Quenga Designs · 2026
Kernel
A coding-education platform built around a live in-browser sandbox — every lesson ends with code you write and run yourself.
- 8
- Learning tracks, environment through a shipped portfolio site
- 0
- Local setup required — every lesson runs in-browser
- 3
- Core stack: Next.js, TypeScript, Supabase
- Problem
- Most coding tutorials are passive — videos to half-watch, code to copy-paste. Nothing is checked, nothing is retained, and nothing feels like real practice.
- Solution
- I built Kernel: a coding-education platform where every lesson runs in a real, isolated browser sandbox. Write the code yourself, hit run, and see it checked against real tests immediately — no local setup, nothing to skim.
- Result
- Live in production, with an eight-track curriculum running from environment and git through full-stack TypeScript, ending in a portfolio site the learner actually ships.
The brief
Most coding education is built to be watched, not done — a video plays, a slide advances, and nothing checks whether anything landed. The brief for Kernel was the opposite: every lesson should end with code the learner wrote themselves, run themselves, and saw pass or fail against a real test — in the browser, with nothing to install first.
What was built
The core of the platform is a live sandbox: each lesson opens with a starter file, a task, and a run button. Code executes in an isolated browser sandbox, checked against real test assertions with instant pass/fail feedback — no server round-trip, no waiting.
Progress is gamified on purpose: finishing lessons earns coins, coins and levels unlock the next track, and progress stays visible the whole way through rather than sitting behind a paywall or a locked module. The curriculum runs eight tracks in order — environment and git, fundamentals, CS theory, SQL, and full-stack TypeScript — ending with the learner shipping their own portfolio site, not a toy exercise.
Under the hood
Next.js App Router with React 19, TypeScript in strict mode end to end, and Supabase for Postgres and auth. The lessons, tests, and sandbox execution all run on the same stack the curriculum teaches — what a learner studies is literally what's running the platform they're studying on.
Where it stands
Live in production at kernel.quengadesigns.dev, with sign-up and sign-in open and the eight-track curriculum shipped end to end.