r/projects

▲ 606 r/projects+28 crossposts

I built FaceGate — World's first macOS app locker with on-device Face Unlock (Open Source)

If you hand your laptop to someone for a few minutes, they can still open Messages, Photos, Notes, Mail, WhatsApp, browsers, password managers, and other personal apps. I wanted a way to protect specific applications without constantly locking my entire Mac.

I looked around for solutions, but most were outdated, paid, abandoned, or didn't feel native to macOS.

So I built FaceGate.

FaceGate is a native macOS app that lets you lock individual applications and unlock them using Face Unlock, Touch ID, or a password.

A few things I focused on from day one:

  • Everything runs locally on your Mac
  • No cloud processing
  • No accounts
  • No telemetry
  • No subscriptions
  • Fully open source

Features:

• Face Unlock powered entirely on-device using Apple's Neural Engine - little impact on cpu and gpu resources.
• Fast authentication with very low memory and CPU usage
• Liveness detection to prevent photo and video spoofing attacks
• Touch ID and password fallback
• Per-app unlock timers
• Automatic re-lock on sleep, wake, or screen lock
• Custom schedules for automatic lock/unlock periods
• Tamper protection that prevents FaceGate from being quit, disabled, or uninstalled without authentication
• Runs quietly from the menu bar with minimal system impact.

The entire project is written in Swift and designed specifically for macOS.

This is still actively being developed, and I'd genuinely love feedback from Mac users.

Some questions:

  • Is app-level locking something you've wanted on macOS?
  • Which apps would you personally lock?
  • What security or privacy features would you like to see added?

Website: https://facegate-applocker.vercel.app/

GitHub: https://github.com/dweep-desai/FaceGate-Mac

If you think I did a good job, please feel free to leave a star on my github repo - means a lot to me.

Feedback, feature requests, bug reports, and contributions are all welcome. I'd love to hear what you think.

u/AceReviewer — 2 hours ago
▲ 149 r/projects+62 crossposts

I developed Weather World because I wanted a simpler, more helpful way to stay ahead of the forecast. I truly believe that a weather app should be a tool that makes your life easier, not a source of distraction with ads and confusing menus.

How it helps you: The core of the app is all about visual clarity. I’ve focused on creating intuitive graphs that let you see temperature shifts and precipitation trends at a single glance. Instead of reading through long lists of numbers, you can visualize exactly how your day will unfold. It’s minimalist, lightweight, and built for speed—perfect for anyone who values a clean Android experience.

I’d love your support! Please give it a try and see if it helps your daily routine. If you find it useful, please recommend it to your friends! As a solo developer, your support and word-of-mouth are what help me improve and grow.

In compliance with the community rules, I’ve shared the link via IndieAppCircle. Check it out there and let me know what you think!

Find it here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.danie.pocasisveta

u/Tough_Deer_3756 — 10 hours ago
▲ 42 r/projects+3 crossposts

built a UI library because every SaaS was starting to look the same

been working on Wensity UI for a while and finally launched it.

it's a collection of animated components and blocks for when the default shadcn look isn't enough.

would genuinely love to know what you think about the components and the overall direction 👀

check launch post : https://x.com/Ksparth12/status/2073775795160723482?s=20 or direcly : ui.wensity.com

u/Low-Trust2491 — 7 hours ago
▲ 220 r/projects+18 crossposts

I Built a Free, Open-Source Local Windows Launcher That Searches Almost Everything on Your PC

Problem

Windows Search has always felt too limited to me.

It can open apps and sometimes find files, but when I actually want to search my PC properly, it usually falls apart.

I want to search and use features like:

- Text inside files, code, and images

- Browser bookmarks and history

- Clipboard history

- Git commits

- Windows settings

- Local commands

- Local agents for Windows

Windows Search is not powerful enough for this workflow.

So I Built OmniSearch

OmniSearch is a fast, lightweight, local-first Windows launcher that opens with:

"Alt + Space"

You can also set your own custom hotkey.

It gives you one search box for your PC.

Instead of only searching apps or basic file names, OmniSearch can search across:

- Apps

- Files and folders

- Content inside files, supporting 50+ extensions

- Image OCR text

- Browser bookmarks and history

- Clipboard history

- Git commits

- Windows settings and Control Panel pages

It also features an AI agent powered by Hermes and includes a powerful clipboard manager that gives you features no other Windows clipboard manager provides.

The goal is simple: Find everything on your PC from one shortcut.

Why is OmniSearch better than Windows Search and other popular launchers?

- Free and open source

- Local-first

- Lightweight

- Designed to run easily on low-end Windows PCs

- Image OCR text search

- Blazing-fast search of content inside files, supporting 50+ extensions

- Blazing-fast search over centralized PC history, including browser history, Git commit history, clipboard history, and file history

- Hermes agents for local Windows tasks and long autonomous tasks

Links

Free and open source.

GitHub: https://github.com/PranshulSoni/omnisearch

Website: https://omnisearch-windows.vercel.app/

Feedback

I am currently maintaining OmniSearch, and honestly, I cannot find and fix every bug alone because building a launcher like this on Windows is genuinely hard.

I would love feedback from people who use Windows every day.

If OmniSearch solves a problem for you too, please consider leaving a star on GitHub.

If you have ideas, find bugs, or want to improve something, feel free to open an issue or contribute to the project.

Your feedback is always appreciated.

u/Big_Biscotti_4664 — 17 hours ago
▲ 13 r/projects+4 crossposts

Need some hardware/embedded systems related project ideas

Hi everyone,

I'm an Electronics and Computer Engineering student looking for a hardware or embedded systems project for my final year.

I want something that's:

-Socially relevant

-Innovative

-Has real-world applications

I'm particularly interested in projects that solve actual problems or explore emerging technologies.

If you've built a project you're proud of, know of interesting research that can be turned into a prototype, or have ideas that stand out during placements, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks in advance!

reddit.com
u/vikir_van_baskervile — 9 hours ago
▲ 184 r/projects+2 crossposts

I built a generative learning world for kids aged 6-12, launched a beta this week-end, kids are doing the most amazing things in there:

A 7 year-old using image generation to improvise a game of chess with characters.
A 6 year-old observing corals in our lagoon and learning about marine biology.
A 7 year-old doing her math homework on multiplications by the beach.
A 9 year-old spotted a hidden fossile and started exploring for more.

The goal was to build a smart interactive learning world designed to spark and nurture kids curiosity.

It's still in its super minimal version right now, but if you want to try it with you kids, the beta is available on Testflight here and you can find more info here: https://withmarble.com/

u/kouklimou — 1 day ago
▲ 33 r/projects+19 crossposts

I built Mac+ : a lightweight native app that brings your Mac desktop to life (animated wallpapers, folder icons, widgets).

Hey everyone 👋

I'm the solo developer behind Mac+ (macplus.pro). Up front: this is my own app, and I'd really like your honest feedback.

The itch I was scratching: I was tired of staring at the same frozen wallpaper all day. The macOS desktop feels kind of… static. So I built the thing I actually wanted a native, lightweight app that makes the desktop feel alive withoutturning my Mac into a space heater.

What it does:

  • 15 animated scenes rendered on the GPU with Metal (aurora, plasma, waves, rain, snow, fog…) 
  • 44 color palettes + a custom palette creator recolor any scene live 
  • Use your own video or image as a living background 
  • 52 folder-icon patterns stamped onto the real macOS folder shape or import your own image, and apply it to many folders at once 
  • 12 desktop widgets (clock, date, focus timer, season, year progress…) you can drag anywhere 
  • Little companions that wander across your screen 
  • Multi-display, and it now speaks 4 languages (EN / FR / DE / ES)

 

Why it won't wreck your Mac:

  • 100% GPU rendering (no CPU video decoding), 30 FPS by default, capped resolution 
  • Auto-pauses when the screen sleeps or when a fullscreen app covers the desktop 
  • Driven entirely from a tiny menu-bar item

 

Honest about pricing: there's a free tier (a handful of scenes, palettes, icons and widgets) so you can try it for real before paying. Pro unlocks everything 7-day free trial, then €1.99/month, or €9.99 once (lifetime, no subscription).

Here is a promo code : « LAUNCH30 » :)

u/DutyOnly4308 — 1 day ago
▲ 6 r/projects+4 crossposts

I built a cross-media recommender that treats books, movies, TV, games, and music as one giant graph

I’ve been working on this on & off for a while and finally decided it was in a good enough state to show people.

I consume a lot of media and keep way too many lists of things I like. At some point I realized every recommendation service stays in its own lane – books recommend books, music recommends music, games recommend games – but I wanted something that could connect all of it.

Interestnaut is my attempt at that. Rate a few books, movies, TV shows, games, or songs, and it builds a taste profile, assigns you an archetype, and recommends things across every type of media. It’s somewhere between a recommender and a tongue-in-cheek horoscope. Also doubles as a place to create cross-platform lists and search/discover media by shared themes.

Website: https://interestnaut.com

I’d really appreciate feedback -- especially whether the archetype feels fun/reasonable, whether the recommendations make sense, and whether the overall idea is interesting enough to try out. It's free, and no login needed (data is stored on whatever device/client that's used) unless you wanted to move a list from one device to another.

(Also happy to answer questions about the implementation if anyone’s curious.)

u/Acceptable-Kiwi2028 — 1 day ago
▲ 326 r/projects+69 crossposts

I built an open-source, self-hosted AI gateway: 237 providers (90+ free), auto-fallback combos, and a 10-engine token-compression pipeline (MIT)

Builders-welcome post with the substance up front (disclosure: I'm the maintainer). OmniRoute is a free, MIT, self-hosted AI gateway — one OpenAI-compatible endpoint over 237 providers — built around two problems: runs dying on a provider 429, and tokens bleeding on tool/log output.

One endpoint, 237 providers — 90+ of them free. You point any tool or agent at a single OpenAI-compatible endpoint (localhost:20128/v1) and it can reach 237 LLM providers without you rewriting anything. 90+ have free tiers and 11 are free forever (no card), which aggregates to ~1.6B documented free tokens/month — and that's honest, pool-deduped math (we count each shared pool once instead of inflating it; the methodology is public in the repo). There's a one-command setup-* for 13+ coding tools (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cline, Roo, Kilo, Gemini CLI…), so switching your existing setup over takes seconds.

Fallback combos — so it never stops mid-task. A "combo" is a ladder of models the router walks automatically: your subscription first, then API keys, then cheap models, then free ones. When a provider returns a 500 or you hit a rate limit, it slides to the next target in milliseconds, mid-request, and your tool never even sees the error. There are 17 routing strategies (priority, weighted, round-robin, cost-optimized, auto/coding:fast…) plus three resilience layers — a per-provider circuit breaker, a per-key cooldown, and a per-model lockout — so one dead key can't take down a whole provider.

Fusion — an ensemble mode for the hard steps. Beyond simple routing, there's a fusion strategy that fans a single prompt out to a panel of different models in parallel and then has a judge model synthesize one best answer (mixture-of-agents, built in). It's cost-aware, so easy turns stay on one fast model and it only fuses when the step is worth it.

A 10-engine compression pipeline — the part most routers don't have. Every request flows through a transparent compression pass you can toggle/stack per combo. Instead of one trick, it stacks the best of the open-source ecosystem: RTK filters command/tool output (git diffs, test logs, builds) at 60–90%, Microsoft's LLMLingua-2 does ML semantic pruning, Caveman handles prose, session-dedup strips repeats across turns. Critically, code, URLs and JSON are preserved byte-perfect, and a default-on inflation guard throws the compressed version away and sends the original if compressing would actually grow the prompt — it never makes things worse. On tool-heavy sessions that's ~89% average input-token reduction (an 8k-token git diff becomes a few hundred). Full credit to every upstream project (RTK, Caveman, LLMLingua-2, Troglodita) is in the README.

Agent-native — the agent can drive the router itself. There's a built-in MCP server (95 tools across 30 audited scopes, over stdio / SSE / streamable-HTTP), plus A2A (v0.3, JSON-RPC 2.0) support. That means an agent can query providers, switch combos, read its own remaining quota and manage memory through the gateway — not just consume tokens through it.

It's 100% local (zero telemetry, AES-256-GCM at rest), MIT-licensed, has a prompt-injection guard on every LLM route, opt-in memory, and runs on npm, Docker, desktop or your phone via Termux.

For context on whether it's worth your time: it's grown to ~9.8K GitHub stars, 1,490+ forks and 280+ contributors in ~4.5 months, with 21,000+ automated tests and 1,830+ issues closed — so it's a battle-tested project, not a brand-new experiment.

npm install -g omniroute

GitHub: https://github.com/diegosouzapw/OmniRoute · Site: https://omniroute.online

Would value a critique of the routing/compression architecture from this crowd.

u/ZombieGold5145 — 2 days ago
▲ 4 r/projects+3 crossposts

I got tired of flat AI-generated UI, so I wrote a 2000s tech inspired skeuomorphic theme spec-based design system agents can build from

Hi all, posting here after a long time.

I recently joined a new design & engineering studio as the technical co-founder, and I convinced everyone to open-source something we have been testing and using internally for our upcoming projects.

While designing and developing our projects we noticed how exhaustive the agentically-produced UIs have become. The same slop. Flat, purple or gray.

We wanted to give our products a distinctive character. A personality our upcoming users can resonate with. A design language that speaks to your eyes, while providing a pinch of nostalgia.

So we curated an internal design system which communicates directly to our agents, blurring the lines of tech-stack, setups, and dependencies. And now, we were just an MCP call or a single prompt away from writing depth-model, metallic finish components in whichever technology we were using. Everything from Tauri apps to native android.

Over time, we have polished it further, and now I am happy to announce that I convinced everyone to open-source "pudge-ui", our design system that teaches agents to make tactile, physical, 2000s-electronics interfaces. The best part is that it is tech-stack agnostic. You can be developing with any framework, for any platform, it will work.

pudge-ui: ui.pudgestudio.com

These are not just interfaces, your agent doesn't just digest how the component looks, they also digest how that physical component is supposed to function mechanically. So you are just a prompt away from adding motion, movement, haptics, and much more! The best part is the format.

It is not a component library and definitely not as versatile as something like shadcn. It has it's own use-cases, or maybe if you want to use your agent to create your own FL studio, without having it hallucinate on the complex interface.

It has 90+ (we are adding more) written specs. Each one describes the real hardware it imitates, how the mechanism works, the exact CSS, and the constraints. Agents read specs better than they read token files, so the output is faithful and works in any stack (CSS, RN, SwiftUI, Compose, Flutter). Add the MCP server and just ask your agent to "build a music player with pudge-ui." It is working magic for our team, and I would feedbacks from other people so we can improve it further.

Give it a star on github if you like it: https://github.com/pudge-studio/pudge-ui

u/USKhokhar — 1 day ago
▲ 155 r/projects+10 crossposts

PikoCI — The CI/CD that grows with you

How hard can it be to build a CI/CD system? Concourse CI has the right model but the operational overhead is brutal. That question stuck with me long enough that I started building it. What kept me going was realising I needed it for my own side projects too: games and open source tools that require custom environments GitHub Actions can't provide.

The design goal was something that grows with you. A binary and a pipeline file is all you need to start: runs entirely in memory. Add SQLite for persistence. Add Postgres and distributed workers when you scale. Never have to migrate or reconfigure.

Key things:

  • Single binary, zero setup, in-memory by default
  • Run pipelines locally: pikoci run --pipeline-config pipeline.hcl --job test runs any job on your laptop. No server, no push, no waiting.
  • Services: start any process before your tasks, stop it after, guaranteed. No Docker-in-Docker.
  • Four sourceable abstractions: resource types, runners, services, secret backends. All defined in HCL, all pullable from a URL. Write it once, host it anywhere, reference it by URL.
  • HCL pipelines: Terraform-style syntax
  • Public pipelines: share status without an account

PikoCI deploys itself. Live at ci.pikoci.com/teams/main/pipelines/pikoci, no login needed.

http://pikoci.com · github.com/pikoci/pikoci

pikoci.com
u/xescugc — 3 days ago

Would you use an app that lets you preserve and replay your entire life?

​

I've been working on an app idea called LifeBook, and I'd genuinely love to know if this is something people would actually use.

The idea is simple:

What if you could store your entire life journey in one place?

Not just photos, but:

- Important memories

- Journal entries

- Achievements

- Life goals

- Important people and relationships

- Mood history

- Time capsules for your future self

- Personal life statistics and insights

The feature I'm most excited about is something called Life Replay.

Imagine pressing a button and watching your life unfold like a personal documentary:

«2008 — First day of school

2015 — Won a science competition

2022 — Started college

2026 — Got your first client»

The goal isn't productivity or social media.

It's preserving your life story so you can revisit who you were, how you've grown, and the people and moments that shaped you.

I'm currently building the app and sharing the development journey publicly.

Would you personally use an app like this?

What feature would make you download it, and what concerns would stop you from using it?

I'd genuinely appreciate any feedback, criticism, or ideas.

reddit.com
u/SaqibBaig — 2 days ago
▲ 5 r/projects+1 crossposts

Any project ideas?

This kit was originally made for an obstacle avoiding car,but the sensors got lost in the shipping . I'm a total beginner

u/alissonburgers1945 — 1 day ago
▲ 151 r/projects+44 crossposts

I've been building a SQL learning platform for the past few months. It's called QueryCase and I'd love honest feedback

I've spent the last few months building something and I'm finally at the point where I want to share it properly rather than just quietly hoping people find it.

The idea came from a frustration I kept seeing (and feeling myself): SQL tutorials teach the syntax fine but there's never a reason to care about the answer. You filter a table called employees, get a result, and nothing happens. Your brain doesn't bother keeping it.

I wanted to try a different approach. QueryCase teaches SQL through detective investigations. You get a briefing from Chief Fox (our mascot), a real database to query, and a mystery to crack. The JOIN matters when a suspect has an alibi. The WHERE clause matters when you're trying to find who entered the building at 22:13. The SQL is the tool for solving something, not the point in itself.

Here's what's actually in it:

  • A structured learning path across 54 cases, going from Recruit through Rookie, Detective, Senior Detective, and Chief Detective. Each rank has drills and a level exam to pass before you progress.
  • Sandbox mode where you can explore real datasets (IMDB movies, Spotify, sports stats, Steam games) and run whatever you want with no pressure and no mystery attached. Just free exploration against actual data.
  • Everything runs in the browser using DuckDB WASM so there's nothing to install.

I'm a solo developer and this is genuinely early days. I'm sharing here because this community is exactly the kind of people I built it for, and I'd rather get honest feedback now than find out later I've built the wrong thing.

What's missing? What would make you actually stick with something like this versus what you've used before?

querycase.com if you want to take a look.

Any feedback appreciated!

u/conor-robertson — 3 days ago
▲ 22 r/projects+3 crossposts

Retro TV Emulator First .exe Build

this video is me testing my first .exe after completing most of my to do list. up to the point i cant go further until i really start testing stuff looking for bugs i wont find otherwise. Its coming along. its for the most part working and doing what i should. i see the occasional hiccup but none of it breaking anything. just a slight freeze or lag. still got stuff to add, still got stuff to fix but its something. its no longer an idea, its no longer a hope, its real.

u/RetroTVEmulator — 3 days ago
▲ 3 r/projects+2 crossposts

Today I finished building my API gateway for Gemini/GPT with cashback. I want to share it with many people.

Hello everyone!

I'm 16, from Moldova. For the last month I've been building my project called ZettaQ.

The idea is simple: I got tired of juggling API keys for Gemini, OpenAI, and other AI services. So I made a single gateway where you top up once and use any model. And it gives you 10% cashback on every request, because why not.

Right now it works with Gemini 2.5 Flash. I'm adding GPT-4 and Claude Code next week.

It's far from perfect - the design is a bit rough, and I'm sure there are bugs but it works. Would love to hear what you think, even if it's "this sucks". At least I'll know what to fix.

Any input is important.

reddit.com
u/Background_Quote_945 — 3 days ago

Looking for people who also work full time jobs and want to do projects for fun

Hi.
I just transitioned from studying to working and I realized I won't have as much time for solo projects anymore, so I thought working on them slowly on weekends with others might make it less likely to get bored / tired of it and abandon it.
I've worked on mechanical, electronics and software projects so I'm interested in basically anything but I also have a few ideas in mind.
If anyone is interested send me a private message or leave a comment or something.

reddit.com
u/higifnr51 — 4 days ago
▲ 46 r/projects+5 crossposts

I built a tool that turns any image into self-drawing SVG line art

Thought it would be cool to add a self-drawing SVG animation to my portfolio, but it took some time to figure out. anime.js has this feature, but getting it to work properly and converting an image into a clean SVG paths (with the right threshold and other settings) may take some time. So I built a tool for it.

You drop in a photo or logo -> it converts it into SVG paths -> animates those paths(they draw themselves like a pen sketch)

features/how to use

  • upload an image and it converts into single-color SVG line art
  • choose custom path and background colors
  • adjust the trace settings: threshold(usually 100 works best), invert dark/light
  • control the animation: duration(in ms), delay between paths, easing, direction (forward/reverse/ping-pong), looping, fade-in fill at the end
  • Export as copy-paste SVG, a downloadable SVG file, or a self-contained HTML file with everything included

Works best with illustrations, cartoons, and clean line drawings. Real-world photos can be harder to convert into clear SVG paths

Links:

Open to feedback or suggestions if you have any

u/Equivalent-Banana328 — 4 days ago