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Mochi v0.4.1 — Stabilization & Portability 🌱

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@miflow13 miflow13 released this 05 Oct 18:49
v0.4.1
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Mochi v0.4.1 — Stabilization & Portability

Mochi notices where your attention goes, and stays animated and updatable on GNOME.

Hi all! First off, I want to say thank you so much for getting the repo to over 150 stars. I was genuinely grateful for just 10. This update hardens a few features from 0.4.0-alpha.1 with a stability pass of bug fixes, so the Mochi experience should be even smoother, with fewer hiccups.

Highlights

  • Active window curiosity. When you switch windows or settle on a new browser tab, Mochi notices.
    • If he's standing around, he takes a quick look through his magnifying glass.
    • If he's busy, he shows a tiny thought bubble instead.
    • He settles down during long browsing sessions and stays quiet during Focus sessions.
    • The GNOME helper tells Mochi only that you switched, plus at most a broad app type like "browser". It never sends a page title or address.
  • Animation freeze fixed (#45). Mochi now paces his own frames, so one missed GNOME Shell frame confirmation can no longer freeze his sprite.
  • Updates bring Mochi back. Update & Restart now relaunches Mochi after installing, and a failed update explains what went wrong under Show Details. Installs still on 0.4.0-alpha.1 can update to this fix. If an earlier update left Mochi closed, open him again and update again.
  • Release-based updates. Installed Mochi now updates from published releases. Testers can follow main with mochi-update --channel main, and return with --channel release.
  • New terminal coworking art. Mochi takes out a little laptop and types sleepily beside you.
  • Light mode and theme fixes.
    • The nameplate, speech bubble and bond overlay are readable in light mode again.
    • Mochi follows the desktop's light/dark style, including when it switches live.

After updating

Log out and back in once, so GNOME loads the updated helper. Window and tab curiosity start working after that.

Fedora + GNOME + Wayland remains the primary tested environment. Mochi is still alpha software, so weird Linux desktop setups are very welcome for testing.

What's Changed

  • Make the Mochi website interactive by @miflow13 in #156
  • fix: keep Focus authoritative during context churn by @miflow13 in #157
  • fix: relaunch Mochi after updates instead of crashing by @miflow13 in #159
  • fix: readable nameplate in light mode, follow system light/dark by @miflow13 in #162
  • Reading loop animation + update from published releases by default by @miflow13 in #161
  • feat: debug-only lifecycle watchdog for frozen animations (#45) by @miflow13 in #163
  • feat: tired-typing laptop art for terminal coworking by @miflow13 in #164
  • feat: use the redrawn terminal typing loop by @miflow13 in #168
  • test: lock in the fresh motion budget after a held pose by @miflow13 in #169
  • docs: add drag, Fedora Mode and contextual presence to the watchlist by @miflow13 in #170
  • fix: harden Buddy modularization regressions by @miflow13 in #89
  • fix: stop GTK waiting on compositor frame replies for Mochi (#45) by @miflow13 in #171
  • feat: tab-aware active window curiosity (supersedes #133) by @miflow13 in #172
  • docs: name 0.4.1 Stabilization & Portability by @miflow13 in #173

Full Changelog: v0.4.0-alpha.1...v0.4.1

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miflow13
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v0.4.0-alpha.1 Mochi v0.4.0-alpha.1 — Pocket & Polish 🌱

v0.4.0-alpha.1 Mochi v0.4.0-alpha.1 — Pocket & Polish 🌱

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@miflow13 miflow13 released this 28 Sep 12:24
v0.4.0-alpha.1
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Mochi v0.4 — Pocket & Polish 🌱

This release makes Mochi more useful, easier to update, and easier for the community to contribute to.

Highlights

  • Mochi Pocket — drag files, folders, links, text, images, and multiple files directly onto Mochi and keep them in a persistent local Pocket.
  • Built-in updater — safer staged updates with restart/rollback support.
  • Canonical Artist Kit — official sprites, dimensions, animation rules, and contribution guidance are now public.
  • More personality — Wave, Coffee, VS Code, Mochi.exe, This Is Fine, bond-phase dialogue, sad breathing, and autonomous naps.
  • Better Linux portability — improved installs across GNOME and non-GNOME setups.
  • More community contributions — Mochi now has multiple outside contributors helping with fixes and improvements. 💚
    Fedora + GNOME + Wayland remains the primary tested environment. Mochi is still alpha software, so weird Linux desktop setups are very welcome for testing.

What's Changed

New Contributors <3

Full Changelog: v0.3.0-alpha.1...v0.4.0-alpha.1

Contributors

miflow13, sobeitnow0, and Daniele-Cangi
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Mochi v0.3.0-alpha.1 — Growing Together 🌱

Mochi v0.3.0-alpha.1 — Growing Together 🌱 Pre-release
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@miflow13 miflow13 released this 20 Sep 09:50
v0.3.0-alpha.1
18e41a0
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Mochi v0.3 is here.

This update is the biggest step yet toward making Mochi feel less like a collection of desktop reactions and more like one coherent little creature living alongside you.

The theme for v0.3 is growing together: more personality, more ways to interact, and a relationship system designed to feel rewarding without turning Mochi into another thing you have to maintain.

Mochi is still alpha software, so expect some rough edges — especially across different compositors, monitor layouts, and scaling setups.

🌱 Bond with Mochi

Mochi now has a persistent Bond Level that grows as you spend time together.

Bond progress is deliberately non-punitive:

  • no daily streaks
  • no decaying relationship meter
  • no missed-day penalties
  • no punishment for closing Mochi
  • no requirement to interact with him

You just slowly build the relationship through ordinary interactions.

Bond XP can currently come from things like:

  • typing together
  • feeding Mochi
  • Focus with Mochi sessions

Bond progress persists between sessions.

🍬 Feed Mochi

Mochi can now be fed directly from the right-click menu.

Feeding includes:

  • a handcrafted eating animation
  • an eating sound cue
  • a little heart afterward
  • bond XP
  • proper interaction/state handling

This is intentionally not a hunger system. Mochi does not become sick, sad, or demanding if you leave him alone.

✨ Level-up feedback

When your bond level increases, Mochi now reacts to it.

Level-ups can include:

  • a dedicated celebration animation
  • sound feedback
  • visual bloom / progress feedback
  • a short level-up message
  • emote unlock presentation
  • a demonstration of newly learned emotes

The goal is for Mochi to feel like he is reacting to the relationship growing rather than simply showing you a game notification.

🎭 Emote Catalogue

v0.3 adds a new bond-aware Emote Catalogue.

The catalogue includes:

  • unlocked and locked emotes
  • bond-level requirements
  • rarity tiers
  • animated hover previews
  • upcoming / mystery slots
  • newly unlocked idle moods

Current expressions include familiar Mochi reactions like:

  • Heart
  • Bounce
  • Squish
  • Look Around
  • Side Eye
  • Table Flip
  • Dance

Some unlocked emotes can also become part of Mochi's normal idle personality.

On GNOME, the catalogue can be opened with:

Ctrl + Alt + E

⏱️ Focus with Mochi

Mochi can now sit down and work with you.

Focus with Mochi includes:

  • configurable 5–120 minute focus blocks
  • 1–30 minute breaks
  • 1–8 rounds
  • pause / resume / stop
  • a compact timer window
  • optional sparse encouragement
  • dedicated thinking and writing animations
  • optional local Rain ambience
  • independent rain volume control

Focused time earns:

  • +1 Bond XP per completed focus minute
  • +10 Bond XP for completing the full configured session

Breaks do not earn XP, and stopping early does not penalize you.

Already-earned whole-minute XP is kept.

The intent is to make Mochi a quiet coworking companion — not a productivity coach.

🖥️ More contextual personality

Mochi continues to react to broad desktop activity through AmbiSense and local integrations.

Depending on your setup, Mochi can react to things like:

  • typing
  • terminals
  • coding/editors
  • music
  • video/media
  • session presence
  • network changes
  • battery/power state
  • file-browsing activity

Mochi also retains the existing interaction set:

  • walking and idle behavior
  • Stay Put
  • Edge Roam
  • sleep / wake
  • click reactions
  • double-click heart
  • triple-click dialogue
  • pickup / dragging / drop
  • contextual speech
  • nameplates
  • Mochi Lab developer controls

🔐 Privacy

AmbiSense remains local and rule-based.

It is not an LLM and does not use a cloud AI service.

Mochi does not collect:

  • typed characters
  • words
  • key values
  • typing history
  • application titles
  • document names
  • screen contents

On GNOME, the Shell helper reduces desktop activity into coarse semantic events before Mochi receives them.

🐧 Recommended environment

The primary tested configuration is:

Fedora Linux + GNOME + Wayland

Mochi uses XWayland for the buddy window where GNOME's native Wayland positioning restrictions require it.

Other Linux environments may work, but GNOME currently provides the fullest integration.

Niri support is experimental.

⚠️ Known issues

Mochi is still alpha software.

Known areas that need more testing include:

  • GNOME Overview / workspace behavior on XWayland
  • multi-monitor setups
  • fractional scaling
  • drag direction responsiveness
  • non-GNOME compositors
  • long-running lifecycle / state edge cases

If something explodes on your setup, I genuinely want to know about it.

🧪 Testers wanted

I would love more people testing Mochi on real Linux desktops.

I'm especially looking for testers who don't mind opening GitHub issues with:

  • distro + version
  • desktop environment / compositor
  • Wayland or X11
  • monitor layout
  • scaling
  • reproduction steps
  • relevant mochi --debug output

Different hardware and weird desktop setups are extremely useful right now.

And if you're a developer who wants to dig into the code, pull requests are very welcome too. There are open bugs, refactors, compatibility work, and smaller feature tasks that would make great contributions.

Install

git clone https://github.com/miflow13/mochi-desktop.git
cd mochi-desktop
./install.sh

What's Changed

New Contributors

Full Changelog: v0.3.0-alpha...v0.3.0-alpha.1

Contributors

miflow13 and doomguyfnp90
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Mochi v0.3.0-alpha - nameplates, comfort system

Mochi v0.3.0-alpha - nameplates, comfort system Pre-release
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@miflow13 miflow13 released this 12 Sep 10:51
v0.3.0-alpha
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⚠️ GNOME Wayland: bug with backend help system and D-bus detecting physical hardware. Must log out and log back in after install for ambient system to function properly
This affects features such as typing reactions, application awareness, file browsing reactions, and focused media detection. A fix for automatic helper reconnection is in progress.

Mochi v0.3.0-alpha continues the work of making Mochi feel like one coherent little desktop companion rather than a collection of reactions.

This alpha introduces the early foundations for Mochi's nameplate and comfort/care systems, while continuing to improve ambient awareness, interaction stability, and internal UI architecture.

Expect rough edges — v0.3 is still an active development milestone. 🌱

What's Changed

What's Changed

Full Changelog: v0.2.0-alpha...v0.3.0-alpha

Contributors

miflow13
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Mochi v0.2.0-alpha

Mochi v0.2.0-alpha

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@miflow13 miflow13 released this 11 Sep 19:20
v0.2.0-alpha
f563099

Mochi v0.3.0-alpha 🌱

Mochi is a tiny handcrafted Deskling companion for Linux. It's designed to feel like one coherent little creature living on your desktop rather than a collection of disconnected reactions.

v0.3 continues that work with the early foundations of Mochi's care / comfort systems, while improving ambient awareness, interaction reliability, and the systems that let Mochi respond naturally to what is happening around him.

This is still an early alpha, so expect rough edges. Feedback, compatibility reports, and bug reports are very welcome. 💚

⚠️ GNOME Wayland first install

After installing Mochi for the first time, you may need to log out of GNOME and back in once.

This allows Mochi's GNOME Shell helper to become active for typing reactions, application awareness, file-browsing reactions, focused media detection, and other AmbiSense features.

You do not need to reinstall Mochi afterward.

🌱 What Mochi can do

  • idle, breathe, blink, wander, sleep, and wake
  • react to clicks, double-clicks, pickup, dragging, and dropping
  • respond to typing and sustained activity
  • react to music, video, terminals, editors, and other broad desktop contexts
  • use Stay Put and Edge Roam movement modes
  • show small contextual thoughts and reactions
  • remember placement and preferences
  • work across multiple monitors
  • provide built-in Quick Start and Mochi Lab tools

Mochi is intentionally small feature-wise. There are no productivity scores, streaks, nagging reminders, or requirements to interact with him. You can completely ignore him and let him do his little thing.

AmbiSense (cool name huh?)

AmbiSense is Mochi's lightweight local awareness system.

On GNOME, a small Shell extension observes privacy-reduced desktop signals and turns them into semantic events Mochi can understand.

For keyboard activity, the basic flow looks like:

GNOME Shell extension
→ notices keyboard activity
→ reduces it to an anonymous "Pulse"
→ sends the Pulse over D-Bus
→ Mochi receives it
→ AmbiSense decides whether to react

No typed characters cross that boundary.

Mochi does not store key presses, inspect typed text, reconstruct words, record key values, or send your typing to a cloud service.

AmbiSense is local and rule-based — not an LLM or cloud AI system.

Handcrafted with love <3

All Mochi pixel art, animation, and audio are created by me.

The sprites are drawn frame by frame in [Pixelorama](https://github.com/orama-interactive/pixelorama), with a lot of attention paid to timing, silhouette, squash and stretch, and the tiny expressions that help Mochi feel alive.

🐧 Recommended environment

The primary tested configuration is:

Fedora Linux + GNOME + Wayland

Mochi uses XWayland where GNOME's native Wayland restrictions require it.

Fedora + Niri support is experimental, and other Linux distributions or desktop environments may work but do not yet receive the same level of testing.

Multi-monitor layouts, fractional scaling, different compositors, and different desktop environments may still expose alpha bugs.

Install

git clone https://github.com/miflow13/mochi-desktop.git
cd mochi-desktop
./install.sh

Then launch Mochi from your application grid or run:

mochi

On GNOME Wayland, remember that a one-time logout/login may be required after the initial install before all AmbiSense features become active.

⚠️ Alpha means alpha

This release is for early users, Linux tinkerers, testers, and anyone who doesn't mind helping Mochi grow.

If something behaves strangely, please open a GitHub issue and include:

  • what you were doing immediately before the problem
  • what you expected to happen
  • what Mochi actually did
  • your Linux distribution
  • desktop environment / compositor
  • monitor layout and scaling when relevant
  • whether Mochi had just been clicked, dragged, slept, switched workspaces, or entered an AmbiSense state
  • terminal output or a traceback if available

For runtime debugging:

mochi --debug

Even missing reactions are useful reports — AmbiSense is designed to fail quietly rather than crash Mochi.

Mochi is still growing, but the goal stays the same:

a cute, polished little companion that feels like he actually belongs on your Linux desktop. 🌱

Thank you for trying Mochi. 💚

Full Changelog: v0.2.0-alpha...v0.3.0-alpha

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