Sugar Labs

Mentors: Student: Harihara Vardhan

Music Blocks students have no ownership of the projects they create. When a project is saved it lands in a MySQL database they can never see, with no version history and no guarantee it will exist next year. This project completes the migration from that aging PHP and MySQL stack to a modern system backed by GitHub and SQLite, making the transition completely invisible to students while giving every project a permanent, version-controlled home. The work happens in four phases. First, setting up the migration environment with a read-only database connection, GitHub App credentials, and a SQLite database that will power the new backend. Second, running a streaming migration pipeline that processes all 10,000+ existing Planet projects one at a time, pushing each one to GitHub as a repository with full metadata and thumbnail, while skipping duplicates using SHA-256 content hashing. Third, building the seven API endpoints the Planet frontend needs to browse, search, like, and load projects, all backed by SQLite for sub-millisecond response times. Fourth, connecting the frontend to the new backend through a single drop-in adapter file, overhauling the UI with proper modals, a clean commit history timeline, and an interactive Git onboarding walkthrough that teaches students how to save versions, go back in time, and fork projects using Music Blocks language with no Git jargon.

Mentors: Student: Rejah Rabeeul

This project aims to develop a comprehensive ConnectTheDots activity for the Sugarizer platform that combines creative expression, structured learning, and strategic gameplay into a single unified experience. Currently, Sugarizer lacks an activity that integrates these three aspects. Existing tools typically focus on only one area, leaving a gap for an engaging, multi-mode activity that supports diverse learning styles for children aged 5–11. To address this, the project will implement three core modes using Vanilla JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and the Sugar-Web framework: Draw Mode: A free-form mode where children can draw on a dot grid with real-time feedback. Number Mode: A guided learning mode where users connect numbered dots to reveal shapes, with support for custom templates and Journal integration. Game Mode: A strategy-based territory capture game with accurate capture logic and an AI opponent using a greedy heuristic approach. The final deliverable will be a production-ready, optimized activity that runs smoothly on low-end devices and high-DPI touch screens, providing an engaging and scalable learning experience within Sugarizer.

Mentors: Student: Sonal Gaud

Music Blocks currently relies on a manual and irregular release process, which leads to deployment delays, higher risk of human error, and limited visibility into application health. This project aims to modernize the release workflow by introducing a fully automated, reliable, and auditable CI/CD pipeline. The solution will involve designing and implementing automated deployment workflows integrated with existing CI, enabling seamless releases from the main branch. Key improvements include semantic versioning and automated changelog generation, Docker-based builds published to GitHub Container Registry, and a multi-environment setup with staging and production. The pipeline will incorporate preview deployments, approval gates, and pre/post-deployment validation to ensure safe and consistent releases. Additionally, rollback mechanisms, monitoring, and deployment notifications will be added to improve reliability and observability. The final deliverables will include a complete CI/CD pipeline, containerized deployment setup, automated versioning and changelog system, staging and production environments with deployment workflows, rollback and validation mechanisms, monitoring and alerting integration, and comprehensive documentation with runbooks and troubleshooting guides.

Mentors: Student: Shreya_Saxena_0205

Working on a measurement-first performance framework for Music Blocks v3 (Sugar Labs) , a browser-based visual music programming tool used by students and educators worldwide. Focused on eliminating UI freezes during LilyPond export, MIDI import, and complex block graph execution by introducing progress feedback, cancellation support, a frame-budget execution scheduler, and Web Worker offloading. Building runtime instrumentation using the Performance Observer API and integrating automated CI benchmarks via GitHub Actions to prevent regressions.

Mentors: Student: Divyam Agarwal

The Problem: Sugar currently relies on GTK3, which is nearing end-of-life and doesn’t support Wayland properly. This makes it harder to run on modern Linux systems. The Solution: This project focuses on migrating the core "Fructose" activities (Calculate, Log, Chat, Browse, Read, Terminal, etc.) from GTK3 to GTK4. This isn’t just a direct API update — many parts of the UI depend on older X11-based patterns that need to be reworked. I’ll update layouts to Gtk.Box/Gtk.Grid, move input handling to GTK4 event controllers (like Gtk.GestureClick), and migrate system integrations to newer GTK4-compatible libraries such as WebKitGTK 6.0, VTE 3.91, and Evince 4.0. For more complex rendering (like TurtleArt), I plan to use a Cairo bridge with Gtk.Snapshot.append_cairo() instead of rewriting everything from scratch. Deliverables: A working GTK4 port of the supported Fructose activities that runs properly on Wayland. Since the Sugar shell is still evolving, I’ll validate everything locally using my standalone main.py wrapper before integration.