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Posted by david927 20 hours ago

Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (Nov 2025)

What are you working on? Any new ideas that you're thinking about?
311 points | 939 commentspage 7
bambax 3 hours ago|
This month I wrote a small Windows utility to keep a PC "always awake": prevents the PC from going to sleep (using a Windows API that exists just for that) and simulates invisible mouse movements every 60 seconds to keep apps like MS Teams happy, so that the user always appears active.

There is a PowerToy thingy that's similar but it's full of options and command-line flags. My version has no options, it's just a tray utility that can be toggled on (green) or off (orange) with double-click. There are also physical mouse jigglers but they're cumbersome, and many have visible mouse movements, which is extremely annoying (not all of them do this but many do!)

The full install file is just 100Kb, works on all versions of Windows starting with Win7, installs without admin rights. Can't live without it!

I need to make a website for it but I'm procrastinating on that one last step...

lowkeyokay 3 hours ago||
I am working on a time tracking app. I use it to keep track of time spent vs my estimates, and also just to check my actual working hours. It's fully local—everything is stored in localStorage — but I do have plans for some optional syncing so it can be used on multiple devices.

It has helped me a lot to keep focus while working and track distractions. It might be too tailored for my needs, but have a look: https://zookeeper.fyi

azianmike 13 hours ago||
A few months ago, I saw a tweet from @awilkinson: “I just found out how much we pay for DocuSign and my jaw dropped. What's the best alternative?” Me being naive, I thought “how hard could would it actually be to build a free e-sign tool?”

Turns out not that hard.

In about a weekend, I built a UETA and ESIGN compliant tool. And it was free. And it cost me less than $50. Unlimited free e-sign. https://useinkless.com/

komali2 11 hours ago|
Just to play a bit of shark tank, why would I use your tool instead of Docuseal, which is FOSS and self host able?
knackers 3 hours ago||
Decompiling Snowboard Kids 2 for the Nintendo 64! https://github.com/cdlewis/snowboardkids2-decomp

The work is mysterious but important.

melenaboija 4 hours ago||
https://credit.quantra.io/

Historical public companies Merton Probabilities of Default.

A project just for fun and still having to finish a couple of things.

I plan to make the datasets public (everything but some raw market data as vendors don't allow that) and also about to add the explanation of what Merton PD is.

greenbeans12 4 hours ago||
https://tryward.app

We’re building Ward, a security browser extension that uses Gemini Nano, an on-device LLM, to scan for phishing, scams, and other threats from the DOM.

Think of an antivirus for everyday web users, like young children, older adults, and less savvy individuals.

We recently participated in the Google Chrome Built-in AI Challenge 2025 and have submitted to the Chrome Web Store.

We’re looking to meet people who may know someone Ward is good for and would want to provide feedback. Alternatively, we’d love to chat with any IT Managers/Directors of Security/Google Apps Admins who would be interested in piloting us as an anti-phishing enterprise solution.

You can DM or hit me at fitzgeraldcedric(AT)gmail.com :)

klntsky 2 hours ago|
You should probably make a version that is usable as an email filter plugin for mail servers
greenbeans12 1 hour ago||
Ooh, good idea. It started as a question: "How do we make this thing the most private?" and the obvious answer was using offline local device LLMs (e.g. Prompt API/Gemini Nano).

Will poke around and see if there's interest here, thank you!

aadv1k 12 hours ago||
About 2 years back I began working on a very simple markdown compiler, it was “immediate” in that it would consume markdown and immediately spit html. That project turned into a whole static site generator called Kevlar — https://github.com/aadv1k/kevlar

Entirely built from scratch in C without any dependencies. Now I wrote this code when I was 16, so many memory leaks and generally issues that I wanted to rectify and begin using third project for my own blog (currently old version is used — https://aadvikpandey.com)

The Kevlar v3 (https://github.com/aadv1k/kevlar/tree/kevlar-v3) here is all that it includes; more spec compliant markdown AST-based parsing; A better .ini config parser (right now it’s literally strtok on ‘=‘ and generally very hacky) as well as name spacing; more powerful templating tags like IF, FOR with lisp-like configuration

Of course staying true to the spirit of “from scratch” :)

Honestly I did scope creeped a little since I mainly wanted to fix a memory leaks issue in the markdown compiler lol; anyway I will share it once it gets completed on hacker news :)

lelanthran 8 hours ago|
> Entirely built from scratch in C without any dependencies. Now I wrote this code when I was 16

Very few young folk are learning C; I think it is commendable that you are.

You code doesn't seem very strongly structured (to be expected, TBH) but much better than any learner would see.

What resources did you use to start learning C? I ask because it looks to me that those resources covered "how to program in C" but not so much design and structure.

Here's two links (my own blog) to get you started on one or two common C patterns designed to minimise bugs:

https://www.lelanthran.com/chap9/content.html

https://www.lelanthran.com/chap13/content.html

aadv1k 6 hours ago||
Hey, thanks for your comment :) I had a look at your blog, it's looks really useful and high quality! I will go through it with vim open on the side and a nice coffee

Yeah and I'd agree with your point. One BIG critique I have for my own 2-year-past code was that I did not know how to do dynamic heap allocation very well, hence you may have seen everything is stack allocated lol

Particularly egrigeous example:

  typedef struct ListingItem {
    char lTitle[CONFIG_MAX_PATH_SIZE];
    char lDate[CONFIG_MAX_PATH_SIZE];
    char lContent[CONFIG_MAX_FILE_SIZE];
    char lPath[CONFIG_MAX_PATH_SIZE];
    int lOrder;
  }  ListingItem;

(I had read "clean code" by uncle bob at the time, so I was trying to emulate clean code I saw in the book. Needless to say, pretty good example of the nuance needed when writing clean code haha)

So with the V3 release, I am re-writing the markdown compiler for instance, and being a bit more mindful of the structure

Example: https://github.com/Aadv1k/kevlar/blob/markdown-compiler-rewr...

I think once I am done I will create a separate "Show HN" post to get valuable feedback (like this one!) from smarter folks than me. Once again, thanks for the fantastic blog :) will be sure to go through it

Cheers!

ric7setti 3 hours ago||
Been building https://nohuman.chat lately. Most ecommerce chatbots are pretty terrible. Figured I'd try to make one that doesn't suck.
jammaloo 3 hours ago||
A tool that uses face-api to find the movie character you look the most like. Everything runs in browser, without any data being sent to the server.

https://movie.jammaloo.com/

ianberdin 4 hours ago|
Curing broken developer heads. Good software engineers are good, because they are non neurotypical with many downsides such bad emotion/feeling management with huge avoidance.

My point to help to build your own MentalOS that works for, to live smoother lives without huge up and downs.

https://getpartner.ai

bhy 4 hours ago|
Does this follow some structured therapy approach like cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT)?
ianberdin 3 hours ago||
Exactly. Helps to figure out missing instruction to our body no one gave to us.
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