SnakeID
Point your phone at a snake and find out whether it's venomous, with safety guidance if it is.
- When
- 2025
- Role
- Builder
- Outcome
- Congressional App Challenge district runner-up
- Built with
- Next.js PWA, AWS Lambda, S3, CloudFront, OpenAI Vision
Why I started
In Arizona, when you run into a snake, the only question that matters is whether it's venomous. I built SnakeID to answer it from a photo, for hikers, homeowners, and emergency responders.
What I did
I designed it first in SwiftUI, then rebuilt it as a Progressive Web App so it installs from any phone's browser.
Your photo goes to an AWS Lambda function that asks OpenAI's vision model for the species, a safety class, and advice, all as JSON. Models don't always return clean JSON, so when the JSON is missing, the function falls back to scanning the text.
The result screen leads with a color-coded safety card and one-tap buttons for 911 and Poison Control.
Progress so far
SnakeID was the district runner-up in the 2025 Congressional App Challenge and earned Special Congressional Recognition from Rep. Andy Biggs (AZ-05). It was my third year entering, after TeenTalk in 2023 and Bills Simplified for Kids in 2024.
What's next
Test it against verified field photos to measure accuracy.