AI’s Unpaid Debt: How LLM Scrapers Destroy the Social Contract of Open Source
https://www.quippd.com/writing/2025/12/17/AIs-unpaid-debt-how-llm-scrapers-destroy-the-social-contract-of-open-source.html

https://redd.it/1pqcn4j
@r_opensource

Help, my project is taking off!

First off, I know this is complaining on a high level. But this is a situation I haven't had before and I don't know how to handle it.

I made a OSH physiotherapy game console for kids with chronic illnesses that require daily inhalation and breathing physiotherapy. I designed the hardware, I made the OS, I made games that can be loaded from SD card in an app-like system.

I primarily made this for one of my kids who has such a chronic illness.

I then put it on github, including the source code, the 3D print files and a detailed denoscription of how to make it. And then crickets. Nobody really cared about it.

Until I talked to the head of a local self-help group for that kind of illness, and she really started pushing the project. Two hospitals use that device now together with a few kids who use it at home. None of them wanted to build it themselves (even though it's quite simple) and I had to manufacture them.

Now one of the hospitals wants to make a paper on that game console and they ordered 30pcs from me, which is awesome, but at that volume I have to find a way to tax all this, might have to get certifications and all that, and now it's much more stressful than just the hobby thing I did for my kid. They also want some software changes to work with the stuff they need for the paper. The kids are asking for more games that I now have to make.

It's just not fun any more and it's becoming more and more of a chore.

Right now I wish I could just hand off the project to someone else, but there's no one else. As almost always open sourcing doesn't mean that anyone is contributing.

How do I deal with stuff like that?

https://redd.it/1pqfctu
@r_opensource

Microsoft Confirms Windows Security Update Breaks VPN Connections
https://www.forbes.com/sites/daveywinder/2025/12/18/microsoft-confirms-windows-11-security-update-breaks-vpn-access/

https://redd.it/1pqfozx
@r_opensource

I made a visual grid that shows your subnoscriptions sized by how much they actually cost you

Hey everyone! I built a simple tool that turns my subnoscriptions into a proportional treemap - bigger box = bigger monthly spend.

Seeing it visually was honestly a bit confronting. I knew streaming services cost money, but I didn't realize they made up quite a lot of my total subnoscription spend until I saw them as massive boxs. Made it pretty easy to decide what to cut first.

What it does:

Shows all your subnoscriptions as proportional boxes
Instantly highlights which services dominate your budget
Useful for deciding what's actually worth keeping vs what to cancel

Privacy-focused:

No signup required
100% free (personal project, I make nothing from this)
All data stays in your browser - nothing sent anywhere

Try it here: visualize.nguyenvu.dev
Source code: hoangvu12/subgrid

Would love feedback, is this actually useful, or am I the only one who needed to see it visually to take action? Open to suggestions on what would make it better.

https://redd.it/1pqh0b7
@r_opensource

Brassica – Open source, self-hosted web app for Broccoli recipe files

Brassica is an open source PHP web app for managing Broccoli recipe files in the browser.

Uses the same `.broccoli` format as the Android app
Self-hosted (PHP + SQLite)
No tracking, no SaaS, no accounts required externally
GPL

Github: https://github.com/crispilly/brassica
Live demo ( daily reset): https://brassicademo.crispilly.de/

https://redd.it/1pqflrc
@r_opensource

Web Monetization Wrapped 2025 | Interledger Foundation
https://interledger.org/developers/blog/web-monetization-wrapped-2025/

https://redd.it/1pqjege
@r_opensource

Any good open source speech to text tools?

Hi everyone

Is there any good open source tool that can take an audio file (English speech) and convert it to text?

I’ve got 32GB VRAM, so big models are fine

Also heard about Whisper, not sure if it’s the best option!

https://redd.it/1pqis1r
@r_opensource

Alternative to defit app (android)

Im working on a personal workout tracker/hub and using DeFit on android (Debugger of Fitness Apps) to simulate real running workouts.
It syncs with the google fitness api and enables me to then bridge google fit to my personal tracking dashboard.

The app is working as intended, and while Im very grateful for the generous ad-supported free version, has caviats for my use case:

- cannot simulate heart rate, just distance/pace (which I adjust in the app so the workouts have different step counts)
- works on ad viewing tokens which I have to top up every few days if I run it once a day
- cant schedule, so I have to use the app to generate workouts & view a few ads when it runs out of tokens


An alternative to this would be awesome, so I can generate historical data without so much manual input

https://redd.it/1pqle6t
@r_opensource

What is a good Linux MusicBee alternative

I'm making the move to Linux, and I want to find a good music library app, with iPod syncing capabilities. I currently use MusicBee and iTunes, and want something that will allow me to sync my iPod 5th Gen.

https://redd.it/1pqio1y
@r_opensource

What is the best approach for an open database in a project?

I'm looking to add a small database for an open-source project:
[https://codeberg.org/purchase-with-purpose/pwp-website](https://codeberg.org/purchase-with-purpose/pwp-website)

The idea is to track the tools a person has switched to. What approach is best for an open-source project?

* Are there any databases or tools that give public read access to data?
* Do you use a standard database/host and publicly share read access?
* Is an open database a non-starter, or would it be better to keep the code open-source, but the database closed?

I've been involved in a few open-source projects, and I've surprisingly never come across this. Also, none of my searches came up with anything.



https://redd.it/1pqo6q8
@r_opensource

Updated my open source Cloudflare management Telegram bot (new features added)
https://github.com/sarat1kyan/pocket-cf

https://redd.it/1pqq3lc
@r_opensource

BetterShift - An Open Source Shift Management App

Hey folks!

I've been working on **BetterShift**, a modern shift management application that I built to simplify managing variable work schedules. It's completely open source (MIT license) and designed for easy self-hosting.

# What It Does

BetterShift lets you manage work shifts across unlimited calendars with one-click toggles, reusable presets, and real-time synchronization. Perfect for shift workers, freelancers, or anyone with irregular schedules.

**Live Demo:** Check out the Github Repo

**GitHub:** [github.com/pantelx/bettershift](https://github.com/pantelx/bettershift)

# Key Features

* **One-Click Shift Management** — Left-click to add/remove shifts, right-click to add notes
* **External Calendar Sync** — Subscribe to Google, Outlook, or iCal calendars with auto/manual refresh
* **Reusable Shift Presets** — Create templates with custom labels, times, and colors
* **Real-Time Updates** — Changes sync instantly across all open browser tabs using Server-Sent Events
* **Password Protection** — SHA-256 encrypted calendar passwords with two-tier access control (read-only or full lock)
* **Live Statistics** — Instant shift tracking and hour calculations with visual charts
* **Export Options** — Download as ICS or PDF with flexible time range filters
* **Multi-Language** — Full German, English, and Italian support
* **Dark/Light Theme** — Toggle themes with system preference detection
* **Auto Update Checks** — Detects new releases with integrated changelog viewer
* **Mobile Responsive** — Works great on desktop and mobile devices

# Why I Built This

I wanted something lightweight, self-hosted, and privacy-focused for managing irregular work schedules. Most solutions are either too complex, require subnoscriptions, or lack the flexibility I needed. BetterShift keeps it simple while being powerful enough for multiple calendars and team scenarios.

Would love to hear your feedback! Feel free to ask questions, report issues, or suggest features. Happy to help with self-hosting setup if anyone runs into issues.

https://redd.it/1pqq7vw
@r_opensource

Building a playground for AI exploits - Looking for contributors

If you've done AI red teaming you know apps like Lakera Gandalf are basically toys, not real applications. So I made Green Dragon, like OWASP Juice Shop but for AI exploits.

This is an early version, but the vision is a complete AI-native app to showcase emerging risks beyond prompt injection: Tool abuse, memory poisoning, rogue agents, and more. We will add challenges with chained exploits that bridge the gap between AI and web security, which is how hackers operate to escalate impact.

Green Dragon is fully open source. It is a place to learn and benchmark AI red teaming solutions. We have lots of exciting features on our roadmap!

If you're interested in contributing, I'd love to chat. It won’t be perfect from day one, so any feedback is appreciated. Already got some great pointers from other subs.

Thank you!

https://redd.it/1pqth6y
@r_opensource

Lanemu P2P VPN 0.13.1 - Open-source alternative to Hamachi
https://gitlab.com/Monsterovich/lanemu/-/releases/0.13.1

https://redd.it/1pqtuom
@r_opensource

Early feedback wanted, an experimental Python desktop framework (Electron alternative)

Hi everyone,



I’m working on an early-stage open-source experiment called taupy. The goal is to make small desktop apps in Python without the usual heavy frameworks such as Electron.


The main idea is:

\- Python as a backend

\- HTML/CSS/JS, react for the UI

\- focus on fast startup and minimal runtime cost


This is very early, so I’m explicitly not presenting it

as production ready tool. I’d really appreciate any thoughts or criticism


git - https://github.com/S1avv/taupy

small demo - https://github.com/S1avv/taupy-focus

Even a short answer helps.

https://redd.it/1pqv38e
@r_opensource

MIRA: An open-source persistent AI entity (10 months of solo development, now released)

My name is Taylor. I just released MIRA as open source after 10 months of development. This is my TempleOS.



**What it is**



MIRA is an architecture for AI persistence: memory that manages itself, documents the model can edit autonomously, and a self-model where the AI writes observations about its own behavior. One conversation forever, no reset button.



**Why open source**



I decided to release MIRA as open source because I believe that what I've built here has the potential to someday be something more than the sum of its parts, and no one person should own that.



The MIRA in the repository is effectively identical to the hosted version at miraos.org except for a web interface and authentication plumbing. I commit to maintaining an open source version for as long as I'm in charge of it.



**How it got built**



I'm going to be honest: I don't know how to write Python. I built this entire application from the Claude Code terminal over 8 months. I got access on the second day it was available and dove in. I wrote tests that pass as a one-person development team by articulating design decisions and reviewing code rather than writing it directly.



There's a file in the repo called HOW_TO_BUILD_A_TOOL.md written specifically to give Claude the context needed to zero-shot a working tool. Tools are entirely self-contained (config, schema, implementation in one file), so extending MIRA is straightforward: describe what you want, drop the file in tools/implementations/, restart the process, done.



**Acknowledgments**



I want to directly thank Sarah from Letta and MemGPT for seeding the idea that we could let the models manage their own context window. What a simple and powerful concept.



Thank you to the Claude Code team at Anthropic. Boris from the team still replies to messages like a good developer should. I built nearly this entire application from the terminal.



And thank you to every open source developer who came before me. I use FileZilla to transfer files. I edit photos with GIMP. I use the foundational technologies that make day-to-day internet usage possible. This project would not be possible without the hard work of people whose names we'll never know. The internet has been a collective effort on a scale that dwarfs human history up till this point.



**The architecture (brief)**



\- Memories decay based on usage, not time. Unreferenced memories fade. Well-connected memories persist.

\- The model controls its own context window by expanding and collapsing sections of persistent documents.

\- Tools load on-demand and auto-unload when unused, keeping context lean.

\- Conversation segments get summarized and processed for memory extraction automatically. No human intervention.

\- Works with any OpenAI-compatible LLM endpoint (ollama, vllm, llama.cpp) or cloud APIs (Anthropic, Groq).

\- Single cURL deployment handles dependencies, database setup, Vault initialization, everything.



**License**



The repo is available at https://github.com/taylorsatula/mira-OSS



**On quality**



In our current era there is an abundance of slop-shoveling minimum viable product releasing developers with no compassion for the end user and no panache. This is not one of those repos. MIRA has been a labor of love. I wanted to give up on this project more times than I can count. It remains to be seen if this was a fool's errand in the end, but I set out to accomplish something I'd never seen someone else do and I made it to my destination of a 1.0.0 release.



I hope you enjoy it, extend it, and grow it. Contributions welcome.

https://redd.it/1pqwjee
@r_opensource

Private, non-AI Photo Management Software?

I want to organize my personal data (photos, videos, etc.), and I’m looking for a photo management software that supports hierarchical tags stored in metadata, without any AI or facial recognition, and preferably open source.

I’m using Ubuntu Desktop.

Shotwell is preinstalled on my system, but its tagging system is too limited: tags are flat and there’s no real hierarchy or advanced search.

digiKam is often recommended and looks great on paper, but its use of AI and facial recognition features makes me uncomfortable, even if they are optional.

Are there any good offline, non-AI photo management alternatives left that support hierarchical tags and advanced searches?

https://redd.it/1pqyl4f
@r_opensource

HyprRun – a minimal terminal launcher made for Hyprland (no overlays!)
https://github.com/fajremvp/HyprRun

https://redd.it/1pqxc7r
@r_opensource

Open Source SaaS Management Platform

Good day to you all, I regularly deal with combating the problem of SaaS sprawl and Shadow IT. I've built a tool that can ingest invoices to analyze spend, and set reminders so you can negotiate the best rate on your SaaS renewals.

You can connect to Microsoft Entra to import your users and sync all of your licenses in one spot. There's an agent that can be deployed to help monitor non-SSO apps and shadow IT.

https://github.com/NickRomanek/SasWatch

https://redd.it/1pr2qfc
@r_opensource

Built a framework-agnostic chat web component
https://github.com/spider-hand/advanced-chat-kai

https://redd.it/1pr54l1
@r_opensource

My open source project passed 2000 visitors
https://github.com/octree-labs/octree

https://redd.it/1pr4ghv
@r_opensource