⚡ Quickstart — 30 Seconds

npx create-dsa-lab my-practice
cd my-practice
npm start

💡 A sample problem (Container With Most Water, LeetCode #11) is included — the dashboard works immediately. No setup required.

🎬 See It In Action

Edit your file → dashboard auto-re-runs. No switching windows, no re-typing commands.

🤔 Why This Exists

You open LeetCode. You solve a problem. Where do you save it?

Most engineers end up with:

• 🗂️ Random files scattered across Desktop/, tmp/, playground/
• 📝 No tests — "I'll verify it on LeetCode's site"
• ⏱️ No benchmarks — "It passed, so it's probably fast enough"
• 🧠 No notes — "I'll remember the approach" (you won't)

create-dsa-lab gives you a system:

• ✅ One folder per problem — implementation, tests, and notes together
• ✅ One command to do everything — run, test, benchmark, read notes
• ✅ Automatic file watching — edit → instant feedback
• ✅ Structured metadata — difficulty, tags, Big O, all in your code
• ✅ Beautiful notes server — your markdown rendered with syntax highlighting + KaTeX

Built by an engineer preparing for top tech companies, for engineers doing the same.

✨ Features

| | Feature | What it does | |:--|:--|:--| | 🎯 | Interactive Dashboard | Fuzzy-search problems → Run / Test / Benchmark / Notes — all from npm start | | 🧪 | TDD Built-In | Every problem auto-generates a co-located .test.ts file | | 📊 | Benchmarker | Warm-up + N iterations → avg/min/max time + memory delta + Big O annotations | | 📚 | Notes Server | Markdown → beautiful dark-themed docs with syntax highlighting + KaTeX math | | 🔥 | Hot Reload | Edit a file → dashboard re-runs your last action instantly | | ⚙️ | Fully Configurable | Feature flags, custom categories, extensible dsa-lab.config.json | | 📦 | Sample Problem | Includes Container With Most Water (LeetCode #11) — works out of the box | | 🔄 | Smart Update | update --dry-run previews changes; only modified files are overwritten with .bak backups | | 🗂️ | Auto-Discovery | Drop any folder in src/ — it appears in the dashboard. No config needed |

🚀 Usage Guide

Scaffold a Problem

npm run make lc twoSum_1         #  🏆 LeetCode
npm run make algo mergeSort      #  🔬 Algorithm
npm run make ds linkedList       #  📦 Data Structure
npm run make p slidingWindow     #  🧩 Pattern
npm run make b arrayProduct      #  🤑 Blind list     
npm run make pg myExperiment     #  🎮 Playground

Each problem gets three files:

src/leetcode/twoSum_1/
├── twoSum_1.ts           ← Implementation + metadata
├── twoSum_1.test.ts      ← Co-located test (TDD ready)
└── twoSum_1.md           ← Notes template

The Benchmarker

Every problem exports a meta object with Big O annotations. The benchmarker measures real performance:

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            📊 Benchmark: Two Sum                    │
├──────────────┬─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Difficulty   │ 🟢 Easy                              │
│ Tags         │ hash-map, array                      │
├──────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Time (Big O) │ O(n)                                 │
│ Space(Big O) │ O(n)                                 │
├──────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Avg Time     │ 0.0042ms                             │
│ Min Time     │ 0.0038ms                             │
│ Max Time     │ 0.0051ms                             │
│ Memory Delta │ +1.2 KB                              │
│ Iterations   │ 100                                  │
├──────────────┼─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Output       │ [0, 1]                               │
│ Expected     │ [0, 1]              ✅ PASS           │
└──────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────┘

The Notes Server

npm run notes
# → http://localhost:3030

Renders your .md notes with syntax highlighting, KaTeX math, and a searchable sidebar. Dark theme included.

Configuration (dsa-lab.config.json)

{
  "features": {
    "excalidraw": false,
    "notesServer": true,
    "benchmarker": true,
    "testing": true
  },
  "categories": [
    { "prefix": "lc", "folder": "leetcode", "label": "🏆 LeetCode" }
  ],
  "benchmark": { "iterations": 100 }
}

Auto-discovery: Add any folder to src/ and it appears in the dashboard — no config change needed.

Keeping Your Lab Updated

npx create-dsa-lab@latest update

Updates only changed files in scripts/. Unchanged files are skipped.

| Feature | Description | |:--|:--| | ✅ Smart diff | Only overwrites files that have actually changed | | 📋 Backups | Creates .bak files before overwriting | | 🔍 Dry run | Preview with npx create-dsa-lab@latest update --dry-run |

📁 What Gets Generated

my-practice/
├── src/
│   ├── algorithms/           ← Sorting, searching, etc.
│   ├── dataStructures/       ← Linked lists, trees, etc.
│   ├── leetcode/             ← LeetCode problems
│   │   └── containerWithMostWater_11/  ← Sample included!
│   ├── patterns/             ← Problem-solving patterns
│   ├── blind/                ← Curated interview list
│   └── playground/           ← Experiments
├── scripts/                  ← Dashboard, generator, notes server
├── dsa-lab.config.json       ← Feature flags & settings
├── jest.config.ts
├── tsconfig.json
└── package.json

🗺 Roadmap

We're building this in the open. Here's what's coming:

• [ ] dsa-lab add — install community problem packs
• [ ] Spaced repetition reminders for revisiting solved problems
• [ ] LeetCode problem auto-importer (fetch title, difficulty, tags)
• [ ] VS Code extension for inline benchmarking

Have an idea? Open a discussion →

🤝 Contributing

We love contributions! Check the Contributing Guide for:

• Development setup
• How to add features
• Testing guidelines
• PR process

Quick links:

• 🐛 Report a bug
• 💡 Request a feature
• 📖 Read the docs

🌟 Who's Using This?

Built something with create-dsa-lab? Add yourself:

| Lab | Author | Focus | | :--- | :--- | :--- | | daily-dsa | @YTTHEMIGHTY | Full DSA curriculum (90+ problems) | | Your lab here | You | Open a PR! |

📄 License

MIT — use it, fork it, learn from it.