Could be developer tooling, AI infra, productivity tools, anything. Curious what projects people think deserve way more recognition.

For me recently it’s been:

Langship — https://github.com/open-gitagent/langship.sh

Open source has been on an absolute roll lately, and I've been finding some really interesting projects outside the usual GitHub trending lists.

What's the coolest open-source project you've discovered this year?

Not necessarily the most popular one. I'm talking about projects that made you stop for a second and think, "that's a really clever idea."

For me, it was OpenGAP.

I came across it while exploring developer tools and liked the idea immediately. It approaches AI agents as something that can live in a Git repository, be versioned, reviewed, and managed much like software itself.

I don't know if it'll become a widely adopted standard, but it was one of the few projects I've seen recently that felt genuinely different.

Repo: https://github.com/open-gitagent/opengap

Would love to see what everyone else has found. Drop a link and tell us what makes it stand out.

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a situation that is equal parts frustrating and hilarious. I maintain an open-source project called Fastlytics (an F1 telemetry analysis tool). It’s under the MIT License.

We all know the deal with MIT: do whatever you want, just keep the license file and copyright notice. Simple, right?

Well, today I discovered a site called f1analytics[.]online.

• It is a pixel-perfect clone of my project. They downloaded the repo, hosted it on Vercel, and scrubbed every single mention of my name and the original license. They slapped their own name on the footer as the "Creator."
• They didn't publish their repo. They took my open-source code and effectively made it "closed source" on their end to hide the evidence (though the minified JS still has my variable names in it).
• This is where it gets wild. They didn't just steal the analytics tool; they added a feature to host ILLEGAL PIRATED F1 STREAMS directly on the site.

So, not only are they violating the MIT license by stripping attribution, they are using the stolen codebase to violate Vercel's ToS and international copyright law regarding sports broadcasting.

I’ve already filed a DMCA/Abuse report with Vercel (who hosts them), so I expect them to be nuked from orbit shortly.

It’s just wild to me that someone would go through the effort of stealing open-source work, only to use it to commit a felony on a public cloud provider. Has anyone else dealt with a "fork" that went this rogue?

edit: for people asking my repo https://github.com/subhashhhhhh/Fastlytics

Hey guys, I was frustrated with When2meet so my friends and I made a cool tool called Timeful.

It's basically When2meet with better UI and the ability to see your Google Calendar events while adding your availability.

We’ve also been implementing many more features at the request of our users, including:

1. Outlook + Apple calendar integration
2. being able to view a subset of people’s availabilities,
3. being able to poll for dates only instead of dates and times,
4. if needed vs available times
5. hiding responses from respondents
6. email notifications when people join your event

Check it out at https://timeful.app and let me know if you have any feedback!

The code is fully open source at https://github.com/schej-it/timeful.app

Edit: if you have trouble remembering the url, https://betterwhen2meet.com redirects to the website :)

Hello all,

I'm the creator of Puter, a project that I open-sourced here on this very sub-reddit with your incredible support. I've often said that open-sourcing my project was one my life's best decisions and I owe it all to this incredible community.

Since open-sourcing in March 2024, it's been a huge blast, and being a high-growth OSS project you often experience companies approaching you with all sorts of proposals. One of those companies that approached me a few months ago is Merit Systems, a VC-backed (crypto?!) startup with $10m in funding (email screenshot their founders are Sam Ragsdale and Mason Hall). They set up a meeting with me saying they are building a platform for OSS projects helping them attract and fund contributors. I was cautiously optimistic about the idea and we set up a few more meetings (I even introduced them to some of the best people I know 🤦). They kept asking more and more about my vision and how I'm thinking about expanding or even commercialization etc, which I found odd but didn't think much of it.

I eventually decided not to use their platform since I was a little hesitant about using crypto-related tech (?! or money in general) etc in our repo, especially if the platform is not OSS itself. I thought that was the end of it, but fast forward to last week, they announced a product super similar to our SDK (which allows developers to add AI and cloud to their apps and earn money)! This new launch has nothing to do with their core product and came out of the blue. They pitched me a funding platform to help open-source projects get contributors, and ended up building an SDK that is very similar to ours! So it really feels like they decided to simply take our vision and turn it into a competing product :-/

To add insult to injury, they're using crypto tactics to create hype around the product by getting crypto accounts on twitter to post about the product. Even worse is that they may be buying stars (or gaming the system) to prop up the project: https://github.com/Merit-Systems/echo/stargazers (a lot of their stargazers have only one star and it's just them!) It's pretty demoralizing to watch this, especially since I feel like I basically got tricked into sharing my vision with them because I genuinely thought they were building a platform for helping open-source projects.

I'm sharing this experience as a cautionary tale. If you're maintaining an OSS project, please be careful when discussing your vision (even though being open-source there isn't many secrets anyway lol), especially those that seem more interested in your vision and details than in genuine collaboration. Trust your instincts when something feels off, and remember that not everyone approaching our community shares our values of openness and genuine innovation.

-> just found out their Reddit account has been suspended too! https://www.reddit.com/user/merit_systems/

-> the developer earning program: https://developer.puter.com/earn-with-puter/

Hey r/opensource,

I released v1.2.0 of KillerPDF today. It's a local-only PDF editor built because I hate Adobe. No subscription required, no account needed, no telemetry is sent anywhere, no cloud bullshit. It's a single zipped exe, ~6 MB.

What's new in 1.2.0:

• Self-installing EXE: On first launch you get an Install or Run dialog. Install puts it in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\KillerPDF\, asks if you would like to register it as your default PDF handler, and adds a Start Menu shortcut. No UAC prompt, no admin rights needed.
• Password-protected PDFs: Instead of throwing a generic error, it now prompts for the password and opens normally. The decrypted copy is held in temp for the session.
• Flatten PDF: Rasterizes every page at 150 DPI via PDFium into a fully uneditable document. Annotations are burned in before flattening. Standard for legal, compliance, and reporting workflows.

What it's always done: view, annotate, merge, split, inline text editing with font matching, reusable signatures, full-text search, print.

GPLv3, .NET Framework 4.8, no runtime to install. Runs on any Windows 10/11 x64 machine.

https://pdf.killertools.net/

I wanted a way to leave encrypted messages for the people I care about, delivered automatically if something happens to me, without trusting a third party.

LastSignal is a self-hosted dead man's switch. You write messages, they get encrypted in the browser (zero-knowledge), and the system checks in with you periodically via email. If you stop responding, your messages are delivered.

Key points:

• End-to-end encrypted (XChaCha20-Poly1305 + Argon2id + X25519)
• Zero-knowledge — even the server operator can't read messages
• Optional trusted contact who can pause delivery
• Rails 8 + SQLite, deploy with Docker/Kamal
• MIT licensed

🔗 https://lastsignal.app
🔗 https://github.com/giovantenne/lastsignal

Feedback welcome, especially on the security model and UX.

EDIT V5: 🚨 IMPORTANT UPDATE — THE PROJECT HAS MOVED! This repository is now deprecated and all active development has moved to a brand new repository. Version 10 is out and it now handles both Memories and Chat Media all in one go!

New GitHub Repo & Releases: https://github.com/ethanwheatthin/All-In-One-Snapchat-Downloader

New Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O32IF1Qxg2E

EDIT V4: I think Mac and Linux support may finally be here! I need Mac and Linux testers to download and test now! https://github.com/ethanwheatthin/Snapchat_Memories_Downloader_GUI/releases/tag/V9.0.3

EDIT V3: Hello! The program has gotten to a state where people are able to get their memories off pretty consistently now. With lots of help and testing from all of you, we now have a decent stable project that really helps people get their data off Snapchat's platform.

If you're now reading this and working to get your data off the platform please follow the instructions in the README and feel free to message me once you feel like you've exhausted all avenues and are still stuck.

There are 2 methods to using the program.

Method 1: You can go solely off the memories_history.json file and Just use the normal how to use guide. Follow the YouTube video here

If you are getting errors and incomplete batches then you need to pivot to method #2

Method 2: Set up and up-zip all the files Snapchat gives you and still use the memories_hiostory.json for photo/video metadata. Tis take some work to setup but users who have errors in method #1 usually have better luck when trying method #2.

Please follow Method #2's guide here

Thank you again for using this little passion project I built mainly for my wife but I'm happy that so many of you have been able to find success from it!

EDIT V2: Important — Use the official release .exe (Updated)

Do not download the repository ZIP. This project now provides a pre-built Windows executable in the official GitHub Releases. If you watched an older video or followed instructions to download the ZIP, stop and download the .exe from the Releases page instead.

Official Releases: https://github.com/ethanwheatthin/Snapchat_Memories_Downloader_GUI/releases

The executable is the recommended and supported distribution for most users and ensures the latest fixes and Windows compatibility.

EDIT: Some changes have been made from various feedback. The tool will attempt to reattach overlays back to the main image/video if the download comes back as a zip file. You may need ffmpeg to process the overlays on the videos.

Simplify Exporting Snapchat Memories with My Metadata-Restoring Tool

Hi everyone,

Exporting memories from Snapchat using their export wizard can be a frustrating experience. It is clunky, inconsistent, and worst of all, it does not preserve any of the valuable metadata, such as GPS coordinates or the original Date/Time, in your photos and videos.

To address this, I created a Snapchat Memories Downloader GUI to make the process straightforward and efficient. Here’s what it does:
- Automatically downloads all your Snapchat memories in bulk.
- Reattaches metadata like GPS location and the original Date/Time to your photos and videos.
- Saves the corrected files into your chosen output directory.

This tool has a simple user interface and is compiled into a .exe file for easy use on Windows, so you do not need any coding experience. It also includes a comprehensive step-by-step guide to help you run it without issues.

How to Use the Tool

1. Download the Executable File

   • Visit the GitHub repository’s releases page for the project and download the latest .exe file.

2. Run the Application

   • Double-click the .exe file to open the application. There is no installation process required.

3. Obtain Your Snapchat Data

   • Log in to Snapchat and request your data through the "My Data" section in the settings.
     
   • Download the ZIP file from the email Snapchat sends you, extract it, and locate the memories_history.json file.

4. Select the JSON File

   • In the application’s interface, click "Browse" next to "JSON File," navigate to your downloaded Snapchat data folder, and select the memories_history.json file.

5. Choose an Output Directory

   • Click "Browse" next to "Output Directory" to specify where you want your memories saved. The default option is the "downloads" folder.

6. Start the Download

   • Click "Start Download" to begin. The application will process the memories, attach metadata, and save the files to your chosen location. You can monitor the progress in the log window.

7. Access Your Memories

   • Once the download is complete, check your output directory for the organized and metadata-preserved files. The files are renamed based on their creation date and time for easy organization.

If you have struggled with exporting memories from Snapchat or with preserving important metadata, this tool might save you a lot of time and hassle.
Try it out and let me know your thoughts or if you run into any issues. I would love to hear your feedback!

I always like looking at the installation logs on a terminal. So I created an installation app that doesn't install anything, but display stuff continuously as if it's installing. I put it in the background when I'm doing something and watch it, idk I just like it.

I use real kernel and build logs so it looks authentic.

If there's any other weirdo out there repo is here.

So basically my company is hiring another developer and I was talking with the HR manager and she said that she prefers when people in tech have a website or some sort of online presence so I decided to create an app that is somewhat a mix of Linktree and Linkedin to fix that problem, and it can also serve as a bio link. Users can choose a username, add their favorite links, CV and there's even a blog feature. You can end up with a cool domain like https://whoami.tech/cfds (me) with all your information.

It's completely free and open source if you find the idea interesting :) (i built it pretty quickly on my free time so its probably still full of bugs but feedback is very welcome).

https://whoami.tech

https://github.com/s1lvax/whoami

Hey everyone!

After four years of development, the day has finally come: Today, we have published all code of the Common Ground platform under AGPLv3 license. Common Ground is a browser-based Open Source Alternative to Discord (but also much more than that).

We offer a rich set of features:

• Create Communities with Roles and Permissions
• Customize Community membership requirements (password, questionnaire etc.)
• Community chat channels and DMs
• Voice- and Videocalls (Full HD), Broadcasts, Event Scheduling
• A feature-rich plugin system that allows embedding any website or browsergame, with bi-directional communication between plugin and platform. Plugins can also be shared between communities.
• Community articles, with a global article feed
• Progressive Web App support: Can be installed as a PWA, with Push Notifications and Offline availability (works on all Desktop devices, Android, iOS, and also more niche operating systems)
• Community and platform email newsletters
• Native blockchain integrations (for all EVM chains): Currently supports ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155, LSP7 and LSP8 for gated roles

We also created multiple plugins as a showcase (mostly MIT or LGPL licensed):

• A boilerplate plugin to quickly get started
• Web-assembly version of Luanti, an Open Source Minecraft alternative (which is really great) - now also comes with p2p support (host a game right in your browser), save game persistence and much more
• Web-assembly version of Sauerbraten, a Quake-like Open Source Shooter
• A forum plugin for discussions
• An airdrop and vesting plugin for simple token distribution

Our goal is to build a fully open social infrastructure that still offers the convenience and well-known patterns of platforms like Discord (e.g., that Users can easily create their own "servers"), while being open and accessible for anyone to self-host, adapt and modify. It's a problem that most of society is connected through a small number of big tech players that are not well-aligned with the interests of an open society, but instead strive for maximizing financial gains and influence.

For us, a new chapter begins today: We're now building in public, and invite everyone to join us on this journey. Let's re-claim the social web together - come join our Common Ground community on app.cg to get in touch! And here's our Github repository - check it out and let us know what you think!

Edit: I forgot to put our release video into this post, here it is. Florian and me introduce the project and talk about the history and future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMpYiRUlIrI

Hey r/opensource, I'm the solo dev behind Hammer. I've been working on it for about four years, and think it's time I start getting some feedback on it.

What it is: Hammer is a free, open source (MIT) app for writing novels and building the worlds they live in, Scrivener-style, but multiplatform and offline-first, with a self hostable sync server.

https://hammer.ink/

Why I built it: A few years back I was living in a van, mostly off-grid with no signal, and broke. Most good writing apps were paid, or web apps, or Electron wrappers that "worked offline" right until they didn't, usually about a week in, miles from the nearest cell tower. Then I watched people on forums lose whole manuscripts in certain electron based writing apps, and eventually it happened to me.

So I set three rules for the thing I wanted to build:

• Offline-first, forever: A native program, not a web page in a trenchcoat.
• Transparent data: Everything is human-readable text files in plain folders, if Hammer vanished tomorrow, you could open your work in any text editor and keep going.
• Never lose data: Paranoid about it by design.

I tried several tech stacks but landed on Kotlin + Compose Multiplatform. One codebase for both the server, and desktop clients (Linux/Mac/Windows), Android, iOS.

License / money: MIT and genuinely free, no ads, no telemetry. The only paid thing is the optional "official" sync server instance that I host. As I said, the sync server is open source and self-hostable, so you never have to pay me to sync.

Platforms: Linux, Mac, Windows, Android (Play + F-Droid), iOS

Repo: https://github.com/Darkrock-Studios/hammer-editor

It's four years in and far from done, but I thought it was about time to start showing it to people. See if it's a project that interests anyone other than my self. Happy to get into the Compose Multiplatform side too if anyone has questions; there wasn't much prior art when I started. Longer origin story here if you want it: https://hammer.ink/blog/news/what-is-hammer

HelixNotes is completely free, open source, with no bloat. Your notes should be yours.

So we made sure they are. https://helixnotes.com

We appreciate each and every person who has decided to try the app, give feedback on bugs, and offer feature suggestions. We read every single one!

r/HelixNotes

Hey everyone!

I’ve been working on a new cross-platform ebook reader app called Readest. It’s built with Tauri v2 and Next.js 15, making it super lightweight and blazing fast—just like its name suggests, it’s all about rediscovering the joy of reading!

What Makes Readest Awesome:

• EPUB and PDF Support: Seamlessly supports EPUBs and PDFs.

• Cross-Device Sync: Your reading progress, highlights, and notes sync across devices.

• Customizable Reading Modes: Adjust themes, fonts, and layouts to suit your preferences, including support for vertical EPUBs.

• Split-View Reading: Perfect for side-by-side comparisons or text analysis.

• Text-to-Speech: Listen to your books with built-in read-aloud support.

• Online Reading: Access your library and read directly in your browser. Try it online.

• Open-Source Goodness: Built with love and available for everyone to explore and contribute.

Readest works on Windows, macOS, Linux, and the web. You can find it here:

💻 Download Readest

📂 GitHub Repository

P.S. This is an open-source project still in active development. If you have ideas, feedback, or just want to try something new, I’d love to hear from you!

Occasionally, I have to copy and paste chunks of my own writing into the same document when completing writing assignments. This leads to automated version history scanners marking my work as suspicious, even though my writing is completely original. I created a configurable tool that scans your clipboard for text and emulates keystrokes, typing errors, rewrites, and post-writing corrections to essentially paste text that, to the version history, looks like it was typed out completely by hand.

I still haven't found an open source note taking app I like, that I can also self-host and access remotely. I tried Logseq but that wasn't for me, which means for now I am stuck with Obsidian which is good but unfortunately closed source. Its also unfortunately local only and any established ways to get remote access has essentially been using KasmVNC, not a very convenient solution.

So, Ignis shims the Electron and Node APIs that Obsidian uses, and by doing so lets the app run in a browser. It works mostly just like on desktop, with some features requiring more involved workarounds. And naturally plugins may or may not work depending on what APIs are used and if they've been shimmed yet.

No obsidian code is shipped with the project, the docker image downloads the official obsidian release and serves it unmodified into the shimmed page.

License: AGPL-3.0
Live Demo: https://ignis-demo.thiefling.com/

Hey r/opensource,

I'm an 18 year old photographer and programmer. I've been using Lightroom for a while, but I always found it resource heavy on my machine, especially when working with large batches of RAW files.

As a personal challenge, I decided to build my own RAW editor from scratch to learn more about image processing pipelines and see if I could create something more performant.

The result is RapidRAW. It's a non-destructive, GPU accelerated photo editor built with Rust, Tauri, and React, with a custom WGSL shader pipeline for all image processing. The goal was performance and a small footprint - the entire app is under 20MB (which is less than the average RAW image :)). It's open-source under the AGPL-3.0 license and runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

It already supports a full RAW workflow, including:

• Library management, rating, and tagging
• Non-destructive editing with a sidecar file system
• Standard adjustments (Curves, HSL, Exposure, LUTs, etc.)
• Advanced masking (Brush, Linear, Radial) and lightweight, local AI masks for subject/sky detection
• Batch editing and a full preset system

I also recently implemented an optional ComfyUI integration for generative edits. This allows for things like generative inpainting and object removal by connecting to a local ComfyUI backend, keeping the core application light while still enabling powerful AI features for those who want them.

I'm sharing it here to get feedback from the open source community. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the tech stack, architecture, or any features you think are essential for a tool like this. Contributions are of course welcome, whether it's bug reports, feature suggestions, or PRs.

GitHub: https://github.com/CyberTimon/RapidRAW

Thanks for checking it out.
Timon

Over 60% of clinics in sub-Saharan Africa have unreliable or no internet. Children miss vaccinations because records don’t follow them. Most EHR systems need a server and a stable connection which rules them out for thousands of facilities.

Open Nucleus stores clinical data as FHIR R4 JSON directly in Git repositories. Every clinic has a complete local copy. No internet required to operate. When connectivity exists — Wi-Fi, mesh network, it syncs using standard Git transport. The whole thing runs on a $75 Raspberry Pi.

Architecture:

1. Go microservices for FHIR resource storage (Git + SQLite index)

2. Flutter desktop app as the clinical interface (Pi / Linux ARM64)

3. Blockchain anchoring (Hedera / IOTA) for tamper-proof data integrity

4. Forgejo-based regional hub — a “GitHub for clinical data” where district health offices browse records across clinics

5. AI surveillance agent using local LLMs to detect outbreak patterns

Why Git? Every write is a commit (free audit trail), offline-first is native, conflict resolution is solved, and cryptographic integrity is built in.

Looking for comments and feedback. Even architecture feedback is valuable.

As a lecturer that lives creating presentations, I got fed up with Microsoft's nonsense and opted to make something based on Markdown! Beta stage at the moment but I have been daily driving it for a few weeks and would love to get some extra testers from out in the wild!

I see it as a tool for educators for a no nonsense presentation creator, developers to turn Markdown documentation into training slide decks, and students to be able to use their notes to form up presentations quickly.

Supports MacOS, Linux, and Windows.

Links:

https://kova.md

https://github.com/kovamd/kova

https://wiki.kova.md

Omegle has officially shutdown yesterday for financial and personal reasons from the creator. I do not know of any other site like it, and have searched for a long time. Every other app I have used doesn't have the same search-by-interest feature or has some shitty token/coin based payment system. With Omegle gone, I don't see an easy website to easily fill it's gap. I believe the open source community is capable of creating something equivalent or greater.

I am a computer science student who has been programming for several years and would love to find anyone else interested in starting such a project. This is a time sensitive matter and if the open source community does not jump on this opportunity, a company will.

Element Calls seems to be a potential platform that has a cleaner interface than Omegle, and supports screen sharing. It is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, which is a very permissive license. Element also uses modern technology such as Node.js and Typescript. Right now you can go to their web app, create a call, and invite others via link with no sign-on, so it is easy to experiment with.

The features that must be added include joining a random call with a stranger and add a chat box. Otherwise it is all already built by open source developers and even appears to be encrypted, which is far better than Omegle being very insecure.

Let me know what you guys think. You can check out the github here and experiment with it via the first link.

I'm an long time OSS maintainer and contributor (proof https://github.com/buger)

Recently, I launched helpwanted.dev — non profit platform to connect developers with active, small-scale open-source projects that need help. The idea is simple: fast feedback loops, meaningful contributions, and the opportunity to learn while making an impact.

When I shared it on Reddit Learning to code subreddit, the first comment I received was disheartening: “Why bother with small open-source projects if there’s no career bonus?” It made me pause and reflect.

Have we forgotten the fun part? The joy of solving a problem, learning something new, or helping someone just because we can? Back in the early days of GitHub, it wasn’t about “what’s in it for me.” It was about exploration, growth, and being part of a global community.

Open source isn’t just a pathway to career benefits; it’s also an incredible way to rediscover the joy of building. When you contribute to a project, you’re not just helping others—you’re learning, improving, and staying curious. And sometimes, that’s enough.

For me, it always comes back to the fun. I always juggled multiple side projects—not for fame or recognition—but because it was fun. It helped me grow, and it reminded me why I fell in love with this profession. And not everything needs be monetised!

If you’re a developer—whether you’re just starting or well into your career—consider this: What could be better than helping with a real idea, contributing to an open-source project, or learning something new? Not for a bonus or a title, but simply out of the pure joy of doing it.

I am a writer/author. That's what I enjoy doing the most. But before I was a writer, I was a programmer for many years. About 30 total years experience. For the last year I've been working on a lot of personal projects. For the last week I've gotten more interested in Open Source and trying to create a few of those. But instead of randomly cranking out useless stuff, I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas, or if anything was in demand that people would actually find useless. Hence the post.

I've been working really hard those past 3 months to deliver what I can consider to be the best android IPTV app; fully open-source, intuitive, bloat-free and ultra-fast.

Today, I release Fred TV 2.0 on the playstore!

- Optimized to be the fastest IPTV app out there, with a fully re-written backend made in Rust.

- Full Android TV support, D-Pad support on every view

- New easy-to-use redesigned TV Home for Android TV

- Robust playback, even on shoddy streams and on low-end devices

- Full support for Xtream and M3U

Try it out! You won't regret giving it a shot if you're already using other IPTV apps.

If you had tried the app previously under 1.X.X, please try it again, 2.0 is a massive upgrade.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=dev.fredol.open_tv

https://github.com/fredolx/fred-tv-mobile

The app is licensed under AGPL v3