Reflect - Reflective Practice Journal

Reflect is a digital tool for structured reflective practice based on Terry Borton's reflective framework and experiential learning theory.

About

Reflect helps users transform experiences into learning through a three-step process:

1. What? - Document your experience
2. So What? - Reflect and analyze (identify patterns, assumptions, insights)
3. Now What? - Create actionable strategies for next time

Features:

• Personal reflection journal
• Structured analysis framework
• AI-Powered Vector Search - Find similar past reflections using semantic embeddings
• Community learning (share reflections with peers)
• AI-powered insights
• Track growth over time

Quick Start

1. Install Dependencies

composer install
npm install

2. Setup Environment

cp .env.example .env
php artisan key:generate

Add your Google API key to .env:

GOOGLE_API_KEY=your_google_api_key_here
FASTAPI_URL=http://localhost:8001

3. Setup Database

touch database/database.sqlite
php artisan migrate --seed

4. Start Development Servers

# Terminal 1: Laravel
php artisan serve

# Terminal 2: Vite  
npm run dev

# Terminal 3: FastAPI (for AI features & embeddings)
cd fastapi && uvicorn main:app --reload --port 8001

5. Visit Application

• App: http://localhost:8000
• Test User: test@test.com / password123

Vector Search

Reflect uses Google Gemini embeddings via FastAPI to find semantically similar reflections.

How It Works

1. When you create a reflection, it's sent to FastAPI
2. FastAPI generates a 768-dimensional embedding using Google Gemini
3. The embedding is stored in SQLite alongside your reflection
4. When viewing a reflection, we calculate cosine similarity with all your other reflections
5. The most similar reflections are displayed to help you find patterns

Commands

php artisan vector:reindex  # Reindex all reflections (requires FastAPI running)

Architecture

• Embeddings: Generated via FastAPI + Google Gemini (text-embedding-004)
• Storage: JSON column in SQLite
• Search: PHP cosine similarity calculation
• Simple & Self-Contained: No Typesense, no separate vector DB

Development

Quick Reset Database

php artisan migrate:refresh --seed

Test User

• Email: test@test.com
• Password: password123

Theoretical Foundation

Based on:

• Terry Borton's Reflective Practice Model (1970)
• David Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle
• Donald Schön's Reflection-in-Action / Reflection-on-Action