Touch Grass Check: an AI that makes sure you went outside

Description and use

A web app that verifies outdoor activity and identifies plants from a photo using a locally running CLIP model.

Problem

Users want to verify they actually went outside and identify plants they saw.

Outcome

The app successfully identifies outdoor photos and names plants from a curated list, running entirely in the browser without sending images to a server.

Workflow

• Take or upload a photo
• The browser runs an open‑source AI model (CLIP via Transformers.js) to decide if the photo is outdoors in nature
• If outdoors, the app displays "Touch grass: confirmed"; otherwise it prompts the user to go outside
• The AI names the plant from a predefined list of 126 common plants, flowers, and trees
• The app fetches the plant’s origin and description from Wikipedia
• The user can copy the result, download it as a .txt file, or save it as a PDF

Evidence

Take or upload a photo.

An open-source AI model (CLIP, running in your browser with Transformers.js) decides whether the photo is outdoors in nature.

The photo never leaves the device. The model runs locally, and only the plant name is sent to Wikipedia.

It wasn't perfect. It was too strict about a close-up stock photo of a rose, but it passed a real photo of grass from my street.

The first visit downloads the model, so it's slow once, then faster.