Honu 0.1

The first tagged version of Honu, an experiment in desktop GUI design on macOS: Liquid Glass bubbles float directly on the desktop, above other windows.

What's in it

• The turtle and its launcher. A pixel turtle in the bottom-left corner. Click it for a launcher of tiles: Note, Web Page (YouTube links play the video), every microapp Claude has made for you, and + for a new one. Every click opens a new bubble with data of its own. Right-click the turtle for Exit.
• Microapps Claude makes. Describe what you want, such as a pomodoro timer, and Claude writes a small web app that runs in the bubble. Ask for changes in the bar below it (Return or Go), and every open bubble of it updates. Errors the page reports are fixed on their own, and the last change can be undone.
• The octopus. Drag a bubble to the pixel octopus to delete it; drag a microapp's tile there, or right-click the tile and choose Uninstall, to uninstall it with all its bubbles. For a few seconds, click the octopus or press ⌘Z to get it back.
• Bubbles with physics. Throw them, let them drift, and watch them push each other apart. They breathe while busy, rise when done, and wobble when they need you.
• Everything is saved as you go, in ~/.honu/.

Running it

There is no prebuilt app yet: build it from source. It needs macOS 26 or newer and a Swift 6.2 toolchain (the Command Line Tools are enough).

git clone https://github.com/ctchuang/honu.git
cd honu
git checkout v0.1
swift run

Making microapps needs Claude Code, signed in with your Claude account (run claude once in Terminal); Honu uses no API key.

Status: experimental prototype. Expect breaking changes.