

A parent links Gmail with read-only permission, asked for separately from sign-in. Alhena keeps only mail from one sender, which a parent can change, and drops the rest before saving it. Mail is read when the parent presses sync, never in the background.

See fig. 07
02/06

AI that drafts, never decides

Each email goes to an AI model that must answer in a fixed format. The reply is checked against that format again, and any link not found in the original email is removed. Each result is saved with its model and a trace ID.

See fig. 03
03/06

A parent signs off first

Nothing from email becomes a task until a parent approves it. Drafts wait in a review queue, where the parent can open the original email, then approve or dismiss it. Tasks marked done also wait for a parent to confirm them.

See fig. 01
04/06

Separate data for every family

The first Google sign-in creates a family on the spot. Tables that hold family data carry a family ID, and the signed-in session decides which family a call can reach. Other caregivers join by invitation.

See fig. 05
05/06

Invite another caregiver

A parent enters another caregiver’s email address and gets a link and a QR code to share. The link expires after seven days and can be revoked before it is used. The invited person signs in with Google using that address.

06/06

Checked on every push

Every push and pull request to main runs code-quality checks, the unit tests, a coverage report, automatic architecture checks and a production build. The architecture checks stop the build if AI or Gmail code is pulled into the browser.

03Facts only

Results

the only Gmail permission the app asks for
Read-only
only mail from one sender is kept; a parent can change which
1 sender
AI drafts that become tasks without a parent’s approval
0
is the only way to sign in; Alhena keeps no password of its own
Google
from the first change to the last, inclusive: 6 to 17 April 2026
12 days
automated tests passed, 0 failed; 5 database tests skipped
1,321
047 images

Gallery

Parent mode on the Alhena home page: a card listing four tasks waiting for confirmation, all ticked, with an “Approve all” button and a note that only ticked items are approved.
01Parent mode on the home page, with sample data: tasks marked done wait here, and only the ticked ones are approved.
Phone view of the parent-mode card with four tasks waiting for confirmation and an “Approve all” button.
02The same confirmation card on a phone.
Three feature cards on the Alhena home page. The first says that after syncing Gmail the AI proposes tasks and the parent reviews them before they reach the board.
03From the home page: the AI proposes tasks from the email, and the parent reviews them first.
Phone view of the three feature cards stacked in one column; the first explains that the AI proposes tasks from email and the parent reviews them.
04The feature cards on a phone.
Closing section and footer of the Alhena home page: a “Start with Google” button and a note that data is kept separate for each family, with Google sign-in and no Alhena password.
05The footer note: data kept separate for each family, Google sign-in, no separate password.
Phone view of the closing section and footer, with the “Start with Google” button and the note about data kept separate for each family.
06Closing section and footer on a phone.
The Alhena home page on a phone: logo, headline, short description, a note that linking Gmail is optional and asked for separately, and a button to try the app.
07The home page on a phone: Gmail is optional and asked for separately.
0510 tools

Stack

  • Next.js
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Auth.js
  • PostgreSQL
  • Drizzle ORM
  • Gmail API
  • OpenAI API
  • Vitest
06Keep going

What's next

marceloretana.comMarcelo's build storyThe decisions behind the project, in his own words.(opens in a new tab)

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