u/Baajjii

Hey r/foss,

I wanted to share an open-source project I've been developing in my free time as a university student. It's called Whisp.

So, I built Whisp using Python and GTK4/Libadwaita. It's an anti-folder, gesture-driven scratchpad designed specifically for Linux/GNOME. Everything is stored locally in standard text formats, and there is zero telemetry or cloud syncing. I actually found the app idea from snazzy labs who was showing Anti Note but I wanted it on linux. And that is the main reason I built it.

I just released version 1.3.5, and I've added a few major features:

Smart Expansions: Type :: to open a native autocomplete menu. You can instantly insert localized dates, roll dice (e.g., ::roll(d20)), or generate secure local passwords and UUIDs directly into your notes.

Text Manipulation: You can select blocks of text and type commands like ::prepend (to instantly make checklists) or ::upper without touching your mouse.

Per-Note WYSIWYG: Write in raw Markdown, but you can toggle WYSIWYG formatting on a per-note basis depending on what you're writing.

Swipe-Driven: No sidebars or folder trees. You just swipe left and right (or use keybinds) to cycle through your recent scratchpads, keeping the interface completely uncluttered.

It’s completely free and open source under the GPL-3.0 license. I'd love to hear feedback from the FOSS community on how I can improve it! You can download it through flathub directly for your linux machine.

Links:

Source Code: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp

Website / Manual: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Donate : https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.html

Hello everyone,

Thank you to everyone who downloaded Whisp after the last update! The response to the Smart Text Expansions was fantastic, and I really appreciate the feedback and support you've shown this project.

Today I'm releasing v1.3.5, which builds directly on what we started last time. I've taken the Smart Expansion engine (::) and expanded it from just inserting data to actually manipulating your text.

A few new things you can do with the autocomplete menu now:

Select a block of text and type ::upper, ::titlecase, or ::sentencecase to instantly format it without touching your mouse.

Use ::prepend or ::append on multiple selected lines to instantly turn them into checklists or add suffixes.

I've also added new generators, so you can type ::quote for a random quote, ::random_wiki to open a random wikipedia page in the browser, or ::uuid / ::password generating random UUIDs and generate passwords.

Aside from the commands Per-Note WYSIWYG is here. You can now toggle Markdown WYSIWYG formatting individually for each note, giving you much finer control depending on what you're writing.

Finally, I've spent a lot of time polishing the GNOME integration. Injecting large blocks of text now smoothly auto-scrolls the editor, the dynamic dates now natively respect your global OS region/language settings, and the changelog has been completely rebuilt into a modern Adwaita dialog.

The update is live on Flathub right now.

Links:

Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp

Source / GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Website / Manual: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Donations: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.html

Just wanted to share an early look at a GNOME productivity app I've been building. The working title is Tapas, but that will probably change before release.

The goal is to keep it strictly GTK4/Libadwaita so it feels native to the OS, Another thing I died searching is project based pomodors and timers which can then be visualized. Here is what is currently working:

• Standard Pomodoro mode alongside an open-ended Stopwatch timer
• Project-based time tracking so you can categorize your sessions
• Full-screen break overlays that hijack your screen when it's time to stop working
• System-wide DND sync: it hooks into GSettings to automatically mute system notifications when you start focusing
• A background daemon so the timer doesn't die if you close the main window

It's still heavily in development. Next up on the roadmap is building out a full SQLite-backed stats dashboard for your projects, and adding system-level website blocking while the timer is running.

Curious to hear what kind of features you guys look for in a native Linux timer. I'll drop the source code and a Flathub link once it's closer to v1.0.

Github : Tapas (for now)

Hello,

A while back, I shared Whisp, anti-folder note-taking app I’ve been developing for GNOME. The feedback from this community was amazing, and Whisp now has over 3.7k downloads. Thank you all so much!

(A quick personal note: Whisp is completely open-source and I develop it solo between my university classes. Because a few people asked how they could support the project, I've finally set up a donation link on the website via Ko-fi/GitHub Sponsors. There is absolutely no pressure, but if Whisp helps your daily workflow, any support means the world to a broke student!) 😅

Along with the milestone, I've been quietly working on a feature that a lot of you asked for: Smart Text Expansions.

In the new v1.3.4 update, if you type :: anywhere in a note, it now opens a native GTK popover menu right at your cursor. You can use it to instantly insert dynamic data without breaking your typing flow.

A few things you can do with it right now:

• ::today / ::tomorrow / ::date(5) to insert dynamically calculated dates.
• ::roll(d20) or ::roll(4d6) for built-in dice rollers (great for D&D session notes).
• ::random(str, 20) to generate quick passwords or placeholder data.

It’s completely keyboard-navigable and uses native GTK4 rendering, so there’s zero lag or electron-style bloat. I'm building this engine out so that in the next update, you'll be able to use it to instantly format text or sort lines!

You can get the update right now on Flathub. I attached a quick video showing how the expansions work—let me know what you think or what functions I should add next!

Links:

• Donations: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.html
• Flathub: https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp
• Source / GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/whisp
• Website: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Hello,

A while back, I shared Whisp, anti-folder note-taking app I’ve been developing for GNOME. The feedback from this community was amazing, and Whisp now has over 3.7k downloads. Thank you all so much!

(A quick personal note: Whisp is completely open-source and I develop it solo between my university classes. Because a few people asked how they could support the project, I've finally set up a donation link on the website via Ko-fi/GitHub Sponsors. There is absolutely no pressure, but if Whisp helps your daily workflow, any support means the world to a broke student!) 😅

Along with the milestone, I've been quietly working on a feature that a lot of you asked for: Smart Text Expansions.

In the new v1.3.4 update, if you type :: anywhere in a note, it now opens a native GTK popover menu right at your cursor. You can use it to instantly insert dynamic data without breaking your typing flow.

A few things you can do with it right now:

• ::today / ::tomorrow / ::date(5) to insert dynamically calculated dates.
• ::roll(d20) or ::roll(4d6) for built-in dice rollers (great for D&D session notes).
• ::random(str, 20) to generate quick passwords or placeholder data.

It’s completely keyboard-navigable and uses native GTK4 rendering, so there’s zero lag or electron-style bloat. I'm building this engine out so that in the next update, you'll be able to use it to instantly format text or sort lines!

You can get the update right now on Flathub. I attached a quick video showing how the expansions work—let me know what you think or what functions I should add next!

Links:

• Donations: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.html
• Flathub: https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp
• Source / GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/whisp
• Website: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Hello,

A while back, I shared Whisp, anti-folder note-taking app I’ve been developing for GNOME. The feedback from this community was amazing, and Whisp now has over 3.7k downloads. Thank you all so much!

(A quick personal note: Whisp is completely open-source and I develop it solo between my university classes. Because a few people asked how they could support the project, I've finally set up a donation link on the website via Ko-fi/GitHub Sponsors. There is absolutely no pressure, but if Whisp helps your daily workflow, any support means the world to a broke student!) 😅

Along with the milestone, I've been quietly working on a feature that a lot of you asked for: Smart Text Expansions.

In the new v1.3.4 update, if you type :: anywhere in a note, it now opens a native GTK popover menu right at your cursor. You can use it to instantly insert dynamic data without breaking your typing flow.

A few things you can do with it right now:

• ::today / ::tomorrow / ::date(5) to insert dynamically calculated dates.
• ::roll(d20) or ::roll(4d6) for built-in dice rollers (great for D&D session notes).
• ::random(str, 20) to generate quick passwords or placeholder data.

It’s completely keyboard-navigable and uses native GTK4 rendering, so there’s zero lag or electron-style bloat. I'm building this engine out so that in the next update, you'll be able to use it to instantly format text or sort lines!

You can get the update right now on Flathub. I attached a quick video showing how the expansions work—let me know what you think or what functions I should add next!

Links:

• Donations: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/donate.html
• Flathub: https://flathub.org/en/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp
• Source / GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/whisp
• Website: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Thank you so so much.

9:36 PM

Hi everyone!

A short while ago, I launched Whisp on this subreddit—a fluid, gesture-driven scratchpad designed to be the absolute fastest way to take notes on the GNOME desktop. The response from this community has been completely overwhelming.

I am incredibly excited to share that Whisp just crossed 1,000+ downloads, and we officially got picked up and featured in the Hero Carousel on the very front page of Flathub!

I wanted to make this post to say a massive Thank You. To everyone who downloaded the app, submitted bug reports, opened PRs, and sent feedback: you are the reason open source is awesome. I’ve been coding non-stop to crush bugs and build the features you asked for.

Here is what we’ve shipped since Launch Day (v1.3.3):

Global Find & Search: We built a lightning-fast global search feature so you can instantly locate text across all of your scratchpads.

Tree-Style Navigation & Organization: We overhauled the way notes are structured and navigated, giving you much better control over your workspace while maintaining that fluid feel.

Smart URL Parsing: Paste a massive, ugly tracking URL into the editor, and Whisp will quietly shrink it down and format it into a clean Markdown link under the hood.

Plain Text Paste (Ctrl+Shift+V): One of the most requested features. Aggressively strip all rich-text formatting when pasting text from the web.

Community PR Merged: Added native strikethrough (~~) support with a brand new Ctrl+Shift+S shortcut (huge shoutout to the community for this PR!).

Native Paper Themes: You can now toggle the editor background between Dotted, Grid, and Blank to mimic a physical engineering notebook.

A Brand New Website: We completely overhauled the Whisp documentation website with a buttery-smooth dark mode, fluid scroll animations, and a unified layout.

What’s coming next? (Phase 2) : The app is now rock-solid, and the foundation is ready for the big upcoming updates. In the next release, we are building The Math Engine. Whisp will soon be able to contextually evaluate arithmetic line-by-line and overlay ghost-text results directly in the margins of your notes in real-time, completely offline.

Thank you again for making this launch so incredibly successful. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can grab the new update on Flathub!

Flathub : flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp

GitHub : github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Website : https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Keep an eye out for the next major update, and stay productive!

Hi everyone!

A short while ago, I launched Whisp on this subreddit—a fluid, gesture-driven scratchpad designed to be the absolute fastest way to take notes on the GNOME desktop. The response from this community has been completely overwhelming.

I am incredibly excited to share that Whisp just crossed 1,000+ downloads, and we officially got picked up and featured in the Hero Carousel on the very front page of Flathub!

I wanted to make this post to say a massive Thank You. To everyone who downloaded the app, submitted bug reports, opened PRs, and sent feedback: you are the reason open source is awesome. I’ve been coding non-stop to crush bugs and build the features you asked for.

Here is what we’ve shipped since Launch Day (v1.3.3):

• Global Find & Search: We built a lightning-fast global search feature so you can instantly locate text across all of your scratchpads.
• Tree-Style Navigation & Organization: We overhauled the way notes are structured and navigated, giving you much better control over your workspace while maintaining that fluid feel.
• Smart URL Parsing: Paste a massive, ugly tracking URL into the editor, and Whisp will quietly shrink it down and format it into a clean Markdown link under the hood.
• Plain Text Paste (Ctrl+Shift+V): One of the most requested features. Aggressively strip all rich-text formatting when pasting text from the web.
• Community PR Merged: Added native strikethrough (~~) support with a brand new Ctrl+Shift+S shortcut (huge shoutout to the community for this PR!).
• Native Paper Themes: You can now toggle the editor background between Dotted, Grid, and Blank to mimic a physical engineering notebook.
• A Brand New Website: We completely overhauled the Whisp documentation website with a buttery-smooth dark mode, fluid scroll animations, and a unified layout.

What’s coming next? (Phase 2) : The app is now rock-solid, and the foundation is ready for the big upcoming updates. In the next release, we are building The Math Engine. Whisp will soon be able to contextually evaluate arithmetic line-by-line and overlay ghost-text results directly in the margins of your notes in real-time, completely offline.

Thank you again for making this launch so incredibly successful. If you haven't checked it out yet, you can grab the new update on Flathub!

Flathub : flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp
GitHub : github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Website : https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Keep an eye out for the next major update, and stay productive!

I was watching a random Mac apps video by Snazzy Labs, and he showed an app called Anti Note. I wanted something similar for GNOME that felt native, fast, and fluid. So, I built Whisp.

Whisp is not Google Docs, Obsidian, or Notion. It is supposed to be the Anti-Note but for GNOME. It’s designed strictly for the GNOME desktop using GTK4 and Libadwaita. It completely abandons traditional file hierarchies in favor of a spatial, swipeable canvas.

Features:

Touchpad Swiping: Fluidly swipe left/right to move between your active notes. (You can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate).

Live Markdown: Real-time formatting with a WYSIWYG toggle to instantly hide syntax.

Native Paper Themes: Switch between Dotted, Grid, or Blank backgrounds.

Instant: It only renders your active notes, making it incredibly lightweight and fast.

Smart Paste: Features like Plain Paste and a built-in URL Link shortener.

This is my very first app release for GNOME, and I am still learning things! I am going to be adding many more features, and my long-term goal is to move this app to GNOME Circle, though I know that is a long road.

You can check it out here: 

🔗 Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp 

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

🔗️ Website: https://tanaybhomia.github.io/Whisp/

Please check it out, give it a try, and feel free to file issues! New things are coming soon.

I was watching a random Mac apps video by Snazzy Labs, and he showed an app called Anti Note. I wanted something similar for GNOME that felt native, fast, and fluid. So, I built Whisp.

Whisp is not Google Docs, Obsidian, or Notion. It is supposed to be the Anti-Note but for GNOME. It’s designed strictly for the GNOME desktop using GTK4 and Libadwaita. It completely abandons traditional file hierarchies in favor of a spatial, swipeable canvas.

Features:

• Touchpad Swiping: Fluidly swipe left/right to move between your active notes. (You can also use keyboard shortcuts to navigate).
• Live Markdown: Real-time formatting with a WYSIWYG toggle to instantly hide syntax.
• Native Paper Themes: Switch between Dotted, Grid, or Blank backgrounds.
• Instant: It only renders your active notes, making it incredibly lightweight and fast.
• Smart Paste: Features like Plain Paste and a built-in URL Link shortener.

This is my very first app release for GNOME, and I am still learning things! I am going to be adding many more features, and my long-term goal is to move this app to GNOME Circle, though I know that is a long road.

You can check it out here: 
🔗 Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp 
🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Please check it out, give it a try, and feel free to file issues! New things are coming soon.

P.S. I have attached some photos, but they don't show the movement of the app/gestures because I don't know how to record proper videos on Linux yet. If anyone can record and send me a nice demo video, it would help me a lot for the website and GitHub repo!

I was watching a random mac apps videos by snazzy labs maybe, And he showed an app called Anti Note on mac, and I wanted something similar but for gnome which felt Native , Fast and Fluid. So, I built Whisp.

Whisp is not google docs , obsidian or notion it is supposed to be the Anti Note but for Gnome. It’s designed strictly for GNOME using GTK4 and Libadwaita. It completely abandons traditional file hierarchies in favor of a spatial, swipeable canvas.

Features:

• Touchpad Swiping: Fluidly swipe left/right to move between your active notes. But user can also use shortcuts to navigate
• Live Markdown: Real-time formatting with a WYSIWYG toggle to hide syntax.
• Native Paper Themes: Switch between Dotted, Grid, or Blank backgrounds.
• Instant: It only renders your active notes, making it incredibly lightweight and fast

This is my very first app release for GNOME, and I am still learning things! I am going to be adding many more features, and my long-term goal is to move this app to GNOME Circle, though I know that is a long road.

You can check it out here: 

- Flathub: https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.tanaybhomia.Whisp 

- GitHub: https://github.com/tanaybhomia/Whisp

Please check it out, give it a try, and feel free to file issues! New things are coming soon.

P.S. I have attached some photos, but they don't show the movement of the app/gestures because I don't know how to record proper videos on Linux yet. If anyone can record and send me a nice demo video, it would help me a lot for the website and GitHub repo!