CuffNotes

Policing legislation flashcards with spaced repetition.

Built by a Special, for Specials. Open source. Community-driven. Always free.

What is this?

CuffNotes is a Flutter mobile app that helps policing students learn legislation through flashcards, quickfire quizzes, and pocket reference guides. Content covers the College of Policing educational curriculum including:

• Theft Act 1968
• Assault Offences (OAPA 1861, CJA 1988)
• Public Order Act 1986 & 2023
• Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014
• PACE 1984 (arrest, stop & search, detention, entry)
• Drone Laws (ANO 2016, ATMUA 2021)
• Criminal Damage Act 1971

Architecture

cuffnotes-app (this repo)        cuffnotes-content (separate repo)
    Flutter UI code          <-->      JSON flashcard data
    SRS engine                         Editable via GitHub PRs
    Offline cache                      Auto-validated on PR
    Store builds                       No app update needed

The app fetches content from raw.githubusercontent.com on launch. If offline, it falls back to the locally cached or bundled content. SRS progress is stored on-device and never leaves the phone.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Flutter SDK 3.5+ (https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/install)
• Android Studio (for Android) or Xcode (for iOS, macOS only)
• Git

Setup

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/cuffnotes-app.git
cd cuffnotes-app
flutter pub get
flutter run

Building for release

# Android (App Bundle for Play Store)
flutter build appbundle --release

# iOS (requires macOS + Xcode)
flutter build ipa --release

Project Structure

lib/
  main.dart                 # Entry point, Hive init, dynamic theming
  theme/app_theme.dart      # Material You theme configuration
  models/
    flashcard.dart          # Card data model
    topic.dart              # Topic/category model
    srs_state.dart          # Spaced repetition state + engine
  services/
    content_service.dart    # Fetches JSON from GitHub, caches locally
    storage_service.dart    # Hive-based local storage
  screens/
    home_screen.dart        # Main screen with search, topics, stats
    study_screen.dart       # Flashcard study with SRS rating
    quiz_screen.dart        # Quickfire random quiz mode
    pocket_reference_screen.dart  # GOWISELY, necessity criteria, etc.
  widgets/
    flashcard_widget.dart   # Animated flashcard with flip
    srs_buttons.dart        # Again/Hard/Good/Easy rating buttons
    topic_card.dart         # Expandable topic card for home screen
assets/
  content/                  # Bundled fallback JSON (offline first launch)

Contributing

Adding or editing flashcard content

Content lives in a separate repository: cuffnotes-content. You do NOT need Flutter or Dart to contribute content.

1. Fork the content repo
2. Edit or add JSON files
3. Open a Pull Request
4. Once merged, users get updates on next app launch

Contributing to the app code

1. Fork this repo
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make changes and test on a device/emulator
4. Open a PR with screenshots

Licence

App code: MIT Licence Content: CC BY 4.0