Deskling

Deskling

A little life on your desktop.

Deskling is a free macOS app that puts a small animated companion on your desktop. It strolls along the bottom of your screen, takes a seat, dozes off, waves when you come back and, every so often, walks over with a gentle reminder to drink water, stretch or take a break.

Visit deskling.app · Download for Mac

Why I built it

Most of us spend long, quiet hours in front of a screen. Reminder apps tend to add more of the same: badges, sounds and a pile of alerts that are easy to dismiss and easy to resent. I wanted something that felt more like a friend sitting next to you than another notification. Deskling is that idea: a tiny character with a life of its own that happens to look out for you.

What it does

A companion with a life of its own

Your Deskling decides when to wander, when to rest and when to check on you.

• Walk: strolls along the bottom of your screen, in no particular hurry.
• Sit: takes a seat and watches you work for a while.
• Sleep: dozes off when you step away from the keyboard.
• Wave: says hello when you come back.
• Stretch: leads by example after a long session.
• React: hops when you give it a click.

Gentle reminders

Water, breaks, stretches, the one thing you said you'd do at four. Your Deskling walks over, asks once in a speech bubble ("Did you drink water?") and takes no for an answer. Say yes and it's proud of you; say "Remind me later" and it swings by again in a little while.

Built to stay out of your way

• Quiet: no sounds, no badges, no pile of alerts. Reminders arrive one at a time, in a speech bubble.
• Lightweight: a small app that sips resources.
• Never in the way: it steps aside for your cursor and your work.
• No dashboard: settings live in one small menu bar icon.

Meet Milo

Milo is the original Deskling: a round, clay-coloured character with a little sprout on top. On the website he's drawn entirely in code rather than with image sprites, so every pose (walking, sitting, sleeping, waving, stretching, celebrating) stays smooth at any size.

Where it's headed

• More characters: pets, robots, fantasy creatures and mini humans.
• Make it yours: start from a photo and meet a tiny version of someone you know.
• Talk to it: one day, you'll just say it out loud.

Details

Behind the build

• The app: a lightweight macOS app that lives on your desktop, with its settings in one small menu bar icon.
• The website: built with Next.js and deployed on Netlify, with the character running live in the page. You can watch it walk across the hero, answer a reminder and try different behaviours.
• Launch video: made with HyperFrames, using a code port of the same Milo character, so the video and the app share one design.