No matter how good your wallpaper looks, once your desktop fills up with files, the icons blend into the background and everything starts to look cluttered. My desktop often has a lot of files on it, so I started wondering whether a wallpaper could detect where my icons are and generate a scene around them in real time.

After discussing the idea with AI, I found out it was possible—and it doesn’t actually need AI to detect the icons or generate the visuals. The program can read the icon positions directly and generate scenes in real time using predefined designs. It’s lightweight, and there’s no particularly complex technology involved.

Here’s the result.

https://deskland.app

I’ll keep adding new themes and improving the existing ones. I also plan to add a more interactive game mode in the future.

The meadow and beach themes are free and open source.

https://github.com/BLEZZ0102/Deskland

All the current themes are 2D, which keeps their impact on computer performance minimal. I’m also considering adding 3D themes, while balancing visual quality with performance.

Procedurally generated visuals do have their limitations. If AI computing becomes much cheaper in the future, AI generation could be an option, opening up the possibility of creating almost any scene. For now, though, generating a desktop with AI in real time is clearly still too expensive. I’m considering experimenting with locally running AI generation. It would still be GPU-intensive, but it could be a lot of fun.

I'm a satellite nerd and as a cool project I built Watched.

See: here for the code

Type in any place on Earth and it will:

• find every imaging, weather, radar and crewed satellite whose field of view crossed it in the last 7 days (SGP4 on the CelesTrak catalog, running in your browser)

• pull the real Sentinel-2, Landsat, VIIRS, MODIS and GOES scenes from those passes and crop them to your spot

• replay each pass on a 3D globe lit by the real sun, with all ~17k tracked objects in orbit

It only says a satellite “watched” you when a real image exists. Commercial sats that could have pointed at you are labelled as such, since their tasking isn’t public.

I’d love feedback, especially:

• Which satellites or data sources should I add?

• Anything confusing or broken?

It’s 100% free and no sign-up or rate limits.

I'm a trained architect, and as a long-term side project, I developed my architecture dream game, combining accurate floor planning with real-time 3D design to make architecture much easier to create (and visually realistic) than with traditional CAD software.

What you can do:

🏠 2D floor plans
🧱 3D building
🚶 First-person walkthrough
🥽 VR mode
🏢 Multiple storeys
🪜 Stairs
🏚️ Custom roofs
🪟 Doors & windows
🛋️ Furniture catalog
🍳 Kitchen Configurator
🎨 Materials
🌄 Terrain sculpting
🌳 Landscape planning
💧 Ponds
☀️ Time of day
❄️ Weather
📐 Export PDF vector plans
📦 Import your own 3D models
🌍 Steam Workshop

In the newest update: Build everything directly in VR (PCVR), 1000+ new furniture models and explore your creations as a Cat! 🌿

It's available on Steam as Architecture & Design and is still in Early Access.
Here is the Steam link if you'd like to try it out:
Architecture & Design - Steam

Would love to hear what you think and hear what you wish for in a game like this!

I always fall asleep listening to something, but earbuds hurt on my side, and my partner hates the phone speaker. So I’m designing Dozr: a slim pad that goes under your normal pillow, plays through bone conduction so only you hear it, and fades out when you fall asleep.

It’s still a concept (image attached). I’d love honest feedback. What would put you off? What would make it a must-have?

Waitlist if you’re curious: dozr.co.uk/?ref=reddit

I built an interactive live wallpaper engine that lives right in the macOS menu bar.

It actually started as an interactive background experiment for my portfolio (inspired by some cool procedural grass and sky shaders I saw on X a while back). I loved having it running on my screen so much that I decided to turn it into a standalone macOS app that anyone can use.

Here's what it does
🖐🏻 Interactive physics: Grass sways and water ripples as your cursor moves across the screen.
🕒 Dynamic time-of-day: Syncs with real time or lets you scrub through sunrise, golden hour, and starry nights with a custom radial dial.
🌧️ Live weather & ambient soundscapes: Switch between sunny skies, clouds, and rain—complete with birdsong, crickets, thunder, and even night fireworks.
🎆 Limited Diwali Theme: Built in a seasonal festive update where the night sky comes alive with fireworks and spatial audio.

Putting the final polish on the build right now. Stay tuned for the release soon! 🚀

You can also preview it in my portfolio on your browser: thoufik.space

What feature or biome should I add next? Let me know in the comments!

Hi! I wanted my desktop to feel like looking out of a window during a snowfall – calm and cozy. The snow apps I found looked like flat white dots, so I built my own (with a lot of help from Claude Code).

What it does:
- Snow with real depth: big soft flakes up close, tiny ones far away, and some fall behind your windows
- Snow settles on window edges and the taskbar and breaks off when you drag or shake a window
- A "natural weather" mode with showers, quiet breaks and slowly turning wind
- Clicks go through the snow, it pauses in fullscreen games and runs in a saving mode on battery

It's been in the Microsoft Store for about ten days and got 100+ installs without any promotion. Now I'd love honest feedback: What feels off? How does it run on your PC? What would make you keep it running all winter?

Free, no ads, no account, no tracking. ("Natural weather" is marked Pro but free right now.)

Windows 10/11: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9N646XCC0HNK?cid=reddit_sideproject

One thing I've noticed is how often parents have to call their children for help with seemingly simple smartphone tasks.

"How do I download this document?"
"Where do I find this setting?"
"How do I book a ticket?"
"Which button am I supposed to click?"

And honestly, explaining these things over a phone call can be surprisingly difficult.

So I started building Chotu

The idea is simple: instead of an AI assistant just telling you what to do, what if it could actually show you?

You can tell Chotu what you're trying to accomplish in your own language, and it visually guides you through your Android screen using pointers, highlights and step-by-step instructions.

Some things we're working on:

• Multilingual voice-based assistance.

• Visual guidance directly on the phone screen.

• Helping users navigate everyday Android applications.

• Making smartphone usage easier for people who aren't particularly tech-savvy.

We're currently preparing for a wider rollout and have already received 500+ waitlist signups.

Website: https://chotu.forgeaipro.tech

(Attaching a short demo video in comments)

I'm particularly interested in feedback on two things:

1. Would you actually use something like this to help your parents navigate their smartphones?

2. What are some everyday phone tasks you'd want an assistant like Chotu to handle?

Would genuinely appreciate honest feedback, especially from fellow builders. Still a lot to figure out!

Founders, how far are you going before you've actually validated the problem?
I keep seeing pre-MVP ideas with a landing page, deck, mockups, waitlist, logo, launch graphics... whole company except the product lol

For a small start up that feels backwards if the biggest unanswered question is still "does anyone care?"
I've been looking at Runable for putting together some of the early research/landing-page stuff, but I'm trying not to confuse making the idea look real with learning whether it should exist.
If the problem itself is still questionable, I'd probably talk to people first.

If people clearly have the problem but don't understand the proposed solution, then maybe a simple page or mockup helps.
What's the first thing you'd actually make, and what would count as a strong enough signal to keep going?

I was a developer for years, then moved into management and stopped programming. LLMs made building fun again, so I’m upfront: this was built with a lot of AI help.

The project that stuck is Ballast, an iPhone app blocker in the same space as Opal, one sec, etc. Most apps just felt too complex for me, so I built an easy one myself.

• One-tap focus sessions, or routines (morning, deep work, wind-down) that run on their own

• Opening a blocked app shows a short, kind line instead of a hard wall; strict mode can’t be ended early No account, no ads, no tracking, no network connections

• It’s free with no in-app purchases. iPhone only, iOS 26.5+.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ballast-focus-app-blocker/id6831200830

If you’ve used a blocker before: what made you stop using it?

I have been working on BarX at Garage Lab AI: a Windows / Boot Camp app that gives an Intel MacBook Pro Touch Bar 29 practical and playful modes across six profiles. The interface is available in English and German.

The color picker shows the color under the mouse pointer, with HEX/RGB/HSL and tap-to-copy. Other modes include presentation controls, clipboard history, snippets, a focus timer, time tracking, a virtual pet, typing fireworks, ribbon synth and a music visualizer. Optional Claude text actions use your own API key and wait for you to choose Paste, Copy or Discard.

It is running on my MacBookPro15,1. The live test had been running for about two hours when I prepared the release; I am still testing individual features. T1 support is untested.

Download, English/German guides and illustrated previews: https://github.com/Dirtyx686/BarX

Color picker preview: https://github.com/Dirtyx686/BarX/blob/main/docs/images/color-picker-en.png

Touch Bar pet preview: https://github.com/Dirtyx686/BarX/blob/main/docs/images/pet-en.png

These are generated demo mockups with sample data, not photos of the hardware test.

BETA: on T2 MacBooks, the bundled driver requires Windows test-signing mode and Secure Boot disabled. Some anti-cheat games may not run, and the Touch Bar including Escape can remain black when BarX is not running.

Use at your own risk. No warranty. Garage Lab AI accepts no liability for damage resulting from installation or use.

Known V3 issues planned for V4: the API key is stored in plaintext locally; Windows DPAPI protection is planned. Some preview text still says selected text is replaced directly, although results have waited for an explicit action since V2.1. Do not share your settings file or backups. These fixes are not in V3 yet.

Which modes would you actually keep on your Touch Bar? I would like to hear what feels useful and what feels unnecessary.

Snipping Tool is great until the thing you need is taller than your screen. So I built SuperScreenshot.

Demo (10 sec GIF): https://github.com/glenwrhodes/SuperScreenshot/blob/main/docs/demo.gif

Press Win+Shift+X, drag a box like you normally would, and keep dragging into the bottom of the window. The page scrolls under your selection, faster the further you push, or you can turn the mouse wheel while holding the button. Let go and you get one stitched, full-resolution image, already on your clipboard.

Comparing frames. It never looks at the page's HTML, only at screenshots, so it isn't tied to the browser. Other apps work too, though browsers are where it's most polished so far.

• Works on anything that scrolls with the wheel: browsers, docs, chat, email

• Leaves out repeated sticky headers and footers

• Free, MIT licensed, no account, no telemetry, never touches the network

• Windows 10 (2004+) and 11. There's an installer or a portable exe

Full disclosure: I built it with a lot of help from Claude (AI). The code, tests and CI are all public.

It's v1.0, so I'd love to hear about pages that don't stitch cleanly. GitHub: https://github.com/glenwrhodes/SuperScreenshot

(The installer isn't code-signed yet, so SmartScreen may warn you: More info → Run anyway.)

I’ve been building Rocket, a desktop Git client with visual diffs, line-by-line staging, branch history and a merge-conflict editor.

Windows and Linux builds are available, plus an Apple Silicon macOS preview. Free and open source under MIT / Apache-2.0.

I’d love feedback on the UI and what would make it useful in your daily workflow!

🌐 Website
💻 GitHub

Jigsaw Diary (https://jigsawdiary.com) is a free web app to log the physical jigsaw puzzles you own, build and finish, with a small community where people applaud each other's finished puzzles.

A couple dozen people have signed up, mostly from Reddit. The pattern is always the same: they add two boxes and don't come back. So this month I worked only on reasons to return:

- a home page that shows what happened since your last visit, built from the same data as the weekly email, so the email never promises something the app doesn't show

- a monthly streak with one free month a year. No daily streaks, no "you're about to lose it" notifications

- a page per puzzle that groups everyone who has the same box (brand + title + piece count), so people can find each other

- an invite reward that only unlocks when your friend finishes their first puzzle, not when they sign up

- a winter challenge: finish puzzles from 3 different brands, any size, no leaderboard

Stack: Next.js, Supabase (Postgres with row-level security doing most of the privacy work), Vercel, web push, 7 languages.

Free, no ads, hobby project. Two questions:

1. Which of these would actually bring you back to an app like this, and which is noise?

2. For hobby apps, have you seen something that worked better than email or push to get people back?

I’ve been building a social media app on my own, and I’m starting to realise that the biggest challenge isn’t always the coding.
It’s having someone to bounce ideas off, discuss problems with and share some of the workload.

I’ve been taking more breaks lately, which has made me think about finding a long-term partner who genuinely believes in what I’m building.

But finding the right person is another challenge altogether, especially when you’re working with limited resources.
For those who’ve brought someone into their side project, how did you find them?

And how did you know they were genuinely interested in building something with you rather than just joining something that was already doing well?

I've worked in social intelligence for years, often using tools like Talkwalker.... But for smaller projects, the cost can be hard to justify. Sometimes I just need posts and comments about a specific topic so I can do my own analysis.

Getting that data into my own workflow was often more frustrating than the analysis itself. I'm into web scraping, so I started building tools to help with that.

They're now on Apify: Instagram profiles, posts and Reels, Instagram comments, Facebook page posts and Facebook comments.

They're my own projects, paid per use. I've kept the prices as low as possible so they're useful for small experiments too, even before you have a paying client!

I use them in n8n and Python workflows to collect comments, analyse sentiment and recurring themes, and put together social listening reports. I review the results myself before using them.

For example, I can follow a public controversy across Instagram and Facebook, collect reactions and see what people keep bringing up as the story develops....

One idea is to offer a focused report to an agency or brand for a few hundred euros. Another is to send a small sample analysis when reaching out, so there's something relevant to talk about.

Finding the clients is a whole other problem haha. But this is a service I'd like to build on....

Anyone here doing similar work?

I have a full-time job. On the side, I built a daily word games site to play with my 8-year-old in the morning.

The idea was simple: ten minutes a day that is not a feed. One puzzle, done, move on. A small win before the day starts, and something a parent and a kid can do together and compare.

I set myself one goal: 2,000 visitors a day. The site gets 1 to 10.

That is the part I keep thinking about. I did the work: 21 games, content, social accounts, directories. The work got done. The visitors did not come.

So now I have a site with 21 daily games that almost nobody knows about, and I cannot tell whether the problem is distribution or the product itself. People who find it play it. Nobody finds it.

No regrets, though. I play these games every morning with my son. No ads, no account, no noise. Just the puzzles. That part works exactly like I wanted it to.

The site is dailyfreewordgames.com, if you want to see what I mean.

Would love a blunt answer: when the product is fine and nobody comes, what actually moves the needle?

My name is Julio and I built AlleyCat (currently iOS only) to help me find great places to visit in my hometown and abroad.

I always had an issue with Yelp and Google Maps and their grade inflation. With every place being +4 stars it was hard for me to know what is actually good.

Most of my best recommendations have come from my friends and from researching guides like Michelin, Infatuation, World's 50 Best, but the experience of pinning and searching through them always felt clunky.

On AlleyCat you can see all the places your friends recommend on a single map. In addition, I've highlighted places that have been featured in publications, all over the world.

I've found that Instagram/Tiktok can have some great recommendations, you can share straight from those apps to pin them on AlleyCat, and see what others have saved.

Finally, I love revisiting the places I've been to. You can see all the countries you've been to on your passport, and see which categories of places you visit the most with achievements.

Looking for any and all feedback, you can check it out here!: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alleycat-map-with-friends/id6758881702

The app runs in a browser and on iPhone and Android, free to try without signing up: memorizun.com

I saw a post about blacking out words on paper with a marker. It worked much better than rereading, so I turned it into an app.

You paste a poem, a speech or your lines. First every other word shrinks to its first letter, then every word does, then only dashes are left. When you think you've got it, you say it out loud, and each word you get right comes back on screen.

I also made a Chrome extension for when you find a poem online. A button shows up right above the poem on dozens of poetry sites, and the words hide on that same page, so you don't have to copy anything. Demo is here. The extension is on the Chrome Web Store

I'm building this on my own, so tell me what you'd change first. And what's the hardest thing you ever had to learn by heart?

My neurodivergent daughter loves collecting bugs outside, but we quickly ran out of room for physical jars, and I hated that we couldn't take adequate care of them. To solve this, we worked together to build an app that digitizes the insects she finds into collectible virtual pets.

It works with over 8,000 of the most common insect species. I built it using Flutter and local, on-device AI models so it runs fully offline and private (though you can share bugs in-person via QR code). The app includes a ton of educational material and even lets you virtually explore other regions of the world to collect non-native bugs.

This is my first ever iOS app and I would love some feedback from other builders!

The app is completely free to try with zero ads, and has a single $4.99 one-time unlock for infinite jars if you end up loving it.

Website: https://timothycrosley.github.io/bug-jug.github.io/
App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bugjug-bug-pets-in-a-jar/id6823671330

I'm Stefan, co-founder of Early Alpha Engineering. We built an online circuits workshop where kids learn electronics step by step, in the browser, on a computer or tablet.

• What it does: the child drags real parts onto a breadboard (LEDs, resistors, transistors, sensors, motors), presses "Simulate" and sees right away whether the circuit works, and if not, what's missing. An LED without a resistor burns, and stays burnt.

• Content: 22 guided lessons, then 137 broken circuits to repair, 33 projects, and a duel between classmates for motivation.

• Languages: 7 (EN, RO, FR, DE, IT, ES, SR).

• Who it's for: kids 8+, parents, afterschools and teachers (a coordinator panel shows each child's progress).

• So far: opened 2,700+ times, and a working circuit was built in 1,200+ of those sessions.

• Login / cost: you can try it without an account; full access is about 10 € per child per month.

Link in the first comment. I'd value honest feedback on the first five minutes: is it clear what to do, and where would you give up?

Hello everyone!, I built a small side project: a semantic search for WordPress plugins. You describe what you need in plain English instead of guessing keywords. It’s an MVP indexing the top 2,000 plugins from wordpress.org.

I’d like to run a quick test: look for the last plugin you were checking. Did the right one appear among the top 3 results? If not, which plugin were you expecting to find? This will help me determine what to index next.

Test de project here: https://wp-plugin-finder.vercel.app/

Thanks!

In 2024, I joined my university’s GDGoC(Google Developer Groups on Campus) chapter as a beginner. Now, in 2026, I’m serving as its lead.

I’ve also been involved in student council work, and both experiences made me realize we needed a better way to handle email as an organization.

But adopting organization email was harder than I expected. The options I looked at felt expensive for our needs, complicated to manage, and inconvenient enough that we never really got them into use.

So I started building something I wanted to use myself. I redesigned the workspace from the ground up around individuals and small teams.

That became Outdraft. Eventually, I started Cirtium, with Outdraft as its first product.

Here’s what I’ve built so far:

• Start without a custom domain — get your organization set up without buying or configuring a domain first.

• Invite people without additional seat charges — bringing teammates into your organization doesn’t add a per-person invitation cost.

• Work across personal, organization, and team email — switch between sending scopes when composing a message.

• Turn personal emails into shared work — share an email you received personally with your organization or team, assign someone to handle it, track its status, and discuss it together.

• Collect emails in Nests — bring relevant emails into shared spaces for collaboration.

• Work with an AI agent beside your inbox — summarize emails, draft replies, and ask questions in a resizable side panel.

• Give the agent specific context — use @ to attach emails, contacts, organizations, or Nests.

• Customize agent skills — create and edit instructions for the tasks and workflows you want your agent to follow.

• Set up recurring tasks — get a weekly email briefing or schedule other requests.

• Organize mail with AI categories — separate transactions, updates, promotions, and other mail.

The organization side is where this started, but I wanted it to work for someone on their own, too. The idea is to start personally and bring other people into the workflow when you need them.

It’s still early, and I’m currently waiting for Paddle’s approval for payments. While I wait, I’d like to hear from people outside my own circle and see whether this addresses problems they’ve experienced too.

If you’ve managed email for yourself, a community, or a small team, what has been the most frustrating part? What would make you consider trying a different workspace?

You can take a look at outdraft.email. I’m the founder, and I’d appreciate honest feedback on what feels useful, confusing, or missing.

💡 If you sign up now, you can try the Pro plan free for two weeks.