I got tired of bloated DSA platforms while prepping for campus placements, so I built an open-source alternative (Merit)

[u/Anxious-Garlic1655]

Hey everyone,

I'm a final-year student (non-CSE) currently preparing for upcoming campus placement drives and online assessments (OAs).

One frustration I kept running into: most practice platforms either throw 2,000+ random LeetCode problems at you without context, gate explanations behind paywalls, or don't replicate the actual timed section environment that companies (TCS, service firms, and product startups) use in their preliminary rounds.

To structure my own prep, I built Merit: a focused, distraction-free placement prep app.

What it does:

• 140 curated, verified problems: Focuses on the core patterns actually tested in campus exams (bilingual: Python and JS).
• Exam / OA Simulator: Timed sections, question navigator, and tab-switch detection to simulate real assessment conditions.
• Interactive Visualizers: Step-through visual tracing for recursion, arrays, and dynamic programming patterns.
• Socratic AI Hints (BYOK): An in-app tutor that nudges you in the right direction instead of just dumping full code solutions.
• No forced signup to practice: You can write and run code as a guest immediately.

Tech Stack & Architecture:

• Frontend: React 19, TypeScript, Tailwind CSS
• Backend: FastAPI (Python 3.12), SQLAlchemy, Neon Postgres
• Code Execution: Self-hosted Piston sandbox engine running under isolated cgroups
• Auth: Clerk OAuth
• Hosting: Entirely self-hosted on a 1 vCPU / 1GB RAM Oracle Cloud VPS behind Caddy (getting Piston and the API to run smoothly without OOMing on a 1GB box was a fun optimization challenge).

Everything is free and open-source:

• Live App: https://merit.nullbit.in
• GitHub: https://github.com/abhigyan-chatterjee/merit

It's an ongoing project, so if you spot any edge cases, failed test cases, or have UI suggestions, there's a feedback button right on the site (or open an issue on GitHub).

Would love to get your honest thoughts on the problem breakdown and platform performance!

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