OpenCluely

The invisible AI interview copilot.

Real-time AI help on a stealth overlay that screen sharing cannot see. Ask by voice or screenshot, and get clear answers that stream in as you need them.

Website  |  Download  |  Quick start  |  How it works

Demo

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/896a7140-1e85-405d-bfbe-e05c9f3a816b

What it is

OpenCluely is a desktop app for technical interviews and practice. It places a small overlay on your screen that recording and conferencing tools do not capture. You can speak a question or take a screenshot, and the AI answers in real time. The answer streams into a floating window and an optional chat panel, with clean code blocks and syntax highlighting.

It is free and open source. Processing stays on your machine, and the only thing that leaves your device is the request you send to the AI provider.

Highlights

• Invisible overlay. Windows stay out of Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and OBS captures. You see the answer, the call does not.
• Hidden during screen share. When a share starts, the app can hide every window on its own.
• Real-time voice. Speech is split on natural pauses instead of a fixed timer, so one spoken question stays one question. Filler phrases that Whisper invents on silence are dropped before they reach the model.
• Streamed answers. Replies appear word by word as the model generates them, in both the chat and the floating window.
• Direct image analysis. Screenshots go straight to Gemini for visual reasoning, with no slow OCR step in between.
• Session memory. The whole conversation is remembered, so follow-ups, edge cases, and optimizations keep their context.
• Language aware. Tailored answers for C++, C, Python, Java, and JavaScript.
• Stealthy by design. Runs under ordinary system names, ships with no telemetry, and keeps your session local.
• Cross platform. Pre-built installers for Windows and Linux (.deb and AppImage). macOS runs from source in one command.

Download

Pre-built installers are published with every release. These links always point at the newest version.

macOS: there is no pre-built download. The app is unsigned and un-notarized, so macOS Gatekeeper blocks it as "damaged and can't be opened." Run OpenCluely from source instead — see Quick start. It is a one-line ./setup.sh once Node.js is installed.

Every build is produced automatically on GitHub Actions and ships with SHA-256 checksums. Each release also lists the full set of commits it includes.

The website at opencluely.techycsr.dev detects your operating system and offers the right installer directly.

Quick start

If you would rather build from source, three steps are all it takes.

1. Clone the repository.

   git clone https://github.com/TechyCSR/OpenCluely.git
   cd OpenCluely
   

2. Run the setup script.

   ./setup.sh
   

   The script installs Node dependencies, creates your .env from the example, sets up a local Whisper virtual environment, points the config at it, and launches the app.

3. Add your Gemini key.

   On first launch the Settings window opens automatically. Get a free key from Google AI Studio and paste it in, or edit .env directly. Both work, and changes are picked up without a restart.

Platform notes

• On Windows, use Git Bash (included with Git for Windows) or WSL to run setup.sh.
• On macOS and Linux, your normal terminal works.
• macOS users must build from source (steps above) — there is no pre-built .dmg. Because the app is unsigned, a downloaded build would be blocked by Gatekeeper as "damaged"; running from source avoids that entirely.
• No manual npm commands are needed. The script handles everything.

Setup script options

./setup.sh --build                # Build a distributable for your OS
./setup.sh --ci                   # Use npm ci instead of npm install
./setup.sh --no-run               # Set up only, do not launch
./setup.sh --install-system-deps  # Install sox for the microphone (optional)
./setup.sh --skip-whisper         # Skip the local Whisper bootstrap

Configuration

The setup script writes sensible defaults. The only required value is a Gemini API key.

# Required
GEMINI_API_KEY=your_gemini_api_key_here

# Optional speech provider. Pick one.
SPEECH_PROVIDER=whisper

# Azure option
AZURE_SPEECH_KEY=your_azure_speech_key
AZURE_SPEECH_REGION=your_region

# Local Whisper option
WHISPER_COMMAND=whisper
WHISPER_MODEL_DIR=.whisper-models
WHISPER_MODEL=turbo
WHISPER_LANGUAGE=en

Speech is optional. If no provider is configured, the microphone button hides itself across the app.

Optional voice setup

You can use local Whisper for offline transcription or Azure Speech for a cloud option.

For local Whisper, ./setup.sh handles the full setup. It creates .venv-whisper, installs openai-whisper, points .env at the virtual environment, creates .whisper-models, and runs a quick speech test. You only need Python 3.10 or newer and ffmpeg on your system. Install those with ./setup.sh --install-system-deps, or add ffmpeg and sox yourself.

For Azure Speech, create a Speech resource in the Azure Portal, then add the key and region to .env with SPEECH_PROVIDER=azure.

How it works

1. Ask. Speak the question or press the screenshot shortcut. The microphone listens for natural pauses on its own and does not cut you off mid sentence.
2. Reason. Gemini reads the audio or image with full conversation context and works toward a precise answer.
3. Answer. The response streams into the overlay in real time, with formatted text and highlighted code.

Keyboard shortcuts

Project status

OpenCluely is under active development. The core is stable and improvements ship regularly.

Done

• Stealth overlay with a draggable command bar and a click through toggle
• Hidden during screen share, with automatic hiding when a share begins
• Screenshot capture with direct Gemini analysis, no OCR step
• Real-time voice input that segments on natural pauses, not a blind timer
• Utterance coalescing so one spoken question becomes one answer
• Streamed answers that render word by word in the chat and the overlay
• Whisper hallucination filter that drops phantom phrases on silence
• AI response window with markdown and syntax highlighting
• Global shortcuts for capture, visibility, interaction, chat, and settings
• Session memory and a full chat UI
• Language picker and a DSA skill prompt
• Optional Azure Speech and local Whisper, with an auto hiding mic button
• Multi-monitor and area capture support
• Window binding and positioning
• Settings management with disguise and stealth modes

Planned

• Multiple model backends alongside Gemini (OpenAI, Anthropic, local)
• Auto typing of code snippets into editors and IDEs
• Export of conversation history to markdown or PDF
• Deeper stealth, including process name randomization

Troubleshooting

• setup.sh will not run. Make sure you are in the project folder (cd OpenCluely) and that the script is executable (chmod +x setup.sh). On Windows, use Git Bash.
• Setup stops with exit code 130. That means Ctrl+C was pressed. Run ./setup.sh again.
• Node or npm not found. Install Node.js 18 or newer from nodejs.org, restart the terminal, and retry.

• Electron will not start or shows a blank window on Linux. Try npm run dev, and make sure X11 or XWayland is available in headless setups.
• macOS screen capture does not work. Grant Screen Recording permission under System Settings, Privacy and Security, then relaunch the app.
• Windows SmartScreen blocks the app. Click More info, then Run anyway, or use npm start during development.
• **Microphone or voice not work