Final Project

The climax of this course is its final project. The final project is your opportunity to take your newfound savvy with programming out for a spin and develop your very own piece of software. So long as your project draws upon the course’s lessons, the nature of your project is entirely up to you, albeit subject to the staff’s approval. You may implement your project in any language(s) as long as the staff approves. You are welcome to utilize any infrastructure, provided the staff ultimately has access to any hardware and software that your project requires. All that we ask is that you build something of interest to you, that you solve an actual problem, that you impact campus, or that you change the world. Strive to create something that outlives this course.

Inasmuch as software development is rarely a one-person effort, you are allowed an opportunity to collaborate with one or two classmates for this final project. Needless to say, it is expected that every student in any such group contribute equally to the design and implementation of that group’s project. Moreover, it is expected that the scope of a two- or three-person group’s project be, respectively, twice or thrice that of a typical one-person project. A one-person project, mind you, should entail more time and effort than is required by each of the course’s problem sets. Although no more than three students may design and implement a given project, you are welcome to solicit advice from others, so long as you respect the course’s policy on academic honesty.

Extensions on any milestones of the final project will not be granted.

Ideas

Here are just some of the possibilities. Discuss any and all with the the staff! And if you’d like to solicit collaborators for an idea you have, bounce your ideas off of others, or help fellow students come up with project ideas, do post in Ed!

  • a web-based application using JavaScript, Python, and SQL
  • an iOS app using Swift
  • an Android app using Java
  • a Chrome extension using JavaScript
  • a command-line program using C
  • a hardware-based application for which you program some device
  • a web-based application using Node.js
  • a game using Lua with LÖVE
  • …

Combining Courses

If taking some other course this semester that has a final project, you are welcome and encouraged to combine this course’s project and that course’s project into one, toward an end of applying lessons learned in CS50 to some other field, so long as the joint project satisfies this course’s and that course’s expectations. Before pursuing a joint project, though, you must disclose to both courses and receive approval from both courses.

Specifications

Extensions on the final project are not granted, except in cases of emergency.

Proposal

due by 2026-11-16T23:59:00-05:00

The proposal is your opportunity to receive approval and counsel from the staff before you proceed to design.

The staff will either approve your proposal or require modifications on your part for subsequent approval. Your proposal, even if approved, is not binding; you may alter your plan at any point, provided you obtain the staff’s approval for any modifications. Projects submitted without approval may not receive credit.

What to Do

  1. Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
  2. Select Final Project: Proposal.
  3. Answer all questions therein.

Status Report

due by 2026-11-24T23:59:00-05:00

Not only is the status report intended to keep the staff apprised of your progress, it is an opportunity to keep yourself on track.

What to Do

  1. Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
  2. Select Final Project: Status Report.
  3. Answer all questions therein.

Implementation

due by 2026-12-06T23:59:00-05:00

Your final submission has five parts, described in detail below.

  1. A README.md that tells us exactly how to run your project.
  2. A DESIGN.md that explains how and why you built your project the way you did, including how you used AI.
  3. All of your code and the files needed to run it, ideally with your Git history.
  4. A short video presenting your project.
  5. A brief check-in with a member of the staff after you submit.

AI Policy

For your final project (and your final project only!) it is reasonable to use AI-based software other than CS50’s own (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, et al.), but the essence of the work must still be your own. You’ve learned enough to use such tools as helpers. Treat such tools as amplifying, not supplanting, your productivity.

Whatever tools you use, you must be able to explain every part of your project: what each piece of code does, why it’s there, and why you chose it over alternatives. You’ll be asked about your AI usage in the final check-in, and you must also describe your use of AI in your DESIGN.md.

1. README.md: How to Run Your Project

You should submit documentation for your project in the form of a Markdown file called README.md. This documentation is to be a user’s manual for your project. It should be incredibly clear to the staff how and where, if applicable, to compile, configure, and use your project. It should not be necessary for us to contact you with questions regarding your project after its submission. Hold our hand with this documentation; be sure to answer in your documentation any questions that you think we might have while testing your work.

Your README.md must include each of the below, as applicable to your project.

  • Title and summary. Your project’s name, your name(s), and a paragraph or two on what your project does and who it’s for.
  • Video. The URL of your video (see below).
  • Requirements. Everything that must be installed before your project can run, with versions where they matter (e.g., “Python 3.12,” “Node 20,” “an Arduino Uno”). If your project runs in cs50.dev, say so.
  • Setup. Step-by-step instructions with every command we need to type, exactly as we should type it. For example: which folder to cd into, how to install dependencies (e.g., pip install -r requirements.txt), how to create or initialize a database, and how to compile, if applicable.
  • Configuration. Any API keys, environment variables, or settings your project needs, and how we should obtain and set them.
  • Running. The command to start your project (e.g., flask run), and what we should expect to see when it works (e.g., “Open the URL that appears, and you should see a login page”).
  • Using. A walkthrough of your project’s main features, so we know what to try and how.

2. DESIGN.md: How and Why You Built It

Whereas your README.md is a user’s manual, your DESIGN.md is a technical tour of your project under its hood. Write it for a fellow programmer who has taken CS50: someone who doesn’t need basic concepts explained but who has never seen your code.

Be specific. Refer to your actual files, functions, routes, and tables by name (e.g., “score() in helpers.py”). Generic statements like “I used Flask because it is a popular framework” tell us little; statements like “I store each user’s history in a separate history table, rather than in a column of users, so that…” tell us a lot.

Your DESIGN.md must include a section for each of the below.

  1. Overview. How your project is structured. What are its main files or components, what is each responsible for, and how do they fit together? (A diagram is welcome but not required.)
  2. Key design decisions. At least three significant decisions you made. For each, explain what you chose, what alternatives you considered, why you chose as you did, and what tradeoffs you accepted. Decisions might involve your choice of language or framework, how you structured your data or database, how you organized your code, how you handled a tricky feature, or what you chose to leave out.
  3. A challenge you overcame. Describe at least one bug or problem that took real effort to solve: what the symptom was, how you figured out its cause, and how you fixed it.
  4. Looking back. What would you do differently if you started over, and what would you add with more time?
  5. AI disclosure. How you used AI tools, if at all. Specifically:
    • Which tools you used, and for what (e.g., brainstorming, learning a new library, debugging, generating boilerplate, writing features, writing documentation).
    • Two or three representative examples of your use of AI. For each, briefly summarize what you asked, what you got back, and what you did with it: did you use it as-is, modify it, or reject it, and why?
    • Which parts of your project, if any, are substantially AI-generated.
    • If you didn’t use AI at all, you should indicate so as well.

In your code itself, please cite any substantial AI-generated code with a comment, just as you would cite code from any other source. For example:

# The following function was generated with the help of ChatGPT and then modified to…

3. Code and Files

Submit any and all files required to run your software (even if intended for some infrastructure other than cs50.dev), including source code as well as, if applicable, configuration files, Makefiles, sample inputs, SQLite databases, and so forth. Needless to say, all source code should be thoroughly commented.

4. Video

Create a short video (that’s no more than 3 minutes in length) in which you present your project to the world, as with slides, screenshots, voiceover, and/or live action, ideally with you yourself appearing in the video. Your video should somehow include your project’s title, your name and year, your dorm/house and concentration, and any other details that you’d like to convey to viewers. See CS1710’s tips on how to make a “screencast”, you could use Loom or Zoom, though you’re welcome to use a phone or actual camera. Upload your video to YouTube as “public” or “unlisted” and include the URL of the video in your README.md file.

5. Staff Check-In

After you submit, you’ll meet briefly (about 15 minutes) with a member of the staff. All members of a group must attend. This is a chance for you to show off what you built and for us to understand it better than a video can show. Expect to:

  • Demo your project live, briefly.
  • Walk us through your code.
  • Answer questions about your design decisions and your use of AI, as described in your DESIGN.md.

Check-ins must be completed by 2026-12-10T23:59:00-05:00. Sign up via the link below (link to come).

How to Submit

If your project requires (for execution and testing) hardware or software other than that offered by VS Code, be sure that the the staff are aware of and have approved your project’s needs.

Step 1 of 3
  1. Download a ZIP file of your final project by running zip -r project.zip * within your project’s folder in VS Code. Find the project.zip file in the file browser and right-click to choose Download. (If you created your final project outside of VS Code, you should still create a ZIP file of the project folder.)
  2. Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
  3. Select Final Project: Implementation.
  4. Drag and drop your ZIP file to the area that says “Drag & Drop”.
  5. Click “Upload”.

You should see a message that says “Final Project: Implementation submitted successfully!”

Step 2 of 3

Submit this form (link to come)!

This last form is on the longer side, so no worries if you start it before the deadline but finish a bit after.

Step 3 of 3: Attend Your Check-In

Sign up for and attend your staff check-in (link to come) by 2026-12-10T23:59:00-05:00.

And that’s it; you’ve finished. This was CS50!