About Sapling

Sapling is an AI-powered study companion built by students, for students. We believe that learning shouldn’t be passive. It should adapt to you, challenge you, and show you exactly where you stand.

At its core, Sapling maps your understanding as a live knowledge graph that grows with every session, quiz, and document you interact with. Paired with an AI tutor that can reason with you Socratically, explain concepts directly, or flip the table and have you teach back, Sapling meets you wherever you are in your learning journey.

Sapling was born out of a hackathon and built by a team of four students who were frustrated with static study tools that don’t actually know what you know. We wanted something that feels less like a flashcard app and more like a study partner who’s always prepared.

What makes Sapling different:

•Your knowledge graph is yours. It updates in real time based on your actual performance, not just what you’ve clicked through.
•Three distinct teaching modes mean you’re never locked into one way of learning.
•Study rooms let you learn alongside classmates and see how your mastery compares, anonymously and collaboratively.
•Everything from syllabus tracking to exam study guides is powered by Gemini, so the busywork of getting organized is handled for you.

Sapling is actively developed and we’re always building. If something’s broken or you have an idea, there’s a feedback button in the navbar and we actually read those.

Meet the team

A small team out of Boston University who got tired of study tools that did not know what they were studying. We build Sapling between problem sets, and we use it for our own classes first.

Andres LopezFull stackWorks end to end, from the database up through the screens, and keeps the two halves speaking the same language.

Jack HeAI architecture and new featuresDesigns how the agents, the graph, and your own materials fit together, and builds what Sapling does next.

Jose Gael Cruz-LopezFrontendBuilds the interface you actually study in, and the motion and layout that keep it out of your way.

Luke CooperAPI integrationWires Sapling to the services your course already lives in, so your calendar, grades, and files arrive on their own.

Hang NguyenMarketing internRuns the social side and the short-form video, and carries Sapling to the student groups and classmates we would never reach on our own.

How we work

•We use Sapling for our own courses before anyone else sees a feature. If it does not help us pass, it does not ship.

•Every feature has to feed the graph. A tool that knows nothing about what you already understand is a tool we would not add.

•We read every piece of beta feedback ourselves. There is no support queue between you and the people who built it.

Recognition

Best AI Tutor in Education

Boston University Civic Hacks 2026 · BU Spark! & Wheelock College of Education

Recognized among competing teams at BU’s annual civic hackathon for building the most impactful AI-driven learning experience. Sapling was awarded for its approach to personalized, student-centered tutoring, bridging the gap between artificial intelligence and meaningful education.

Code & Tell Winner

BU Spark!

Selected by BU Spark! as a standout project at their Code & Tell showcase, where student builders present real-world applications to faculty, mentors, and industry judges. Sapling was chosen for its technical depth and its vision for the future of how students learn.