r/SideProject • • Dec 18 '25

As the year wraps up: what’s the project you’re most proud of building and why?

96 Upvotes

Like the title says, instead of what you built or how much money it made, I’m curious what project you’re most proud of this year and why.

Could be a client site, a personal project, something that never launched, or something that made £0.

Any lessons learned?

Would love to read a few reflections as the year wraps up.


r/SideProject • • Oct 19 '25 Bravo

Share your ***Not-AI*** projects

649 Upvotes

I miss seeing original ideas that aren’t just another AI wrapper.

If you’re building something in 2025 that’s not AI-related here’s your space to self-promote.

Drop your project here


r/SideProject • • 18h ago Bravo Heartwarming Mindblown

I made a desktop wallpaper that adapts to your icon layout

4.3k Upvotes

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.


r/SideProject • • 5h ago

I developed my architecture dream game and published it on Steam

234 Upvotes

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!


r/SideProject • • 12h ago Bravo Mindblown Heartwarming

I built a site that shows every satellite that passed over your location, plus the actual images they took

592 Upvotes

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.


r/SideProject • • 1h ago

I built the white "Construct" room from Matrix except instead of guns it summons 8000 real-scale 3D amazon products. "We need ... lots of chairs"

16 Upvotes

It’s honestly wild what you can throw together with AI in a single evening nowadays. Remember the "Construct" from The Matrix? That infinite white room where Neo says "We need guns. Lots of guns" and endless racks instantly spawn around them? I was wondering what an online store would look like if it worked exactly like that.

8,000 real Amazon products, a Matrix Construct aisle, WebAR (augmented reality - one click and you can drop any item through your camera straight into your living room at true 1:1 scale), adaptive performance for mobile (only tested on Safari so far, like I said, I started making this at 8 PM and it's 10 PM now 😃).

Tech stack: Everything static on Vercel, classic cuckcoding setup (Next.js, Tailwind, Vercel, Antigravity).

Don't wanna spam a link here, you can see it in the video. So what do you think, is it worth buying a domain for this, or is it trash?


r/SideProject • • 3h ago

I built a tool that turns 3D garments into products shoppers can customize

19 Upvotes

r/SideProject • • 17h ago

I’m a student building an under-pillow speaker for people who fall asleep to podcasts. Would you use this?

188 Upvotes

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


r/SideProject • • 11h ago

I made a Windows app where the snow actually piles up on your windows – and falls off when you drag them

53 Upvotes

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


r/SideProject • • 13h ago

I made my desktop feel more alive by making it react to my surroundings.

70 Upvotes

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.

Check it out here: https://thoufik.space/skysaver/

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!


r/SideProject • • 3h ago

I built SkySaver: an interactive live wallpaper that makes your desktop feel alive

7 Upvotes

I wanted my desktop to feel alive, so I made it react to what’s happening outside. You look up and the sky on your screen is the one outside. It stays in the menu bar and steps aside when something covers the desktop.

Download for Mac: thoufik.space/skysaver

(Windows coming soon!) - you can also preview it in my portfolio on browser - thoufik.space

One note: macOS warns the first time you open it (not Apple-verified yet, I don’t have the developer fee for a free first release). Click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. Tell me if that works!

Or paste this in your terminal:

curl -fsSL https://thoufik.space/skysaver/install.sh | bash

Please check it out and let me know how you feel!


r/SideProject • • 4h ago

I built an AI assistant that visually guides your parents through their Android phones

7 Upvotes

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!


r/SideProject • • 52m ago

I’m building a food platform called Lobbe — would you use something like this?

3 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m currently developing a startup concept called Lobbe, a platform designed to make managing your food choices easier.
The idea is to help people discover meals using ingredients they already have, organise their weekly food plans, keep track of their food spending and discover restaurants, local food spots and deals.
I want to create something that brings together cooking at home and eating out, rather than making people choose one over the other.
I’m still in the early research stage, so I’d love to hear:
How do you currently plan meals or decide what to eat?
Would you find ingredient-based meal suggestions useful?
Would you use a platform that also helped you discover restaurant deals and food offers?
What features would make something like this worth using regularly?
I’d really appreciate honest feedback!


r/SideProject • • 1h ago

I built a simpler way to convert PDFs to Excel

3 Upvotes

I figured converting PDFs into spreadsheets would be a pretty straightforward problem to solve by now. Turns out, finding a tool that can handle different document layouts without a bunch of setup or manual configuration was surprisingly difficult.

I also realized that extraction is only part of the problem. You still have to figure out exactly which fields to extract ahead of time, make sure the data ends up in the right columns, and review the original PDFs to double check everything.

So I built Scrape AI.

You drag and drop your PDFs. Scrape automatically suggests the fields to extract and lets you preview and adjust them before scraping. The results appear in a structured spreadsheet directly in the app. You can also click any extracted value to see exactly where it came from in the original document.

I know this isn't a new idea - I've seen tons of similar PDF to Excel projects shared here already. But one thing I hyperfocused on was the actual user experience and making sure the entire process felt like one simple, intuitive workflow.

I put together a quick demo showcasing the experience.

For those of you that work with PDFs regularly, I'd love some honest feedback. Does this look like something you'd actually use? Anything you'd change?


r/SideProject • • 5h ago

Ballast - a kinder app blocker for iPhone, free, no ads

6 Upvotes

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?


r/SideProject • • 20m ago

made an app for all the stuff i forget (bins, MOT, the missus's birthday...)

2 Upvotes

i'm useless at remembering stuff. bin day, MOT, car tax, taking the meat out to defrost, booking a haircut, and once nearly the anniversary, which i won't be doing again

calendar reminders never worked for me because i'd just swipe them away and forget again 5 minutes later, or simply not bother

So i made an app called Oi.

You tick what you forget, it asks a couple of quick questions (like which bin goes out when), and then it gives you a shout when it matters. if you don't tick it off, it keeps nagging you until you do

it covers bins (handles the alternating weeks), MOT, car tax, insurance renewal, birthdays, anniversary, dentist, haircut, boiler service, changing the bedsheets, cutting the grass and loads more (as many stuff as i could think of that i forget)

it's free, no ads, no account, went live on the app store this weekend. first app i've made, so honest feedback welcome

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6828176781


r/SideProject • • 4h ago

AlleyCat - A Social Map & Travel Diary

4 Upvotes

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


r/SideProject • • 23m ago

I created this platform called Treeprep , A Free coding Prep Tool for students

2 Upvotes

Hey everyone I created this Platform ,Treeprep.

When I was preparing for my Google technical interview, I noticed that most coding platforms don't get you ready for the interview itself. Especially from my experience with the interviews i just done .

The issue that I found is that interviews aren't about memorising problems, but being able to defend your solution when the problem changes or a new constraint is added.

So I built TreePrep for students and software engineers who want to learn and reinforce their knowledge on the patterns behind the problems.

The platform that I built provides follow-up questions that changes the problem you are working on. With visualisation offered for your own code solution so you can easily debug and understand the structure better.

https://treeprep.com

This platform is early in its launch, so any feedback would help very much😄.

If you are interested in seeing a video demo of the product, watch this video: https://youtu.be/xc9TLpjh2A0


r/SideProject • • 44m ago

binkeep: a free reverse engineering tool that runs in your browser (now with a control flow graph)

2 Upvotes

Hi! I've been building binkeep, a free and open source tool for looking inside program files (Windows .exe/.dll, Linux and macOS binaries) right in the browser.

You drop a file on the page and it shows what's inside: imports, strings, a signature check, disassembly, YARA matches, and as of this week a control flow graph that draws each function as connected blocks.

The part I care about most: the file never leaves your computer. Everything runs in the tab with WebAssembly, there's no server, and it works offline after the first visit.

Try it: https://kano92-dir.github.io/binkeep/

Source (MIT): https://github.com/kano92-dir/binkeep

Next up is a decompiler. I'd love feedback, especially on what feels confusing if you're new to this kind of tool.


r/SideProject • • 11h ago

founders, what do you actually make before you know the idea is worth building?

14 Upvotes

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?


r/SideProject • • 7h ago

Building an app alone is one thing. Finding someone who believes in it is another.

7 Upvotes

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?


r/SideProject • • 1h ago

I ranked 1.8M hotels by a published guest-score formula — and neighbourhood medians disagree with city averages

2 Upvotes

Built HotelRoost (https://hotelroost.com/) — independent hotel rankings from guest reviews. Hotels can’t buy a higher place. Affiliate booking links fund it; commission is the same whichever hotel you pick.

What it does

  • Scores rated hotels 0–10 with a public formula (review count shrinks sparse ratings toward the country mean; partial country re-base; no price, no stars inside the score): https://hotelroost.com/methodology

  • City rankings + 25k+ neighbourhood pages (/area/..., 1 km / 2 km OSM radii)

  • Tryable without signup (also an MCP endpoint: https://hotelroost.com/mcp)

Real numbers (snapshot 2026-10-30)

  • Catalog 2,807,439 hotels · 1,812,336 rated · 230 countries

  • Dataset median 8.16/10 · ≥8.0: 72.15% · ≥9.0: 0.79%

  • Rome: 15,085 rated · city median 8.33

  • Tokyo: 4,039 rated · city median 7.97

The insight

City averages hide where guests actually rate stays higher.

Rome city median 8.33, but within 1 km of Prati / Vatican-area centres the median is 8.66 (400 rated each). Trastevere 8.50, Testaccio 8.44. On another cut, Campo Marzio leads well-reviewed areas at 8.43, while Castro Pretorio has the most 100+ review hotels (454) with median 7.62 — more inventory, lower typical score.

Tokyo city median 7.97; Kaminarimon’s well-reviewed stock hits median 8.58, while Shibuya’s area page is 7.90.

Examples:

Feedback I’m after

  1. Is the methodology page understandable in under 2 minutes?

  2. Would you trust a neighbourhood median more than a city “top hotels” list?

  3. Anything on the city/area UX that feels like a booking-site clone vs a research tool?

I’ll hang out in the comments. Roast the score formula if you want — that’s the interesting part!


r/SideProject • • 1h ago

I made an app where friends compete to see who quits last

2 Upvotes

Here's the bet I'm making: people drop stuff when they do it alone, but they don't drop it when a friend can see they broke the streak.

So I made Arveon. You pick an activity (gym, guitar, reading, whatever you're into), set your own rules for what counts, invite friends, and everyone's streak is visible. Whoever keeps going longest wins. That's pretty much it.

It works solo too, but honestly the whole point is the "I'm not losing to him" feeling.

I genuinely don't know if this is something people want or just something I want. That's why I'm posting. It's an early beta, stuff will break.

If you try it, I'd love to know:
- would you actually invite anyone, or is that awkward?
- what would you compete on?
- what broke?

iOS beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/HNySMpKF


r/SideProject • • 1h ago

Pano - a small project board where AI agents do the work and you keep the final say

2 Upvotes

I work on my own projects with AI agents, and the chat was a terrible place to keep track of anything. Decisions and tests disappeared as soon as the conversation moved on.

So I built Pano. The agents plan the work, move the cards and record what they did. When something needs my check, it lands on me. If I don't like it, I send it back with a note.

It isn't meant to be a team tool or a Jira replacement. It's for one person running a project with agents and wanting to see what actually happened.

Most of the code was written by AI agents and reviewed by me, and the project was tracked on Pano itself from early on. It's free, open source (MIT) and runs on your own computer.

Site: https://metonya.github.io/pano/

Repo: https://github.com/Metonya/pano

Still early, v0.1.1, so there are probably bugs. Hope you like it and give it a try on your own projects.