Open-sourcing Otto: a browser agent that automates & uses the web like a human (early, need feedback)

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a small open-source project I’ve been working on called [Otto](https://otto.platoona.com).

**What is Otto?**

Otto is a local automation agent that can control:

* your **browser** (through a Chromium extension), and
* your **macOS desktop and apps** (through a native app).

You tell it what to do, and it carries out the steps by interacting with the UI: clicking, typing, navigating, opening apps, moving files. Basically the same things a person would do.

**Why I built it**

I often run into workflows like:

* download something from a site, rename it, move it to a folder, then upload it elsewhere, or
* automate tools that don’t have APIs at all.

On macOS, it uses system permissions like Accessibility and Screen Recording to interact with apps. Nothing is hidden, and nothing is sent out.

**Current state**

* **Otto Browser Agent**: a Chromium extension for browser automation
* **Otto macOS Agent**: a native app for macOS that can control apps and the OS

**What I’m looking for**

I’m not trying to sell anything. This is just a GitHub project at this point.

I’d really appreciate:

* thoughts on whether this is useful in real setups,
* edge cases I should think about, and
* contributors if the idea resonates.

GitHub: [https://github.com/Platoona/otto](https://github.com/Platoona/otto/)

If this sounds like something you’d use, or if you think it’s a bad idea, I’d honestly love to hear why. Thanks for taking the time to read.

https://redd.it/1prhuz1
@r_opensource

Looking for Contributors & Maintainers for a Cross-Platform Open Source Launcher

Hi everyone,

I’m the maintainer of ProjT Launcher, an open-source, cross-platform Minecraft launcher that intentionally diverged from its upstream to focus on long-term maintainability, clean architecture, and reproducible packaging.

The project is already actively distributed and used:

Windows: available via winget (merged in microsoft/winget-pkgs)

Linux: Flatpak / Flathub work in progress

Cross-platform: Linux, Windows, macOS (Qt6)

I’m now looking for contributors and potential maintainers to help grow the project in a sustainable way.



Project name:

ProjT Launcher

Repository:

https://github.com/Project-Tick/ProjT-Launcher

What it does:

ProjT Launcher is a modern Minecraft launcher focused on:

long-term maintainability

clean internal architecture (Qt6 + QML)

reproducible builds

first-class packaging support (winget, Flatpak, Nix, etc.)

It’s designed to be boring in the good sense: predictable, testable, and maintainable.



Tech stack:

C++20

Qt 6 / QML

CMake

GitHub Actions (CI)

Packaging: winget, Flatpak, Nix (ongoing)



Help needed:

I’m specifically looking for help with:

Packaging & distribution

Flatpak / Flathub

Nix / Nixpkgs

Core development

Qt / QML improvements

Architecture refactoring

Documentation

Developer docs

Contribution guidelines

Long-term maintainers

People interested in owning parts of the project

Both experienced maintainers and motivated contributors are welcome.



Why contribute:

Real-world open source maintenance experience

A project that already ships to users

Room to take ownership and shape the future of the project



If this sounds interesting, feel free to:

comment here,

open an issue,

or jump straight into the repo.

Happy to answer questions. Thanks for reading.

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

HELP!😢 Why do so many PRs get abandoned in my OSS project?

std::cout << Hello Everyone;

console.log(

I maintain a small open source project, and I keep running into the same irritating problem: contributors submit pull requests, then vanish. When I, or someone else, leaves a review on their pull request, they just don't bother making the changes even when it's a really important change that would impact the entire project positively. Sometimes it feels like they just want to pad their resume rather than engage with the project, and it sucks so much. It demotivates me like crazy.

Abandoned PRs slow things down, create extra work for maintainers, and can be demotivating for contributors who genuinely want to help.

How do other maintainers handle this?

How do you prevent “drive-by” PRs?

What actually works to keep contributors engaged after their first PR?

Are there any good strategies for mentorship, pairing, or onboarding that retain contributors?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences. How do you make open source contributions stick?

);

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

I just open-sourced my first serious project (Monorepo with CLI & Dashboard). I'm looking for advice on maintenance and CI/CD best practices.

Hi everyone,

I recently launched Composter ( https://github.com/binit2-1/Composter ), a tool for developers to save and organize their React components. It includes a CLI, a web dashboard, and an MCP server for AI integration.

I’ve managed to get it to v1.0.0, and I’ve added the basics (License, Code of Conduct, Contributing.md), but now that it's public, I feel a bit out of my depth regarding long-term maintenance. I want to do this right, but I feel like I'm just pasting templates without fully understanding them.

I would love some wisdom from experienced maintainers on three specific things:

1. The CI/CD Workflow (Monorepo) My project is a monorepo (Backend/Frontend/CLI/MCP). I hacked together a GitHub Actions workflow that runs lint-and-build, but I don't know if it's efficient.

Should I be running separate workflows for each folder?
How do you handle versioning in a monorepo? (I'm currently bumping versions manually).
Is there a "gold standard" Action for testing a CLI tool?

2. Finding & Trusting Maintainers I am currently the sole developer. I know I can't do everything forever.

How do you identify "good" contributors who might become maintainers?
At what point do you give someone else write access to the repo?
How do I signal that I am open to mentorship/help without looking like I'm abandoning the project?

3. Blind Spots If anyone has a moment to glance at the repo structure, are there glaring security holes or anti-patterns I’m missing? I’ve enabled Dependabot and Branch Protection, but I don't know what I don't know.

Repo Link: https://github.com/binit2-1/Composter

Thanks in advance for helping a junior maintainer out!

https://redd.it/1prk9si
@r_opensource

What I Learned While Making an Open-Source Networking Library at IP Layer 2 in C Using Pcap

**I started SwiftNet about 8–9 months ago and have made over 200 commits. There were times I wanted to quit, but I'm glad I didn't. I've learned a lot about networking, debugging, and testing.**

Things I learned:

* Cross-platform testing is absolutely mandatory. Code that compiles and runs perfectly on macOS can break on Linux due to differences in headers, libraries, or behaviors. I run tests on multiple platforms (macOS and Linux) using GitHub Actions and only push changes when they pass.
* Thread safety in C is hard and time-consuming. Designing for thread safety from the start is crucial. Atomics (stdatomic.h) are often simpler, more performant, and less error-prone than mutexes. I've used atomics to create lock-free systems for several variables and built a custom memory allocator that pre-allocates memory per thread.
* Manual header construction is full of small mistakes. Working at Layer 2 (Ethernet frames) and Layer 3 (IP headers) requires calculating checksums yourself, handling endianness (htons/ntohs everywhere), and respecting MTU limits to avoid silent fragmentation issues.
* Error handling and debugging are a nightmare at this level. I've sometimes spent 10 hours on a single error caused by one small mistake. Use tools like Wireshark or Termshark to inspect packets.
* Always test with ASAN and TSAN, especially in multithreading. Even LLDB can't detect some issues that TSAN or ASAN can.

If you want to take a look at the source code, here’s the GitHub repo: [https://github.com/Morcules/SwiftNet](https://github.com/Morcules/SwiftNet)

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

Beginner here interested in GSoC 2026 – looking for guidance & people to prepare together

Hey everyone 👋
I’m really interested in Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2026 and I want to start preparing early, but honestly I’m a complete beginner when it comes to GSoC. I don’t fully understand how it works, the eligibility, how to choose organizations, how to contribute to open source, or how the application/proposal process actually happens.
If anyone here:
Is also planning to apply for GSoC 2026 and wants to prepare together
Has already participated in GSoC in previous years
Or has good experience with open-source & GSoC preparation
I’d really appreciate it if you could:
Explain what GSoC actually is (in simple terms)
Share how to start preparing from scratch
Suggest skills, languages, or resources to focus on
Give advice on contributions, proposals, and timelines
Even small tips or personal experiences would help a lot 🙏
Feel free to comment or DM me if you’re interested in connecting.
Thanks in advance!

https://redd.it/1prpu4x
@r_opensource

I built a local‑first Markdown editor as a Chrome extension (no servers, no tracking)

Hey folks—sharing a weekend project that turned into something I actually use every day.

It’s a local‑first Markdown editor that runs entirely in your browser (Chrome extension). No accounts, no cloud sync, no telemetry. Open a .md file, edit with a clean WYSIWYG interface, and save straight back to disk.

Why I built it

* I bounce between README drafts, docs, and meeting notes. I wanted a fast editor that didn’t nag me to log in or push my files to someone’s server.
* I prefer seeing formatted text as I write, but I still want to keep everything in Markdown.

What it does

* Rich formatting: headings, lists, bold/italic/underline/strikethrough, blockquotes, inline/code blocks
* Tables: quick insert, plus a context menu to add/remove rows/columns
* Outline sidebar: auto‑generated table of contents; click to jump, collapse sections
* Dark mode with preference saved
* Zoom controls, undo/redo, distraction‑free canvas
* Open/Save via native file picker, Export to PDF (print‑optimized)
* Color + highlight pickers (20+), clear formatting button

Under the hood

* Vanilla JS, HTML/CSS (no frameworks)
* Marked.js for Markdown parsing
* Turndown.js for HTML → Markdown
* File System Access API for native open/save
* ContentEditable for the WYSIWYG bits

Install

* Dev mode: clone the repo and “Load unpacked” → chrome-extension folder
* Chrome Web Store is planned once I polish a few edges

Repo
[github.com/ajitgoel/local-markdown-file-editor](http://github.com/ajitgoel/local-markdown-file-editor)

What’s next

* Find/replace, word count, split preview, custom keyboard shortcuts, export to HTML
* Multiple tabs and image embed are on the roadmap

If you try it:

* Tell me where it breaks or feels clunky
* Feature ideas welcome (especially around tables, shortcuts, and PDF export)
* If you care about privacy and offline tools, I’d love your feedback

If this sounds useful, a star on GitHub helps visibility—thanks!

https://redd.it/1prqzx9
@r_opensource

Help organizing music

I have a large amount of music downloaded on my pc, the problem I have is it’s in wide variety of file formats, and they mostly don’t have meta data, I’ve been trying to think of a way to get them all on the same file type at least, and maybe getting metadata on them without having to manually go through song by song for 100’s of song

Any help or direction is greatly appreciated, TIA

https://redd.it/1prsn0r
@r_opensource

CrowdBucks is a new payment system for the Fediverse - We Distribute
https://wedistribute.org/2025/08/introducing-crowdbucks/

https://redd.it/1pro9y6
@r_opensource

ME/XP/7 Internet Games Revival: A public server is now open!
https://github.com/provigz/ZoneInternetGamesServer/discussions/11

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

Do you know some simple app launcher for android that put in home screen the private space app?

...a launcher very basical and normal (not minimal) like "fossify launcher" but with this feature integrated....and obviously opensource and secure!

Thanks you!

https://redd.it/1prqd38
@r_opensource

How to leave open source gracefully?

I am burnt out. I have been away from Github for months and came back to a bunch of PRs, issues, and "is this abandoned?" (yes, I guess it was) comments.

Seeing all this creates a mental hurdle for me.

"If I do this tiny thing I wanted to do without first addressing the mountain of stuff that piled up while I was gone... I am a horrible human being."

Which prevented me from pushing the small thing I did... and tbh made me fear opening Github again.

...

I thought it was maybe mild depression, but literally every other aspect of my life is great. The only dread and deep sadness I feel is when I think about opening Github.

In total, my npm weekly downloads are over 1.3 million. Some of the most successful projects in my niche depend on me.

My Github sponsors before I shut it down was $20 a month, and the super popular projects that are VC funded and depend on me mostly don't make PRs, but rather tons of feature requests in the issues.

After abandoning my Github for months, they finally forked me and started adding new features from the issue tracker they wanted. No PRs (which I kind of understand since I've been AFK)...

...

I just don't know what to do, I'm stuck.

At this point I just want to find A path forward. Whether that leads to a renewed love for OSS development and my maintainer role continues, OR I somehow sunset the project and wash my hands from the whole thing...

Any advice?

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

My OSS project getting dust

I recently made my auth service as open source and i thought people would visit but it has no views from days.

My project:
I made https://github.com/tzylo/tzylo-auth-ce because i found auth was repetative in every project so i made it reusable by any project and any database

Features
- multi db support
- near zero config (jwt secret, db url)
- stepper learning (as we go on add config features open)
- dockerised so can be used in production (docker pull tzylo/auth-ce)

Im just looking for feedback from devs, how you're managing your oss project


https://redd.it/1ps1ej0
@r_opensource

Anyone else tired of rebuilding the same lists again and again? I’m trying to fix that with an app

This is half a rant, half a question.

I’ve tried everything over the years:

Google Keep for quick stuff

Sheets for budgets / plans

Todo apps for tasks

AI chats for thinking things through


Individually they’re fine.
Together they’re… messy.

The biggest problem for me isn’t creating notes or tasks.
It’s that nothing stays in front of me unless I keep opening apps and reorganizing things.

I’ll make a checklist → forget it exists
Have a long AI conversation → useful ideas, gone tomorrow
Plan something in Sheets → never open it again

So I started building something for myself called Keepset.

What I’m trying to solve (plain English)

I want:

one place where important things settle

not another inbox or feed

not something that needs constant maintenance


The idea is:

> You think elsewhere.
Keepset is where important things stay.



How it works (no buzzwords)

Everything is an Item
(can be text, checklist, budget-style, planner-style — mixed, not rigid)

Your home screen widgets are the main feature, not an afterthought

The app home is small and curated, not a dump of everything you’ve ever written


If it doesn’t live on my home screen, it’s probably not that important.

Where AI fits (and where it doesn’t)

This is important:
Keepset is not an AI chat app.

AI is optional.

But when used, it does one thing well:

You talk naturally (like dumping thoughts to a friend)

AI turns that into one clean, structured item

That item can immediately become a widget


No browsing chat history.
No “remember what I said last week” nonsense.

If someone never wants AI, the app still makes sense.

Why I’m posting here

I’m at the “is this even worth building?” stage.

I’ve attached some very early mockups to show the direction (widgets, home screen, etc.).
Before I go deeper, I want honest answers:

Does this solve a real problem for you?

Would you actually keep something like this installed?

Does it feel different from Keep / Todoist / Notion, or just the same with a new skin?

Would you ever pay for something like this if it replaced a few apps for you?


I’m not trying to sell anything yet.
Just trying not to build something only I care about.

If you think this is dumb, already exists, or overthought — please say so.
That’s genuinely more useful than compliments.

Here's an ai mockup as it's still in development stage https://ibb.co/1YzfXxKv

Thanks for reading.

https://redd.it/1ps4h19
@r_opensource

Need advice on maintaining a healthy open-source community (not the code side)

I’m maintaining an open-source project (Img2Num, a browser-based image to colour-by-number tool using React and WebAssembly in C++), and I’m trying to be intentional about the community and maintenance side, not just shipping features.

I’d love advice, resources, or hard-earned lessons around things like:
- Contributor onboarding (what actually works vs. noise), e.g., good docs, good first issues, or other important things
- Issue & PR management without burning out. I find it tough to keep track of everything the project needs to get done since it's still quite new.
- Setting contribution norms and boundaries
- Roadmaps:
- How detailed should they be?
- Where should they live (README, GitHub Projects, docs, elsewhere)?
- Releases:
- Release early/often vs. fewer “stable” releases
Communicating breaking changes
- Community spaces:
- When (if ever) does Discord/Slack make sense?
- Signs it’s too early or not worth the overhead
- Social media:
- Useful for OSS communities or mostly just a distraction? If yes, what should actually be shared?
- Long-term sustainability:
- Avoiding maintainer burnout
- Keeping expectations realistic as the project grows

If you’ve maintained or helped grow an open-source project (especially a small or mid-sized one), what do you wish you’d known earlier?

Any resources (such as blogs, talks, books, examples, or just candid experience) are all very welcome. I just want to learn whatever I can before it's too late.

Thanks for getting this far! I’m specifically trying to learn how to do this well rather than accidentally harming the community. Any help would be amazing.

https://redd.it/1ps4czt
@r_opensource

Minimal open-source “Notepad-style” markdown scratchpad for Windows & Linux
https://github.com/yosr481/Notepad-Flux

https://redd.it/1ps5ucv
@r_opensource

Can I use AGPL for my project but also use MIT for some parts of the code?

I wrote a project with kotlin multiplatform, which compiles to JVM, Android, iOS and web..Because of the web part I want to use AGPL.

But there might be parts of the code that are interesting for others to use (smaller solutions). Can I set up another license for that part or would it be confusing or a legal problem?

Maybe it would be easier to copy these parts to another project and put that under MIT license.

There are no other contributors so far.

I just want to prevent anybody to use the code, make it proprietary and get money out of it.

https://redd.it/1ps896r
@r_opensource

Unique features of C++ DataFrame (1)
https://github.com/hosseinmoein/DataFrame

https://redd.it/1ps77kb
@r_opensource

built ReSearch: A self-hosted search engine with its own crawler targeted to kill AI slop. Uses Go, KVRocks, and Quickwit backend. Focuses on crawling/search on curated domains list which are configurable.

I saw a yt video from "kurzgesagt" with noscript: "AI Slop Is Destroying The Internet", the video describes how the internet is getting filled with AI generated slop and how the existing LLMs are using misinformation and inaccurate AI slop as a verified source from the internet and confidently hallucinating. A thought struck me, what if instead of crawling the entire internet what if we had a search engine with curated domain list to crawl. The internet is filled with social media, porn, SEO optimization junk, AI slop, so I though by doing this we can create a mini internet with high valued results, now this means we have less NOISE, HIGH QUALITY results

The primary targeted clients sere AI and LLM companies, I can run multiple clusters with each cluster focuses on particular topic, like research papers(google scholar), code documentations (code generation LLM), one for Dark web, one targeting cyber security sites etc etc,

But then I though its would be a failed business and I planed to make it open source xD

I did plan and implement it to handle 50M plus search results, there are some bottlenecks, you can definitely increase the limit by fixing those, the code is optimised, efficinet and fuctional and I probably won't be maintaining it.

It is build with scalability and distributed arch in mind, KV rocks and quick both are extremely scalable, and you can run multiple crawling engines in parallel writing to the same DB, didn't get to test this product to the extremes but, I worked with 20 domains which weren't blocking me on scrapping (am I going to jail?), and max was scraping 200k records, the search results were pretty fast as quickwit uses inverse index for search, so it s fast despite the scale.

and also you do need to work on following sitemap logic, and had plans to include AI generated content identification and skipping indexing those sites.

I would appreciate any review on the architecture, code quality, scalability, feel free to reach out for anything :")

Tech Stack: Golang (Wanted to do Rust but I didn't work on Rust before and it felt like it was too much to trade for a slight performance gain)

QuickWit, powerful, efficient, fast, Rust based (why not OPENSEARCH, no budget for Ram in this economy, and I definitely hate java stack)

I did use AI here and there to improve my efficiency and reduce manual work, but not entirely build on vibes,


you can deploy on your local machine if you wanna run your own search engine

github link: https://github.com/apigate-in/ReSearch

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

Looking for Contributors – Modern C++ CLI Calculator (OSS)

Hi! 👋
I’m maintaining an open-source **C++ CLI Calculator** and I’m looking for contributors.

**Project highlights:**

* Modern C++ (CMake, clean architecture)
* REPL mode, expression parsing
* Matrices, prime factorization, base conversion
* Batch noscripting support
* CI/CD and multi-platform packaging (Snap, DEB)

**Looking for help with:**

* Core C++ features and refactors
* Performance and parsing improvements
* Tests and CI
* Documentation and CLI UX polish

Beginner-friendly issues are available, and code reviews are provided.
If you enjoy clean C++ and well-structured CLI tools, you’ll feel at home.

👉 GitHub: [https://github.com/Benedek553/cli-calculator]()

PRs, issues, and discussions are welcome.



https://redd.it/1ps8dct
@r_opensource

Anyone know of any (free) open source git repository sites like github/gitlab?

Like with (near) complete privacy ( as in no data shared and no data being in the view of microsoft for example) and being completely open souce and free. (hopefully free, but if its completely open soruce and private, im willing to pay some money to use it).


edit: i also mean foss code repositories, not just git.

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