GradCast — Auto-Publish Student Project Portfolios as LinkedIn Case Studies
Computer science and design students spend 200 hours on capstone projects and share them nowhere. GradCast turns a GitHub repo plus a project description into a polished LinkedIn case study post with screenshots, metrics, and a PDF portfolio page — published in one click.
Difficulty
beginner
Category
Education
Market Demand
High
Revenue Score
6/10
Platform
Web App
Vibe Code Friendly
⚡ YesHackathon Score
🏆 8/10
What is it?
Every May and December, 500k+ CS and design students graduate with impressive projects buried in private GitHub repos. Recruiters on LinkedIn are actively looking for demonstrated work, but students have no idea how to write a case study and the official portfolio builder tools are generic nightmares. GradCast takes a GitHub repo URL and a 3-sentence project description, scrapes the README and commit history, uses Claude to generate a recruiter-optimized LinkedIn case study (problem, solution, tech stack, impact), and publishes it directly via LinkedIn OAuth. Students get a PDF version for email applications. It is a $9 one-time payment — the cost of one coffee, the value of one recruiter click. Why buildable right now: LinkedIn API allows personal post publishing via OAuth, Claude's summarization quality is high enough that the output requires minimal editing, and graduation season in May 2026 is peak demand right now.
Why now?
May 2026 graduation season is happening right now — 500k+ CS and design students are actively searching for ways to stand out to recruiters this month, and LinkedIn's UGC Posts API is stable and accessible to approved developers.
- ▸GitHub repo ingestion: fetches README, language breakdown, and last 30 commits to extract project scope automatically (Implementation note: GitHub REST API unauthenticated for public repos)
- ▸Claude generates a 400-word LinkedIn case study in recruiter-preferred format: problem, solution, stack, measurable outcome
- ▸LinkedIn OAuth publishes directly to the student's feed as a rich text post with auto-formatted hashtags
- ▸React-PDF generates a one-page portfolio PDF with project screenshot, tech stack badges, and GitHub link for email applications
Target Audience
CS, design, and data science students graduating in May and December — 500k+ US graduates annually, 80% active on LinkedIn, most with no published portfolio content.
Example Use Case
Priya, a graduating CS senior, pastes her capstone GitHub URL, writes two sentences about the project, pays $9, and has a polished LinkedIn case study with her tech stack and a screenshot of the app published within 6 minutes — her first recruiter message arrives in 3 days.
User Stories
- ▸As a graduating CS student, I want to publish my capstone project as a LinkedIn case study in one click, so that recruiters can find my work without me knowing how to write marketing copy.
- ▸As a design student, I want a PDF version of my case study for email applications, so that I have a polished artifact beyond my GitHub link.
- ▸As a student with 3 projects, I want to buy a 3-post bundle, so that my entire senior year portfolio is published before interviews start.
Done When
- ✓GitHub ingestion: done when pasting a public repo URL populates the tech stack and project summary fields within 3 seconds.
- ✓Case study generation: done when Claude returns a 350–450 word post with problem, solution, stack, and outcome sections visible in the preview.
- ✓LinkedIn publish: done when clicking Publish Post results in the case study appearing on the user's LinkedIn profile within 30 seconds.
- ✓PDF export: done when user receives a download link by email containing a one-page PDF with their project name, tech stack badges, and generated summary.
Is it worth building?
$9/post × 1,000 students in May 2026 = $9,000 in graduation month. Seasonal spikes in May and December. $9 × 5,000 students/year = $45,000 ARR if SEO captures graduation search traffic.
Unit Economics
CAC: $2 via Reddit organic posts during graduation season. LTV: $18 (average 2 purchases per student). Payback: immediate. Gross margin: 93% after Stripe fees and Claude API cost per post.
Business Model
Pay-per-use
Monetization Path
$9 one-time per published case study. $29 bundle: 3 project posts + PDF portfolio pack. No subscription.
Revenue Timeline
First dollar: day 1 of launch (graduation season urgency). $5k total: week 2 of May launch. $10k total: by end of graduation month.
Estimated Monthly Cost
Claude API: $20/month at 1,000 posts, Vercel: $20, Supabase: $25, Stripe fees: ~$45 on $9k revenue in May. Total: ~$110/month in peak month.
Profit Potential
Seasonal business: $10k–$40k in May/December spikes. Low overhead. Pairs well with a resume optimization tool.
Scalability
Medium — expand to Behance publishing for designers, resume integration, and university career center bulk licensing.
Success Metrics
Launch week: 200 posts published. Graduation month: 1,000 paying students. December spike: 800 additional.
Launch & Validation Plan
Post in r/cscareerquestions asking how students share capstone projects with recruiters. Collect 30 replies. DM 10 students offering free publish in exchange for a screenshot of their recruiter messages.
Customer Acquisition Strategy
First customer: post in r/cscareerquestions and r/learnprogramming 2 weeks before May graduation showing a before/after of a plain GitHub README vs. the published LinkedIn case study. Ongoing: university Discord servers, CS department Facebook groups, TikTok demo targeting college CS students.
What's the competition?
Competition Level
Low
Similar Products
Notion portfolio templates (no LinkedIn publish), Read.cv (social but no LinkedIn integration), Polywork (exists but no GitHub-to-post automation). GradCast is the only tool that goes from GitHub URL to published LinkedIn post in one click.
Competitive Advantage
LinkedIn OAuth direct publish is the magic — no copy-paste, no formatting, no guessing what recruiters want to read.
Regulatory Risks
LinkedIn API terms prohibit automated posting without user-initiated action — the UI must require explicit publish confirmation click. GDPR: LinkedIn OAuth tokens must be deletable on request.
What's the roadmap?
Feature Roadmap
V1 (launch): GitHub to LinkedIn post + PDF for $9. V2 (month 2): 3-post bundle, Behance publish. V3 (month 4+): university career center bulk license.
Milestone Plan
Phase 1 (Week 1): GitHub fetch + Claude generation + preview working locally, LinkedIn API access approved. Phase 2 (Week 2): Stripe + LinkedIn publish + PDF export live in production. Phase 3 (Month 2 — December spike): 500 additional posts, bundle pricing live.
How do you build it?
Tech Stack
Next.js, Claude API, LinkedIn OAuth API, GitHub REST API, React-PDF for portfolio PDF, Stripe for one-time payment, Supabase for user data — build with Lovable for UI, Cursor for API routes, v0 for PDF template
Suggested Frameworks
Claude API (Anthropic SDK), LinkedIn API v2, GitHub REST API
Time to Ship
10 days
Required Skills
Claude API, LinkedIn OAuth, GitHub REST API, React-PDF, Stripe one-time payments.
Resources
LinkedIn API v2 docs (UGC Posts endpoint), GitHub REST API docs, Anthropic Claude SDK docs, React-PDF docs.
MVP Scope
app/page.tsx (landing with graduation urgency CTA), app/api/generate/route.ts (GitHub fetch + Claude case study generation), app/api/linkedin/route.ts (OAuth + UGC post publish), app/api/pdf/route.ts (React-PDF generation), app/api/checkout/route.ts (Stripe $9 one-time), components/ProjectForm.tsx (GitHub URL + description input), components/Preview.tsx (case study preview before publish), lib/db/schema.ts (User, Project, PublishedPost tables), .env.example (ANTHROPIC_KEY, LINKEDIN_CLIENT_ID, GITHUB_TOKEN, STRIPE_KEY)
Core User Journey
Paste GitHub URL -> write 2 sentences -> preview AI case study -> pay $9 -> LinkedIn post published + PDF downloaded in under 6 minutes.
Architecture Pattern
User pastes GitHub URL -> GitHub REST API fetches README + languages -> Claude generates case study -> preview shown to user -> Stripe $9 checkout -> payment confirmed -> LinkedIn OAuth posts UGC -> React-PDF generated -> download link sent via Resend.
Data Model
User has many Projects. Project has one GeneratedCaseStudy. GeneratedCaseStudy has one LinkedInPost and one PDFExport. LinkedInPost has one StripePayment.
Integration Points
GitHub REST API for repo data, Claude API for case study generation, LinkedIn API v2 UGC Posts for publishing, Stripe for payment, React-PDF for PDF generation, Resend for PDF delivery email, Supabase for user and post storage.
V1 Scope Boundaries
V1 excludes: Behance publishing, resume builder, team/university bulk license, project analytics, comment management.
Success Definition
A graduating student with zero LinkedIn content publishes their first recruiter-ready case study in under 10 minutes and receives an unsolicited recruiter message within 7 days.
Challenges
LinkedIn API rate limits and app review requirements can delay launch by 2–3 weeks — start the LinkedIn developer app review immediately, before writing any code. The hardest non-technical problem is timing: demand spikes in May and December and drops to near zero in between, so launch must hit within 2 weeks of graduation announcements.
Avoid These Pitfalls
Do not wait until launch week to apply for LinkedIn API access — the review takes 1–3 weeks and missing graduation season kills the business. Do not build team or bulk features before the solo student flow is validated. First 50 paying students will be found in Reddit threads not via SEO — budget the full first week for community posting, not coding.
Security Requirements
Supabase Auth with Google OAuth for students. LinkedIn OAuth tokens stored encrypted in Supabase Vault. RLS on all Project tables. Stripe webhook signature verified. No GitHub tokens stored — public repos only via unauthenticated API.
Infrastructure Plan
Vercel for Next.js. Supabase for Postgres and auth. No file storage needed — PDFs generated on demand and delivered via signed Supabase URL. Sentry for errors. GitHub Actions for CI. Total: ~$65/month.
Performance Targets
GitHub fetch + Claude generation under 10 seconds end-to-end. LinkedIn post publish under 5 seconds. PDF generation under 3 seconds. Page load under 1.5 seconds.
Go-Live Checklist
- ☐LinkedIn API UGC Posts scope approved by LinkedIn.
- ☐Stripe one-time payment tested end-to-end.
- ☐Claude generation tested on 10 real GitHub repos.
- ☐LinkedIn post appears correctly on test profile.
- ☐PDF renders correctly in browser PDF viewer.
- ☐Privacy policy covering LinkedIn OAuth published.
- ☐5 beta students confirmed full flow working.
- ☐Rollback plan: previous Vercel deployment pinned.
- ☐r/cscareerquestions and university Discord launch posts drafted.
First Run Experience
On first run: app shows a hero with a demo GIF of a real GitHub repo being converted to a LinkedIn post. User can immediately paste any public GitHub URL and see a generated case study preview without logging in or paying. No manual config required: unauthenticated GitHub API and Claude API key are server-side — zero client setup needed.
How to build it, step by step
1. Apply for LinkedIn API developer access immediately — UGC Posts scope requires app review, start this on day 1. 2. Define Supabase schema: User, Project, CaseStudy, LinkedInPost, PDFExport tables with RLS. 3. Run npx create-next-app with TypeScript and Tailwind. 4. Build GitHub fetch function: GET /repos/{owner}/{repo} + README decode + language percentages via GitHub REST API. 5. Build Claude generation route: system prompt defines recruiter case study format, inject README + user description, return 400-word structured post. 6. Build Preview component showing formatted case study with edit-in-place for minor tweaks before publish. 7. Build Stripe one-time checkout for $9 using payment_intent with idempotency key per project. 8. Build LinkedIn OAuth flow using next-auth LinkedIn provider requesting w_member_social scope for UGC post creation. 9. Build React-PDF template: project title, screenshot placeholder, tech stack pills, GitHub link, generated summary. 10. Verify: paste a real public GitHub repo, generate case study, pay with Stripe test card, confirm LinkedIn post appears on profile and PDF downloads correctly.
Generated
May 5, 2026
Model
claude-sonnet-4-6
Disclaimer: Ideas on this site are AI-generated and may contain inaccuracies. Revenue estimates, market demand figures, and financial projections are illustrative assumptions only — not financial advice. Do your own research before making any business or investment decisions. Technology availability, pricing, and market conditions change rapidly; always verify details independently.