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Releases: techygeekshome/ShortGeek
Release list
v2.0.1
v2.0.0
Merge pull request #3 from techygeekshome/shortgeek-redesign-22-sep-2026 New Short redesign: screenshot attach, drop Topic Prompt / WordPress-RSS import (2.0.0)
ShortGeek 1.0.2
Fixes the app failing to start with "Unable to configure formatter 'default'".
If 1.0.1 gave you a box saying ShortGeek could not start, with a traceback ending in that line, this is the fix. Nothing was wrong with your machine.
What was wrong
A windowed application has no console, so it starts with nowhere to write at all. The web server inside ShortGeek tried to ask that nowhere whether it was a terminal, so it could decide whether to colour its log output, and fell over on the first line. The server never started and the window had nothing to show.
It now writes to a log file in your own profile instead, and the server does not configure logging at all.
Why the build did not catch it
1.0.1 added a check that starts the packaged app and asks it for a page. That check redirected the app's output to files so the build log could show it, and handing the app somewhere to write is precisely what hid the fault.
The check now runs the app twice: once normally, and once with its output taken away, which is the shape you actually get. Nothing is redirected. If it fails, the build prints the app's own log files, which are the same ones you would attach to an issue.
Downloads below: ShortGeekSetup.exe. SHA256SUMS.txt lists its hash.
ShortGeek 1.0.1
Fixes the app opening on a page saying the connection was refused.
If you installed 1.0.0 and got "Hmmm... can't reach this page, 127.0.0.1 refused to connect", that was this. Nothing was wrong with your machine, your firewall or your proxy.
What was wrong
The build was leaving the entire application package out of the installer. The window opened, the part that serves the screens was not there to start, and the only thing left to report the problem was the browser, which had nothing useful to say.
It was invisible in every check the build ran, because the checks looked at whether the right files were in the folder rather than whether the thing actually runs.
What is different now
- The build now starts the packaged application and asks it for a page before it will make an installer. That is the check that would have caught this.
- If startup ever fails again the app says so, in a window, and writes the details to a file you can attach to an issue, instead of leaving the browser to talk about proxies and firewalls.
- The application icon is in this build. 1.0.0 shipped without one.
Downloads below: ShortGeekSetup.exe. SHA256SUMS.txt lists its hash.
ShortGeek 1.0.0
First public release.
ShortGeek turns one of your guides, any RSS feed or URL, or a bare topic, into a narrated, captioned vertical short. Script, voice, captions and visuals are all produced on your own machine.
This app was called Shorts Studio while it was a private one-off build. Version numbering restarts here for the first public release.
Download
ShortGeekSetup.exe, Windows 10 or 11, 64-bit.
Python and ffmpeg are both inside the installer. There is nothing to install first: no Python, no PATH ticking, no winget commands.
What is in it
- Four sources: your own WordPress guides, any RSS feed or article URL, a topic prompt, or a pasted script
- A script writer that needs no API key, with an optional AI polish pass if you supply your own
- Three voices: the free Edge neural voice, offline eSpeak NG as a fallback, or ElevenLabs with your own key
- Word-level captions in three styles, burned in
- Backgrounds: your article's own images panned full-bleed, procedural stills, genuinely animated loops, or your own clips
- 1080x1920 MP4 out, ready for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
- A render queue, a library with previews, About, Support and Check for updates
First run
ShortGeek asks for your name, handle and logo letters before you render anything, because it puts them on the end card of every video. You can change them later under Settings.
What it will not do
No account, no sign-up, no telemetry. It never uploads your videos and never posts on your behalf. The only outbound call it makes on its own is the update check, and only when you press the button. Voice and AI features only reach out if you have configured a key for them.
Background clips
None are bundled. Stock libraries let you use footage but not redistribute it, so ShortGeek creates an empty clips folder in your own data directory and the Backgrounds page opens it for you. See assets/backgrounds/custom/README.md for where to get properly licensed clips.
Notes
Not code-signed, so Windows may show a SmartScreen warning on first run. Click More info, then Run anyway.
Your settings, clips and rendered videos live in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ShortGeek and are left in place if you uninstall.