desktop app·active·oct 2026 – present
nyx
a local-first desktop launcher and command layer for macOS: instant file and app search, a clipboard manager, and a local ai assistant that never leaves the machine.
taurirustreacttypescriptnext.jstailwind csssqliteollama
nyx — launcher
> ghost▍
applications
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files
ROADMAP.md~/nyx
NEXT-FEATURES.md~/nyx
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explain this project
role
designer and sole developer
impact
an everyday launcher built around two constraints: results appear in microseconds, and nothing is ever sent to a server.
challenge
a launcher is judged in the first hundred milliseconds. search, the window itself and the ai side all had to stay fast and stay offline at the same time.
approach
- kept one warm window alive in memory so opening it costs nothing.
- put search, telemetry and secret scanning in a rust core behind tauri 2, with a react 19 interface on top.
- designed the whole surface set first (launcher, action panel, clipboard, settings, plugin docs) and built the web landing page and docs from the same design tokens.
outcome
- seventeen designed surfaces across the desktop app and the web site.
- a benchmark in the repo reports a 420 µs average search over 50,000 files.
- a monorepo with a shared types and design-token package between desktop and web.
lessons
- speed is a product decision made on day one, not an optimisation you add later.
- a design system pays for itself the moment a second app needs it.
next steps
- ship signed installers.
- open the plugin registry.
- finish the encrypted peer-to-peer sync.