Desktop AI Companion
AI chat lives in browser tabs. To talk to it you stop what you are doing, open a tab, type, wait. The Lingopal hackathon gave 24 hours to build something on top of their realtime voice stack, so I shipped the obvious thing nobody actually makes: a 3D mascot that sits on top of your desktop, listens, and talks back.
AI chat lives in browser tabs. To talk to it you stop what you are doing, open a tab, type, wait. The Lingopal hackathon gave 24 hours to build something on top of their realtime voice stack, so I shipped the obvious thing nobody actually makes: a 3D mascot that sits on top of your desktop, listens, and talks back.
A Python backend brokers the realtime voice API. A React surface handles auth and settings. A Three.js scene drives an animated 3D character that lip-syncs to the audio. Screenshot capture pipes whatever is on the user's screen into the model's context, so the buddy can answer questions about a piece of code, a Figma frame, or a Steam window without copy-paste. The floating window stays pinned on top so context-switching cost is zero.
## What we built A floating 3D mascot that lives on top of the desktop. Click to call, talk naturally, watch the model think and respond out loud. Screenshot capture pipes the visible screen into the model's context, so the buddy can answer questions about whatever is on screen without copy-paste. The mascot animates and lip-syncs while it speaks. ## Tech Python backend brokering the realtime voice API. React for the auth and settings UI. A Three.js-driven 3D scene for the mascot itself. The whole thing runs locally and the desktop window stays pinned on top, so the buddy is always one click away. ## Results Shipped in 24 hours, solo, took 1st at the Lingopal hackathon and the $500 prize. Judges flagged the realtime voice loop and the screenshot-aware context as the parts they had not seen from other entries. ## What is next A v2 is in progress that rebuilds on Electron + Three.js + Node, adds JWT auth, rate limits, and per-user quotas, and ships as a cross-platform desktop app for Windows, macOS, and Linux.
1st place at the Lingopal hackathon
$500 prize
solo build
24 hours start to demo
0 prior Three.js experience going in
Jesse Sulo
CEO
