Enter AI skills. These are markdown files you install into Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any agent that supports them.

Below I’ve collected some design-focused AI skills and skill directories that I think are worth adding to your AI agent. Once installed, it will teach your agent a specific design language from Swiss grid systems to OKLCH color science.

So let’s take a look at each skill and what it could bring to your agent’s design vocabulary.

1. OKLCH Color Skill

OKLCH Color Skill teaches your agent to work with the OKLCH color space, a perceptually uniform alternative to HSL that eliminates hue drift and makes palette generation predictable.

Instead of guessing hex values or producing muddy HSL combinations, the agent learns to convert between formats, generate uniform palette scales from 50 to 950, derive dark mode colors through lightness manipulation, check contrast against WCAG 2 and APCA standards, and build Tailwind v4 themes with proper OKLCH tokens.

Install: npx skills add jakubkrehel/oklch-skill

Use: /oklch-skill or just describe a color task. The skill activates automatically when the agent encounters color-related work.

If your project uses custom design tokens or you’re tired of agents producing color combinations that look fine in isolation but fall apart on dark mode, this skill is a solid fix.

2. Swiss Design System Skill

Swiss Design System brings the Swiss International Style to AI agents. The skill teaches grotesque sans-serif typography such as Helvetica, Univers, Neue Haas Grotesk, along with strict grid systems, generous whitespace, and restrained color.

It expresses these principles through Tailwind CSS so the agent can apply these rules using standard utility classes. The skill includes a complete font specimen ranking by fidelity to the original style, grid system references from Josef Mueller-Brockmann, and data on both the Zurich and Basel schools of thought.

Install: npx skills add zeke/swiss-design-skill

Use: Ask your agent to build a layout in Swiss International Style. It will apply grid discipline, select appropriate grotesque typefaces, and maintain breathing room around content automatically.

Great for landing pages, editorial layouts, and any project where clarity and visual hierarchy matter more than decorative flourish.

3. Transitions.dev

Transitions.dev is a collection of nine essential UI transitions packaged as a copy-paste showcase and an installable agent skill. The transitions cover card resize, number pop-in with digit flip and blur, notification badge diagonal slide, and a lot more – each comes with ready-to-use CSS that agents can apply directly in your project.

The skill is generated from the index.html on the showcase site, so the code your agent produces always matches what you see demonstrated. If you’ve ever had an agent produce a modal that pops in from nowhere with no transition, this skill fixes that.

Install: Clone the repo or reference the skill from github.com/Jakubantalik/transitions.dev

Use: Mention any of these transition patterns and the agent applies the pre-optimized CSS.

4. DESIGN.md Directory

A directory of DESIGN.md files built specifically for AI coding agents. Each file describes a complete design system including color palettes, typography rules, spacing systems, component specs, and layout principles. Pick a style, copy the markdown, and add it to your project as a DESIGN.md file. Your agent reads it and applies that design language to everything it builds from buttons to full page layouts.

Use: Browse the directory, find a design system that matches your aesthetic, download or copy the DESIGN.md, and place it in your project root. The agent picks it up automatically without additional configuration.

This is the lowest-friction option on the list: no CLI, no npm, no install command. Just a markdown file in your project.

5. Agents with Taste

Agents with Taste is an installable design engineering skill by Emil Kowalski that covers animation principles, component design, easing curve selection, duration guidelines, typography rules, and practical tips drawn from his open source projects.

The skill includes a table of practical tips, an easing decision flowchart that teaches agents exactly which curve to use based on context, duration guidelines from micro-interactions (100-150ms) to modals (200-300ms), and strict typography rules like capping body text at 65 characters.

Install: npx skills add emilkowalski/skill

Use: Ask the agent to improve an animation or design a component. The skill applies Emil’s personal design philosophy automatically. You can also use the skill-creator skill from Anthropic to package your own taste into skill files using the same methodology.

6. Hue

The Hue app is an open-source skill by Dominik Martin that learns any brand from a URL, name, or screenshot and generates a complete design system from it. You point it at Cursor.com or Raycast or any brand, and it produces a design system with color tokens, typography, spacing, components, dark mode support, and icon recommendations.

Hue comes with 17 example brands built in, from Atlas (ivory engineering, classical maritime) to Velvet (noir editorial fragrance house). Each includes a design-model.yaml and a landing-page.html showing the system rendered.

Install: git clone https://github.com/dominikmartn/hue ~/.claude/skills/hue

Use: “Make a design skill from cursor.com” or “Create a design language inspired by Raycast.” The agent walks through the analysis and generates the skill.

If you need your agent to match an existing brand identity instead of inventing its own, this is the most practical option.

7. Refero Styles

Refero Styles is a visual search engine for design references and an installable agent skill. Search by brand, mood, color, typography, or paste a URL. For each result, Refero provides the full style breakdown: colors, type, spacing, components, and a DESIGN.md file your agent can use directly. Under the hood, the skill gives your agent access to 150,000+ real app screens and 6,000+ user flows from products like Stripe, Linear, Notion, and Figma.

Use: Search for a style that matches what you’re building. Open any result to copy its DESIGN.md and place it in your project. Your agent instantly adopts that design language.

Refero also offers an MCP server that connects your agent directly to its reference library, so the agent can pull real product interface patterns on demand during development.

8. TypeUI Design Skills

TypeUI Design Skills is a collection of design skills made for Claude Design, Google Stitch, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and other tools. Each skill is an optimized SKILL.md or DESIGN.md file that gives your agent a specific design style. Browse the collection, find a look you like, and either copy-paste the file, download it, or use their CLI.

Install: npx typeui.sh pull [name]

Use: Browse the gallery, pick a design, pull it into your project. Your agent builds everything from that point using the chosen aesthetic.

TypeUI supports OpenClaw agents too, so if you’re running agents locally, these skills work out of the box.

9. UI/UX Pro Max Skill

UI/UX Pro Max is a design skill with 161 reasoning rules and 67 UI styles. The main feature is the Design System Generator – you describe your project and it builds a design system with layout patterns, colors, typography, effects, and things to avoid.

It supports multiple frameworks and stacks including HTML + Tailwind, React, and Next.js, and works with VS Code agents like Claude Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Copilot and Codex.

Install: npx ui-pro init inside any project or npm install -g uipro-cli for global access

Use: Describe your project, for example a premium tour booking app, and the generator recommends a complete design system with pattern, style, colors, typography, and UX rules. The skill also includes a search script for finding design references by query and domain.

This is the heaviest option on the list, but also the most complete. If you want one skill that handles the full design system workflow from requirements analysis to component output, this is it.

10. AI UX Playground

AI UX Playground is a library of AI-specific UX design patterns for products like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Cursor. Each pattern is documented with examples, use cases, and platform-specific instructions for how to apply it in ChatGPT, Claude, Google Gemini, Cursor, or other tools.

Use: Browse the pattern library, find the UX pattern you need, and follow the platform-specific instructions to apply it. Each pattern includes examples from real AI products and tips for implementing it in your own tooling.

This one is less about visual polish and more about UX patterns specific to AI products.

What’s next?

We’ve just scratched the surface of what AI skills can do for designers. The tools here are just a starting point, and AI skills for design are still early – expect rough edges.

But the direction is clear. Design knowledge is shifting from static documents that humans read to executable rules that agents run. Designers who learn to write those rules will shape what agents build. This article gives you a starting point. Pick one skill from the list, install it, and see what your agent produces differently.

The post 10 AI Skills to Give Your Coding Agent Real Design Taste appeared first on Hongkiat.

That alone is useful. But if 1Password is only your password drawer, you are leaving a lot of its best security and convenience features untouched. If you are still choosing a manager, this roundup of best password managers is a useful starting point. This list is for the part after that: actually making 1Password do more work for you.

Some of those features sit quietly in the app until a very specific moment makes them useful. Crossing a border. Sharing the Wi-Fi password with a guest. Renewing a passport. Helping someone access critical documents if something happens to you.

These are the 1Password features I would set up before that moment arrives.

1. Turn on Travel Mode Before Crossing Borders

Travel Mode is one of 1Password’s more unusual features. It lets you temporarily remove selected vaults from your devices while you travel, while keeping only the vaults you mark as safe for travel.

That can be useful if you are crossing a border and do not want every sensitive login, document, note, or account record sitting on the device in front of you.

To use it, sign in at 1Password.com, open your account menu, go to Manage Account, and turn on Travel Mode. Before you do that, create a separate vault for anything you still need while traveling, then mark that vault as safe for travel.

When Travel Mode is enabled, vaults that are not marked safe are removed from your 1Password apps. When you are done traveling, turn it off and those vaults return.

It takes a minute to set up and can save a lot of stress when you travel.

2. Use Virtual Cards for Online Payments

If you pay online often, virtual cards are worth setting up.

1Password integrates with Privacy.com, which lets you create virtual payment cards for online purchases. Instead of giving a merchant your real card number, you use a generated card number. You can also create cards for specific merchants and set spending limits.

The useful part is that once the integration is set up, 1Password can suggest the right card when you are checking out on that merchant’s site. It is a practical companion to the usual habits behind secure online transactions, especially when you are paying on sites you do not fully trust yet.

You will need a Privacy.com account and the 1Password browser extension. Privacy Cards are also limited to eligible U.S. users, so check availability before you plan around them.

It is especially useful for subscriptions, lesser-known stores, and any checkout page that makes you hesitate before entering your real card details.

3. Add Expiry Alerts to Passports, Licenses, and Software

1Password is not limited to website logins. It can store passports, driver licenses, software licenses, credit cards, memberships, and other records with dates attached.

Those dates can trigger alerts.

If you store your passport in 1Password, add its expiry date so Watchtower can flag it before it expires. Do the same for driver licenses, credit cards, memberships, API credentials, software licenses, and anything else that becomes annoying when it expires quietly.

This turns 1Password into a lightweight renewal tracker. Not glamorous, but neither is discovering your passport expires two weeks before a trip.

4. Store One-Time Passwords With Shared Logins

Multi-factor authentication is good security. Shared accounts make it awkward.

If one person has the authenticator code on their phone and someone else needs to log in, you end up in the least elegant security workflow ever invented: texting six-digit codes back and forth before they expire.

1Password can store one-time passwords for logins and fill them automatically after the username and password. For shared accounts, add the login and its one-time password to a shared vault so everyone with access can sign in without chasing the person who owns the authenticator app. If you want a broader look at the tradeoffs, this guide to secure password sharing is a useful companion.

Use this carefully. Shared access should still be limited to people who genuinely need it. For family streaming accounts, utility portals, shared admin tools, or household services, it is much cleaner than texting codes around when someone needs to log in.

5. Use Guest Vaults for Temporary Access

If you use 1Password Families, guest vaults are useful for people who need limited access without seeing the rest of your family vaults.

A guest vault can hold things like Wi-Fi details, a smart lock code, house instructions, or a streaming login for a babysitter or visiting relative. Guests only get access to the vault you choose, and you can remove that access later.

That is cleaner than sending sensitive details through chat apps and later trying to remember where you sent them.

6. Save Your Wi-Fi Router as an Item

Add your wireless router to 1Password and it can generate a QR code for the network.

Create a new Wireless Router item, enter the network name and password, then save it. 1Password will show a QR code that guests can scan to join the network.

This is one of those tiny features that feels almost silly until someone asks for the Wi-Fi password and you no longer have to spell a long password out loud like a hostage negotiator.

If you prefer to keep QR codes hidden by default, check the app’s security settings for concealed fields.

7. Add Locations to Items You Use in Specific Places

1Password can attach locations to items and show them in a Nearby section on mobile.

That means you can add your gym membership to your gym, your rewards card to a store, your health insurance information to a clinic, or a travel document to an airport-related note.

The next time you are near that place and open 1Password on your phone, the relevant item can surface without you digging through search.

It is a small organizational trick that fits how people actually use information. Some details only come up in specific places.

8. Link Related Items Together

Some 1Password items naturally belong together.

A bank login may connect to a debit card, a credit card, a secure note, and scanned documents. A domain registrar login may connect to DNS notes, recovery codes, and billing records. A company account may connect to software licenses and admin credentials.

Instead of relying on naming conventions alone, link related items inside 1Password. When you open one item, the related records appear with it.

This keeps related records together and makes the vault easier to browse later.

9. Archive Old Items Instead of Deleting Them

Not every old login deserves deletion.

Some accounts are inactive but still useful for records. Some documents are outdated but may be needed later. Some credentials belong to services you no longer use, but deleting them feels a bit too final.

Archive those items instead.

Archived items stay in 1Password, but they are removed from regular search results and autofill suggestions. If you need them later, you can restore them.

It is the difference between cleaning your desk and throwing away the folder you will suddenly need during tax season.

10. Build an Emergency Access Plan

1Password can hold more than passwords. You can store documents, scans, secure notes, licenses, certificates, recovery codes, asset details, and other sensitive records.

That makes it useful as part of a digital estate plan, but there is a catch: someone still needs a way to access it if you are incapacitated or gone.

1Password does not work like a simple dead-man switch that automatically hands your vault to someone else. You need to plan the handoff yourself.

Start with your Emergency Kit. Print it, store it somewhere secure, and make sure your account password is available through a method you trust. You can also generate recovery codes and decide how a trusted person should access them if needed.

This is not a fun task, but it is worth doing before anyone needs access in a crisis.

A Better Vault Is a More Useful Vault

A good 1Password setup gives you the right information at the right time without turning your vault into a messy pile of secrets.

Travel Mode helps you control what stays on your devices. Virtual cards reduce card exposure. Expiry alerts save you from renewal surprises. Shared vaults, guest access, locations, linked items, and archives make the vault easier to live with.

Passwords are the starting point. The real value is turning 1Password into a secure place for the private details your life keeps asking you to remember.

The post 10 1Password Features You Should Actually Set Up appeared first on Hongkiat.

That’s fine if you’re building an internal tool. But probably less fine if you’re shipping a customer-facing product where smooth motion signals quality.

The good news is that React Aria provides clear paths for adding animation, and they cover everything from a simple CSS fade to physics-based animations.

Let’s take a look.

CSS transitions with data states

The simplest path requires zero JavaScript animation libraries. React Aria overlay components like Popover, Modal, ModalOverlay, Tray, and Menu expose [data-entering] and [data-exiting] states.

These data attributes are applied automatically when the component mounts or unmounts, and the component waits for your exit animations to finish before removing itself from the DOM.

.react-aria-Popover {
  transition: opacity 200ms, translate 200ms;
}

.react-aria-Popover[data-entering],
.react-aria-Popover[data-exiting] {
  opacity: 0;
  translate: 0 -8px;
}

With that CSS, your Popover fades in and slides down 8 pixels on open, then reverses on close. The browser handles the timing. No JavaScript animation overhead, no extra dependencies.

This works for any component that mounts conditionally. The data-exiting attribute is especially important: without it, the component would be removed from the DOM instantly and you’d never see the exit animation. React Aria handles the timing for you, keeping the element alive until the transition completes.

Try the code below.

Using CSS keyframes instead

If you prefer @keyframes over transitions, that works too.

.react-aria-Popover[data-entering] {
  animation: popover-enter 200ms ease-out;
}

.react-aria-Popover[data-exiting] {
  animation: popover-exit 150ms ease-in;
}

@keyframes popover-enter {
  from {
    opacity: 0;
    translate: 0 -8px;
  }
}

@keyframes popover-exit {
  to {
    opacity: 0;
    translate: 0 -4px;
  }
}

The key difference is that keyframes let you set different easings and durations for entering versus exiting. Enter at ease-out (slowing down at the end), exit at ease-in (quick start, gradual disappearance).

Which components support data-entering?

Not every React Aria component has these states. The ones that do are the overlay components that mount conditionally:

• Popover
• Modal and ModalOverlay
• Menu
• Select (the listbox portion)
• ComboBox (the popover portion)
• Tooltip

For non-overlay components like Button, Switch, or Slider, you’d use standard CSS transitions on :hover, :focus, or the React Aria data attributes like [data-pressed] and [data-selected]. Those components stay in the DOM, so entering and exiting don’t apply.

Using Motion

When you need more control over the animation, such as spring physics, gesture-driven interactions, or layout animations, CSS transitions won’t cut it. That’s where Motion comes in. This library is a collection of animation tools. It works with React Aria via motion.create(), which wraps any React Aria component into a motion component.

Start by installing Motion.

npm install motion

Then wrap your React Aria component using motion.create().

import { motion } from "motion/react";
import { Modal, ModalOverlay } from "react-aria-components";

const MotionModal = motion.create(Modal);
const MotionModalOverlay = motion.create(ModalOverlay);

Now you can animate the modal overlay and the modal itself using Motion’s initial, animate, and exit props.

import { AnimatePresence, motion } from "motion/react";
import { DialogTrigger, Button } from "react-aria-components";
import { Modal, ModalOverlay } from "react-aria-components";
import { useState } from "react";

const MotionModal = motion.create(Modal);
const MotionModalOverlay = motion.create(ModalOverlay);

function AnimatedModal() {
  let [isOpen, setOpen] = useState(false);

  return (
    <>
      <Button onPress={() => setOpen(true)}>
        Open modal
      </Button>

      <AnimatePresence>
        {isOpen && (
          <MotionModalOverlay
            isOpen
            onOpenChange={setOpen}
            className="fixed inset-0 z-10 bg-black/50"
            initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
            animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
            exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
            transition={{ duration: 0.2 }}
          >
            <MotionModal
              className="fixed bottom-0 left-0 right-0 top-24 z-20 m-auto
                         h-fit w-full max-w-lg rounded-xl bg-white p-6 shadow-lg"
              initial={{ scale: 0.9, y: 20 }}
              animate={{ scale: 1, y: 0 }}
              exit={{ scale: 0.9, y: 20 }}
              transition={{
                type: "spring",
                bounce: 0.3,
                duration: 0.4
              }}
            >
              <div slot="title">Modal with spring animation</div>
              <p>This modal enters with a spring bounce and exits smoothly.</p>
            </MotionModal>
          </MotionModalOverlay>
        )}
      </AnimatePresence>
    </>
  );
}

A few things worth pointing out. The isOpen prop is hard-coded to true on the MotionModalOverlay because AnimatePresence controls the mount state. The onOpenChange callback still updates your state, so closing the modal via Escape or backdrop click works normally. And the exit prop tells Motion what values to animate toward when the component unmounts, while AnimatePresence keeps it alive until that animation finishes.

Try the code below:

Choosing the right approach

Start with CSS transitions and upgrade to Motion only when you need gesture support or spring physics. Most overlays just need a 200ms fade and a small translate, and that’s CSS-only territory.

The post How to Add Animation on React Aria Components appeared first on Hongkiat.

This month’s batch covers everything from GPU-accelerated terminal emulators to AI-powered code audit agents, from declarative document typesetting to terminal-based spreadsheets. Whether you’re doing front-end or backend, I believe there’s something on the list you might be interested in.

Let’s dive in!

Lumen

Lumen is a browser-based shader playground for creating looping abstract art with WebGL. It runs client-side with zero dependencies, uses a seed system for sharing, and exports to PNG, video, or GIF. A handy tool for frontend developers and artists exploring generative art.

TextMotion

TextMotion is a dependency-free text roll animation library that creates slot-machine-style label transitions with pure CSS transforms. It supports React and Vue out of the box and can be easily installed via NPM. This library is for UI developers who want polished micro-interactions without a full animation library.

shadcn/improve

shadcn/improve is a skill for AI coding agents that audits your codebase and writes implementation plans for cheaper models to execute. Run /improve for a prioritized findings table, pick items to plan, and get markdown specs under plans/. It works with any Agent Skills-compatible agent and a perfect tool for teams that need to optimize AI agent costs while still maintaining quality.

Paseo

Paseo is a self-hosted orchestrator for running Claude Code, Codex, Copilot, OpenCode, and Pi agents from desktop, mobile, or CLI. It runs a local daemon, supports voice dictation on iOS or Android, and it also works offline with no telemetry. A handy tool for developers juggling multiple AI coding tools who want one dashboard.

Coder

Coder is a self-hosted platform for cloud dev environments defined in Terraform and connected via WireGuard. Workspaces run on EC2, K8s, or Docker and auto-shutdown when idle. Includes Coder Agents for AI coding without exposing API keys in workspaces. For teams needing reproducible environments with built-in AI agent support.

Apple Container

Container is Apple’s official tool for running Linux containers as lightweight VMs on Apple Silicon. It is written in Swift, produces OCI-compatible images, and requires macOS 26. If you develop on a Mac and need native Linux container support without Docker Desktop, this is a promising option to explore.

GatherOS

GatherOS is a Mac app for capturing, organizing, and finding design references from your desktop. Drag images, sync X bookmarks, and search by color or AI visual search. Local-first with unlimited libraries and auto-tagging. A great tool for designers and developers who want a personal design inspiration manager without cloud lock-in.

Image Compression by MakingSoftware

An illustrated chapter from the Making Software book on how image compression exploits human vision to shrink files. Covers bits, entropy, and the tricks behind JPEG, PNG, and modern codecs. Visual and accessible. I think this is a must-read for frontend developers who want to understand how image formats work under the hood.

Devbox

DevBox creates isolated, reproducible dev environments without Docker or Nix language knowledge. Define packages in a JSON config, run devbox shell, and get an ephemeral environment with 400,000+ package versions. Syncs via Git. If you want portable, version-controlled dev environments without the overhead of Dockerfiles or Nix expressions, this tool is worth a look.

Typst

Typst is a markup-based typesetting system that compiles to PDF, images, or websites. Built-in support for math, plots, tables, bibliographies, and slides. Runs in the browser or locally with scripting for automation. A solid LaTeX alternative for students, researchers, and technical writers.

WebCheck

WebCheck analyzes any URL and reveals what attackers already know about your site in under 20 seconds. It checks headers, SSL, DNS, open ports, and vulnerabilities through one interface. No signup needed. A handy tool for developers and security-conscious site owners who want a quick external audit without complex tools.

Alacritty

Alacritty is a cross-platform terminal emulator with OpenGL-accelerated rendering for smooth performance. Features Vi mode, RegEx hints, multi-window support, and YAML config. Runs on BSD, Linux, macOS, and Windows. For developers who spend all day in the terminal and want sub-millisecond rendering.

Restic

Restic is a backup tool that encrypts, deduplicates, and verifies files across Linux, macOS, and Windows. Single binary with no server. Supports local drives, SFTP, S3, and more. If you want a simple, secure, and cross-platform backup solution without cloud lock-in, I think Restic can be a solid choice.

Ferret

Ferret is an open-source web scraping tool with FQL, a declarative language for describing what data you need rather than how to extract it. Runs against documents, pages, and APIs through an embeddable Go runtime. Same FQL works in browser, CLI, or as a worker. A great option if you want a more intuitive way to scrape data without writing imperative code or dealing with anti-bot measures.

html-video

HTML Video is a meta-layer over Hyperframes, Remotion, and Motion Canvas that allows AI agents to turn prompts, articles, or repos into MP4 files. Describe the video, the agent storyboards it as animated HTML, and headless Chromium renders locally. A great tool for anyone exploring AI-generated video without cloud lock-in or complex pipelines.

ForesightJS

ForesightJS is a lightweight JS library that predicts user intent from mouse movements and keyboard navigation to prefetch content. Zero config, separate strategies for desktop and mobile, with React and Vue packages. If you want to optimize perceived performance, this library can be a simple addition to your frontend toolkit.

Botasaurus

Botasaurus is a Python framework for web scraping with built-in anti-blocking, account generation, temp email, and CSV/JSON export. Handles Cloudflare and PerimeterX evasion automatically, keeps the browser open on errors for debugging. For Python developers who want a batteries-included scraper, this framework can save you time and headaches compared to building your own from scratch.

bottom (btm)

bottom (btm) is a cross-platform terminal system monitor with CPU, memory, disk, network, and process widgets. Richer TUI than htop with mouse and keyboard support, theming, and cross-platform. For developers who want more visual system insight without leaving the terminal.

Zoxide

Zoxide is a Rust-based cd replacement that learns your directory habits and jumps to any folder with a fuzzy match. Inspired by z and autojump but faster, with shell integrations for Bash, Zsh, Fish, and PowerShell. This is a handy CLI for developers who want to navigate their filesystem more efficiently without typing full paths.

Sheets

Sheets is a terminal spreadsheet app in Go lang with Vim-style keybindings for editing CSV files. Read and write cells or ranges, search with regex, pipe through stdin/stdout. For developers who need to inspect or edit CSV data without a GUI.

The post Fresh Resources for Web Designers and Developers (June 2026) appeared first on Hongkiat.

DuckDuckGo also has practical features that make everyday searching faster and cleaner. You can send searches straight to other sites, hide AI-generated images, block junk domains, expand shortened links, and use private email aliases.

If DuckDuckGo is already your default search engine, these are the settings and shortcuts I would set up first.

1. Turn Off the AI Features If You Do Not Want Them

DuckDuckGo has added AI features to its search experience, including Search Assist and Duck.ai prompts. If you prefer a plain search page, you can turn most of them off.

Go to DuckDuckGo’s settings page, open AI Features, then disable Search Assist and Duck.ai.

This removes AI answers and chatbot prompts from the regular search experience. DuckDuckGo feels lighter without them, especially if you only want search results.

2. Use Duck.ai Without Creating Another Account

If you do want AI tools, DuckDuckGo gives you a more private way to try them.

Go to Duck.ai, and you can chat with supported AI models through DuckDuckGo without creating a separate account. Use the model picker below the chat box to choose the service before sending a prompt.

The free service has usage limits, so it is not a full replacement for a dedicated AI account. It is better for quick questions, especially when you do not want another logged-in chatbot session tied to your identity.

Duck.ai also includes image generation and basic photo editing tools, including background removal. I would not treat it as a full creative suite, but it works for quick experiments.

3. Search Other Sites With Bangs

Bangs are DuckDuckGo’s best power-user feature.

Add a shortcut like !g, !w, or !r to your search, and DuckDuckGo sends the query straight to another site.

For example:

• !g mechanical keyboard switches searches Google
• !gi desk setup ideas searches Google Images
• !w markdown searches Wikipedia
• !r home server setup searches Reddit

This is useful if DuckDuckGo is your default search engine, but you still want fast access to Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, YouTube, GitHub, Stack Overflow, Amazon, or other sites.

You can browse the full list at DuckDuckGo bangs. There are thousands of shortcuts, and once you remember the ones you use often, manual site searches feel slow.

4. Hide AI-Generated Images From Image Search

Image search has become noisier. If you are looking for product photos, UI screenshots, travel references, or tutorial images, AI-generated results can get in the way.

DuckDuckGo includes a setting that tries to filter them out.

Go to Settings > AI Features, then enable Hide AI-Generated Images. DuckDuckGo also explains the option in its AI image filter help page.

The filter will not catch everything. Some synthetic images may still appear, and a few real images may be filtered incorrectly. Still, it is a useful default if you want fewer fake-looking results in image search.

5. Block Low-Quality Sites From Search Results

DuckDuckGo lets you remove specific domains from your search results.

When you see a result from a site you do not want to see again, click the three dots beside the result, then choose Block this site from all results.

That domain will stop appearing in future searches. You can manage or unblock domains under Settings > General.

Use this for content farms, scraped articles, thin AI-written pages, or any site that keeps ranking despite rarely giving you a useful answer. Search improves quickly when the worst repeat offenders disappear.

6. Turn Off Ads and Homepage Prompts

DuckDuckGo says its ads are not based on tracking, but you can still remove them if you want a cleaner results page.

Go to Settings > General, then turn off Advertisements.

While you are there, scroll through the rest of the page and disable homepage prompts you do not want, including:

• Install DuckDuckGo
• Privacy Newsletters
• Homepage Privacy Tips
• Help Improve DuckDuckGo

You can also open Settings > Appearance and turn off Protected Reminder if you do not want DuckDuckGo reminding you that your searches are protected.

These settings do not change the results themselves. They just make the interface quieter.

7. Show Longer Snippets Under Search Results

DuckDuckGo keeps result descriptions fairly short by default. If you prefer to judge a result before opening it, increase the snippet length.

Go to Settings > Appearance > Max Snippet Length, then change it to 5 lines.

This gives you more context under each result, which can save a few wasted clicks. It is especially useful for technical searches, product comparisons, documentation pages, and older forum threads where the title alone does not say enough.

8. Shorten and Expand URLs From the Search Box

DuckDuckGo can shorten URLs directly from search.

Type shorten followed by the full URL, then search. DuckDuckGo will return a shortened version using is.gd.

For example:

shorten https://example.com/very/long/url

The reverse is more useful for security. To check where a shortened link goes before opening it, type expand followed by the short URL:

expand https://is.gd/example

DuckDuckGo will show the full destination in the results. If someone sends you a shortened link you do not recognize, expand it first. This pairs well with the broader habit of checking shortened URLs before opening them.

9. Use DuckDuckGo Email Protection for Private Aliases

A unique password for every account is standard advice. A unique email alias for every account follows the same logic.

DuckDuckGo Email Protection lets you create a @duck.com address and generate private aliases for websites. Emails sent to those aliases are forwarded to your real inbox, while trackers are removed where possible.

The benefit is control. If a site leaks your address, sells your details, or starts sending junk, you can disable that alias without touching your real email address. For a similar privacy idea outside DuckDuckGo, see this guide to using an alternative ID for online signups.

It also makes spam easier to trace. If one alias was only used for one service, you have a better idea where the leak came from.

You can start at duckduckgo.com/email.

10. Search for App Cheatsheets

DuckDuckGo can show keyboard shortcut cheatsheets for popular apps.

Search for the app name plus cheatsheet, like this:

cheatsheet Excel

For supported apps, DuckDuckGo displays common keyboard shortcuts at the top of the results. You may see a small set first, with an option to show more.

This works best for popular tools such as Excel, Photoshop, Lightroom, and Chrome. It does not cover every app, and shortcuts can change after updates, so check the app’s official help page if you are writing instructions for publication.

For quick personal use, it is a fast way to find the shortcut you forgot without opening a long support document.

A Better DuckDuckGo Setup Takes Five Minutes

You do not need to change how you browse to get more out of DuckDuckGo.

Turn off the clutter you do not want. Use bangs for sites you search often. Block bad domains. Add email aliases for throwaway signups. Expand suspicious short links before opening them.

DuckDuckGo is still mainly a search engine, but with a few small tweaks, it becomes a cleaner and faster starting point for the web.

The post 10 DuckDuckGo Features Worth Using Beyond Private Search appeared first on Hongkiat.

The file to look for is weights.bin. It appears inside Chrome’s browser data directory, under a folder named OptGuideOnDeviceModel, and is connected to Gemini Nano, Google’s on-device AI model for Chrome.

This file helps power Chrome features such as writing assistance, scam warnings, tab organization, page summaries, autofill, and other suggestion tools. If Chrome runs an AI model locally, it also has to store that model locally.

Why Chrome Downloads the AI Model

Google’s built-in AI features can run on your device instead of sending every request to the cloud. That can help with privacy because some processing happens on your own computer.

Google’s Chrome Help page says Chrome may download on-device generative AI models in the background so related features stay ready to use. Google’s developer documentation also says Gemini Nano’s exact size can change as Chrome updates the model.

To check the current model status and size, open:

chrome://on-device-internals

If your laptop suddenly has a few gigabytes less free space and you use Chrome’s AI tools, check that page first. Developers curious about the feature side can also look at how Chrome’s Gemini tools work in Chrome DevTools AI assistance.

How to Check Chrome’s On-Device AI Storage

Open this address in Chrome:

chrome://on-device-internals

Look for model status and storage details.

You can also search Chrome’s local data folders for OptGuideOnDeviceModel and weights.bin. The exact path depends on your operating system and Chrome profile.

On Windows, check:

C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\OptGuideOnDeviceModel\<version>\weights.bin

On macOS, check:

~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/OptGuideOnDeviceModel/<version>/weights.bin

The <version> folder name can change after Chrome updates the model.

How to Remove Chrome’s On-Device AI Models

If you do not use Chrome’s local AI features, turn them off from Chrome settings.

1. Open Chrome.
2. Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Open System.
5. Turn off On-device AI.

Google says turning this off removes the on-device generative AI models. Features that rely on those models will stop working, but Chrome itself will keep running normally.

Do not just delete weights.bin. If the related AI features stay enabled, Chrome may download the model again.

Why You Might Not See the Setting

The On-device AI toggle may be missing if your device does not support Chrome’s local AI features, if the feature has not reached your profile, or if your browser is managed by a company, school, or other organization.

Chrome’s built-in AI features also have hardware and storage requirements. Google’s developer documentation lists support for Windows 10 or 11, macOS 13 and later, Linux, and Chromebook Plus devices for the APIs that use Gemini Nano. It also says the Chrome profile volume needs at least 22GB of free space.

If your system drops below Google’s storage threshold after the model is downloaded, Google says the model can be removed automatically and downloaded again later when the requirements are met. If you are trying to work out what else is taking space, a disk space check on Windows can help you spot the other big files.

Should You Turn It Off?

Keep it if you use Chrome’s writing help, page summaries, scam detection, tab organization, or developer-facing AI features.

Turn it off if you never use those features and want the storage back. A few gigabytes may be easy to ignore on a desktop with a large SSD. On a 256GB laptop, that space is harder to spare.

Open chrome://on-device-internals, check whether the model is installed, and turn off On-device AI if you do not use Chrome’s local AI features.

The post Chrome May Be Quietly Storing a Multi-GB AI Model on Your Computer appeared first on Hongkiat.

Gemini Omni feels like the next obvious step, but also a weirdly ambitious one.

Announced at Google I/O 2026, Gemini Omni is Google’s new model family for creating and editing media from mixed inputs. The first release is Gemini Omni Flash, and Google is starting with video.

That last part is important. Omni is not just another chatbot upgrade. It is Google trying to collapse several creative AI workflows into one model: text-to-video, image-to-video, video editing, audio-aware generation, style transfer, avatars, and eventually more output types. If you have been comparing the current crop of AI text-to-video generators, Omni is trying to move the category from one-shot generation into something more editable.

If that sounds like too much for one model, yes. That is also the point.

What is Gemini Omni?

Gemini Omni is Google’s new multimodal creation model. Google describes it as the place where “Gemini’s ability to reason meets the ability to create.”

In practical terms, Omni can take different kinds of input, including text, images, audio, and video, then generate or edit video based on those inputs.

For example, you could give it:

• a video clip
• an image reference
• a voice reference or other supported audio input
• a written instruction

Then ask it to generate a new video that follows the motion of the clip, matches the style of the image, responds to the audio reference where supported, and changes specific parts of the scene.

That is the part Google is pushing hard: Omni is not only about generating something from scratch. It is also about editing through conversation.

You can ask it to change an object, adjust the camera angle, move a character into a different environment, add effects, or refine a scene across multiple prompts. Google says the model is designed to keep characters consistent, preserve scene context, and understand what came before in a multi-turn edit.

Gemini Omni Flash is the First Model

The first model in the Omni family is Gemini Omni Flash.

Google is rolling it out to Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers through the Gemini app and Google Flow. It is also available at no cost to users aged 18 and up in YouTube Shorts Remix and the YouTube Create app, starting the week of the announcement.

Developers and enterprise customers are not getting it immediately. Google says API access will arrive in the coming weeks.

That rollout tells us quite a bit about where Google sees the first use case. Omni is launching as a creative tool for users, creators, and video workflows before it becomes a developer platform model.

What Can Gemini Omni Do?

The short version: Gemini Omni can create and edit videos using a combination of text, image, audio, and video inputs.

The more interesting version is how those inputs can be combined.

It Can Edit Video Through Prompts

The most obvious feature is natural language video editing.

Instead of opening a timeline editor, masking objects, adding effects, and adjusting layers manually, you describe what you want changed.

Google’s examples include prompts like:

• “Make the sculpture out of bubbles.”
• “Dim the lights in the room.”
• “Change the camera angle to be over the violinist’s shoulder.”
• “Make the violin invisible.”

The model can build on earlier instructions, so the editing process becomes conversational. You make one change, look at the result, then ask for another change without starting over.

If it works as shown, this could be one of the more useful parts of Omni. Most AI video tools are good at generating a clip, then become frustrating when you want a specific revision. Omni is clearly trying to make revision part of the core workflow.

It Can Combine References

Omni can use several inputs at once.

You can provide a character image, a style reference, an existing video, and an audio track, then ask the model to produce a new clip that blends those pieces into one output.

That opens up more controlled creative workflows. Instead of asking an AI model to “make a sci-fi video” and hoping it guesses correctly, you can anchor the result with actual references.

This is especially useful for creators who already have assets: sketches, product shots, test footage, moodboards, music, or rough animations. Omni can use those as creative instructions, not just attachments. It also fits the bigger trend of creative AI tools trying to unify separate image, video, and lip-sync workflows, the same problem discussed in this Open Generative AI review.

It Understands Motion, Physics, and Context

Google is also positioning Omni as a model with better world understanding.

The examples mention gravity, kinetic energy, fluid dynamics, camera movement, and scene continuity. In plain English: the model is supposed to understand how things should move, not just how a video should look frame by frame.

That is a real weakness in current AI video. Many generated clips look impressive for the first second, then hands melt, objects drift, physics break, or the scene quietly forgets its own rules.

Google is claiming Omni has stronger intuition for continuity. We still need real-world testing to see how far that goes, but the direction is clear: prettier clips are no longer enough. The next generation of video models needs to behave more like a director, editor, animator, and physics-aware simulator in one system.

It Can Create Explainers

One of the more practical examples from Google is using Gemini Omni to create explainers.

Instead of simply generating a cinematic scene, Omni can turn a short prompt into a visual explanation. Google showed examples such as a claymation-style explainer of protein folding and a stop-motion explainer about the hippocampus.

This is where Omni could become useful beyond creators chasing surreal effects.

Teachers, marketers, product teams, and technical writers all spend time turning complex ideas into visuals. If Omni can generate accurate, editable explainers from short prompts and reference material, that becomes a very different tool from a novelty video generator.

The catch is accuracy. A model can make an explainer look convincing while still getting the science or mechanics wrong. For anything educational, medical, legal, or technical, Omni output will still need human review.

It Supports Personal Avatars

Google is also tying Omni to avatars.

At launch, users can create videos with their own voice through Google’s Avatars feature, which creates a digital version of the user. Google says broader audio and speech editing capabilities are still being tested before wider release.

This is one area where the safety implications are obvious. A model that can edit video, transform speech, and generate realistic avatar content needs strong identity controls. Google says Omni-created videos include SynthID watermarking. Google DeepMind also says content created or edited with Omni in the Gemini app, Google Flow, or YouTube includes C2PA Content Credentials.

That does not solve every misuse problem, but it gives platforms and users at least some way to identify generated or edited content.

Where Can You Use Gemini Omni?

At launch, Gemini Omni Flash is available through:

• the Gemini app
• Google Flow
• YouTube Shorts Remix
• the YouTube Create app

Google says availability depends on subscription tier and geography. Google AI Plus, Pro, and Ultra subscribers are included in the initial Gemini app and Flow rollout.

YouTube Shorts Remix and YouTube Create are getting access at no cost for users aged 18 and up, starting the same week as the announcement.

API access for developers and enterprise customers is expected later, but Google has not given detailed public API pricing or a specific release date yet.

Is Gemini Omni the Same as Veo?

Not exactly.

Veo is Google’s video generation model line. Gemini Omni appears to be a broader multimodal creation model that combines Gemini’s reasoning abilities with media generation and editing.

The important difference is the workflow. Veo is mainly understood as a video generation model. Omni is being presented as an any-input creation and editing model, starting with video but not limited to it forever.

Google says future Omni releases will support other output modalities, including image and audio.

So the cleaner way to think about it is this: Veo helped Google compete in AI video generation. Gemini Omni is Google’s attempt to make video generation, video editing, multimodal prompting, and creative reasoning feel like one continuous workflow.

Why Gemini Omni is a Big Shift

The most interesting part of Omni is not that it generates video. We already have plenty of tools that do that.

The shift is that Omni treats video as something you can converse with.

You can start with a messy real-world clip, ask for a visual change, add a style reference, sync it to audio, revise the camera, remove an object, and keep working. That is closer to creative direction than one-shot generation.

If Google can make that reliable, it changes the role of AI video tools. They become less like slot machines and more like editable creative systems. That is also why comparisons with Sora’s AI video model are useful but incomplete: the contest is no longer only about who can generate the prettiest first clip.

That is a higher bar.

A slot machine only needs to surprise you. A creative system needs to follow instructions, remember context, keep details consistent, and let you revise without breaking the whole thing.

What to Watch Next

There are still several open questions.

First, how consistent is Omni outside Google’s best demos? AI video announcements always look polished on stage. The real test is whether normal users can get usable results without spending half a day fighting the prompt.

Second, how much control will creators actually get? Prompt-based editing sounds magical until you need a very specific cut, timing change, facial expression, object boundary, or brand-safe detail.

Third, what will the API look like? If Omni becomes available to developers with strong input controls, reasonable pricing, and predictable latency, it could be used inside creative apps, education tools, marketing systems, and product design workflows.

Fourth, how will Google handle safety? Watermarking helps, but AI video will keep testing the limits of consent, impersonation, misinformation, and platform moderation.

Final Thoughts

Gemini Omni is Google’s clearest sign yet that AI video is moving past simple text-to-video prompts.

The next fight is control.

Creators do not just want a nice-looking clip. They want to bring their own footage, their own references, their own style, and their own revisions into the process. Gemini Omni is built around that idea.

For now, Gemini Omni Flash is the version to watch. It starts with video editing and generation across the Gemini app, Google Flow, and YouTube tools. Later, developers should get API access, and future Omni models are expected to add more output types.

If Google delivers on the demos, Omni could become one of the more important creative AI releases of 2026.

If it does not, well, at least we will get a lot of very strange YouTube Shorts out of it.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Gemini Omni appeared first on Hongkiat.

You log in once through a browser-based OAuth flow, Hermes saves the tokens locally, and future sessions refresh automatically in the background.

That is the simple version. The nicer part is that the same login also covers Hermes’ direct xAI media tools, including text-to-speech, image generation, video generation, and transcription. The same xAI credentials can also enable X search if you want that tool available.

If you already pay for SuperGrok or X Premium+, this is a cleaner way to connect Hermes to Grok without juggling API keys. If you are still figuring out where Hermes fits, this OpenClaw vs Hermes Agent comparison is a useful companion.

What Hermes Is Actually Using

The provider is called xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / X Premium+) inside Hermes. Its provider ID is:

xai-oauth

Under the hood, Hermes connects to xAI’s Responses-style API endpoint at:

https://api.x.ai/v1

Hermes reuses its codex_responses transport for this provider, so features such as reasoning, tool calling, streaming, and prompt caching work without needing a separate Grok-specific adapter.

The default model is currently:

grok-4.3

Hermes pins that model near the top of the picker after you log in.

What You Need First

Before setting this up, you need:

• Python 3.9 or newer
• Hermes Agent installed
• An active SuperGrok subscription, or an X Premium+ subscription on the X account you use for login
• A browser on the same machine, or SSH port forwarding if you are setting it up on a remote server

The important detail: this provider does not use XAI_API_KEY. If you want to use your Grok subscription instead of API billing, use the OAuth provider.

There is one caveat worth knowing early. Hermes’ docs note that xAI may restrict OAuth API access by tier. If the browser login works but inference returns HTTP 403, you may need to switch to the API-key provider instead.

Sign In Through the Model Picker

The easiest setup path is through Hermes’ model picker:

hermes model

Select xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / X Premium+) from the provider list. Hermes opens accounts.x.ai in your browser, where you sign in and approve access. This is a normal OAuth-style login flow: you approve access in the browser instead of copying a long secret key into your terminal.

After that, pick a Grok model. For most people, grok-4.3 is the obvious starting point.

Then start Hermes normally:

hermes

Hermes stores the login credentials in:

~/.hermes/auth.json

Once the tokens are saved, Hermes refreshes them automatically before they expire. You should not have to repeat the browser login for every session.

Sign In Manually

If you already know you want the xAI OAuth provider, you can skip the model picker and start the auth flow directly:

hermes auth add xai-oauth

This launches the same browser login flow. After approval, Hermes saves the OAuth tokens and the provider is ready to use.

Set Grok as Your Default Model

You can switch providers through the interactive model picker:

hermes model

Or set the provider and model directly:

hermes config set model.default grok-4.3
hermes config set model.provider xai-oauth

Your ~/.hermes/config.yaml should then contain something like this:

model:
  default: grok-4.3
  provider: xai-oauth
  base_url: https://api.x.ai/v1

Hermes also accepts a few provider aliases if you prefer something more descriptive:

hermes --provider xai-oauth
hermes --provider grok-oauth
hermes --provider x-ai-oauth
hermes --provider xai-grok-oauth

I would still use xai-oauth in scripts and documentation. It is shorter and canonical.

Using It on a Remote Server

OAuth is slightly more annoying when Hermes is running on a server, container, or SSH session.

Hermes can print the authorization URL instead of opening a browser:

hermes auth add xai-oauth --no-browser

But the callback listener still runs on the remote machine at:

127.0.0.1:56121

If you open the printed URL on your laptop without forwarding that port, the browser cannot reach the callback listener. You will usually see a connection error.

Open a second terminal on your local machine and forward the port first:

ssh -N -L 56121:127.0.0.1:56121 user@remote-host

Then, in the SSH session where Hermes is running:

hermes auth add xai-oauth --no-browser

Open the printed URL in your local browser. The login should now redirect back through the forwarded port to Hermes on the remote machine.

If you connect through a jump host, add -J jump-user@jump-host to the SSH command.

Browser-Only Remote Consoles

If you are using a browser-based remote console, such as Cloud Shell, Codespaces, EC2 Instance Connect, Gitpod, or a similar environment, the SSH forwarding recipe may not be available.

In that case, use manual paste mode:

hermes auth add xai-oauth --manual-paste

Or launch it from the model picker:

hermes model --manual-paste

Hermes skips the local callback listener and lets you paste the failed callback URL from the browser instead.

Check Whether the Login Worked

Run:

hermes doctor

Look for the Auth Providers section and check the status for xai-oauth.

If Hermes has a valid OAuth entry, Grok should be available through the model picker and direct provider selection.

Use the Same Login for xAI Tools

The OAuth token is not limited to chat models. Hermes can reuse the same xAI login for several direct-to-xAI tools:

• Text-to-speech
• Image generation
• Video generation
• Transcription
• X search

Open the tools picker:

hermes tools

Then choose the xAI backend where needed:

• Text-to-Speech: xAI TTS
• Image Generation: xAI Grok Imagine (image)
• Video Generation: xAI Grok Imagine
• X Search: xAI Grok OAuth (SuperGrok / X Premium+)

If your OAuth token is already stored, Hermes should detect it and skip the credential prompt.

A small gotcha: video generation is disabled by default, so enable it in hermes tools before expecting the agent to call the video tool. X search behaves differently: Hermes’ docs say it auto-enables when xAI credentials are present, but you can still disable it explicitly in the tools picker if you do not want it available.

Available Grok Models

The current xAI OAuth setup exposes Grok chat models such as:

• grok-4.3
• grok-4.20-0309-reasoning
• grok-4.20-0309-non-reasoning
• grok-4.20-multi-agent-0309

For media tools, Hermes lists xAI options such as:

• grok-imagine-image
• grok-imagine-image-quality
• grok-imagine-video
• xAI TTS through the /v1/tts endpoint

The chat model catalog is pulled from Hermes’ local models.dev cache, so new xAI model releases can appear after that cache refreshes.

Fix Common OAuth Problems

Most setup problems fall into a few predictable buckets.

Token Expired or Refresh Failed

Hermes refreshes tokens before a session and can also retry after a 401 response. If the refresh token was revoked or rotated, Hermes will ask you to authenticate again.

Run:

hermes auth add xai-oauth

Login Timed Out

The local callback listener only stays open for a limited window. If you do not approve the login quickly enough, the flow times out.

Run the login command again and approve the browser request within the window:

hermes auth add xai-oauth

State Mismatch

A state mismatch usually means the OAuth response did not match the request Hermes created. Re-run the login. If it keeps happening, check whether a proxy, browser extension, or redirect layer is interfering with the callback.

Remote Login Cannot Reach the App

This is the common SSH setup failure. The browser is on your laptop, but the callback listener is on the remote machine.

Forward the callback port:

ssh -N -L 56121:127.0.0.1:56121 user@remote-host

Then rerun:

hermes auth add xai-oauth --no-browser

HTTP 403 After a Successful Login

If OAuth login succeeds but inference returns HTTP 403, the problem may be subscription entitlement rather than a stale token. Hermes’ docs say xAI’s backend has been seen to restrict OAuth API access for some tiers.

If that happens, re-running hermes model is unlikely to fix it. Use the API-key provider instead:

export XAI_API_KEY=xai-...
hermes config set model.provider xai

Or upgrade your Grok subscription if the OAuth route is required.

No xAI Credentials Found

Hermes has no saved xai-oauth entry and no XAI_API_KEY set.

If you want to use SuperGrok or X Premium+ OAuth, run:

hermes model

Pick the xAI Grok OAuth provider, or run:

hermes auth add xai-oauth

Log Out When Needed

To remove saved xAI OAuth credentials:

hermes auth logout xai-oauth

That clears the OAuth entry from Hermes’ auth store.

If you only want to remove one credential entry from a pool, list the entries first:

hermes auth list xai-oauth

Then remove the specific entry:

hermes auth remove xai-oauth <index|id|label>

Final Thought

The appeal here is convenience. If you already have SuperGrok or X Premium+, Hermes can use that subscription through a normal browser login. No API key. No separate setup for every xAI tool. No awkward token copying.

For local use, the setup is basically hermes model, pick xAI OAuth, approve in the browser, and start chatting. If you prefer a GUI around Hermes, Hermes Desktop may be worth setting up too.

For remote machines, remember the callback port: 56121. That one small detail saves a lot of head-scratching.

The post How to Use SuperGrok With Hermes Agent Without an xAI API Key appeared first on Hongkiat.

Dinky is a free Mac app that compresses images, videos, audio files, and PDFs without sending anything to the cloud.

You drag something in, pick a format or preset, and get a smaller file back.

It also does more than squeeze files blindly.

For images, it converts them into more efficient formats such as WebP, AVIF, HEIC, or lossless PNG.

For videos, it exports to MP4 with codec and quality presets.

For audio, it can convert between formats like AAC, MP3, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, and AIFF.

For PDFs, it lets you choose between flattening for smaller sizes or preserving structure when you need text and links to survive.

What Dinky Does Well

The strongest part of Dinky is that it treats different file types differently instead of pretending one compression method fits everything.

For images, you can output WebP, AVIF, HEIC, or lossless PNG.

There is also Smart Quality, which detects whether the image looks more like a photo or a graphic and adjusts compression accordingly.

If you need tighter control, you can set a max width or target a specific file size.

For video, Dinky exports to MP4 with H.264 or HEVC and a range of quality presets.

It also supports an optional FPS cap, which can help shrink screen recordings or demos that do not need full frame-rate output.

For audio, it can compress or convert common formats including AAC, MP3, FLAC, WAV, ALAC, and AIFF.

That gives it a broader reach than the earlier versions of the app, which started out focused on images alone.

For PDFs, the app offers two paths.

You can flatten the file for smaller output, which works well for scanned or image-heavy documents, or preserve text and links for a lighter-touch rewrite.

There is also optional on-device OCR for scan-like PDFs, so documents can stay searchable before compression.

If your workflow includes extracting pages first, this guide on how to convert PDF to image formats on Mac is a useful companion.

Built for Quick Repetitive Jobs

The interface is straightforward: drag files onto the Dinky window, the Dock icon, or use the file picker. There is also a system-wide clipboard shortcut for images. Copy an image, press Command + Shift + V, and Dinky compresses it even if the app is not frontmost.

You can also drop or paste a direct file URL. Dinky downloads the file first, then compresses it locally, with support for links up to 500 MB.

This is the kind of detail that makes the app more than a one-off utility. It is built for people who compress files often enough to care about friction.

Presets, Watch Folders, and Batch Speed

Dinky gets more useful once you stop treating it as a manual drag-and-drop tool.

You can save presets that bundle format, quality, size limits, destination folder, watch folder, and filename behavior together.

So instead of redoing the same settings every time, you can keep one preset for blog images, one for client PDFs, and another for lightweight video exports.

If you mainly want to optimize images on your MacBook, that broader workflow still applies here too.

The watch folder feature pushes that further. Drop files into a watched folder and Dinky compresses them automatically using your chosen preset.

It also supports batch processing with speed settings that control how many jobs run in parallel. If you process lots of files in one go, that is more useful than a pretty interface.

What Happens to the Originals

Dinky gives you sensible control over the original files after compression. You can keep them where they are, move them to the Trash, or send them to a backup folder.

That is a small feature, but a good one. Compression tools are easy to trust right up until they replace something you wanted to keep.

Should You Use It?

If you regularly resize screenshots, convert images for the web, shrink exported videos, clean up PDFs, or re-encode audio files, Dinky is easy to like.

It is not trying to be a full editor.

It is a focused compression utility with better format support than most free Mac apps in this category.

The presets, watch folders, and clipboard shortcut make it easy to keep using.

You can download it from the official Dinky site or browse the code on GitHub.

The post Compress Images, Videos, PDFs on Mac for Free with Dinky appeared first on Hongkiat.

They are optional animated companions for the Codex app: small floating overlays that sit on your screen while Codex works. The silly part is obvious. The useful part takes about five minutes to notice.

A Codex Pet can show whether Codex is running, waiting for input, or ready for review without making you switch back to the app every few minutes. If you already compare coding agents like Codex and Claude Code, this is the softer side of the same product question: how much does the tool help you stay in flow?

What Is a Codex Pet?

Codex Pets are animated companions built into the Codex app. You can turn one on from Settings > Appearance > Pets, type /pet in the composer, or use the command menu with Cmd + K on Mac or Ctrl + K on Windows.

Once active, the pet floats over your desktop and follows the state of the current Codex thread. OpenAI says the overlay can show the active thread, reflect whether Codex is running, waiting for input, or ready for review, and pair that state with a short progress prompt.

That means you can leave Codex visible in a small, ambient way while you do something else.

How to Turn On a Built-In Pet

If your Codex app supports Pets, the fastest way is to type this in the composer:

/pet

You can also open Settings > Appearance > Pets and choose from the built-in pets there. The same area lets you wake the pet, tuck it away, or refresh custom pets from your local Codex home.

If you prefer the keyboard route, open the command menu:

• Mac: Cmd + K
• Windows: Ctrl + K

Then search for the pet commands.

How to Hatch a Custom Codex Pet

You are not limited to the built-in pets. OpenAI also has a hatch-pet skill for creating a custom animated pet from a text concept, reference image, or both.

First, install the skill from inside Codex:

$skill-installer hatch-pet

Then reload skills. Open the command menu with Cmd + K or Ctrl + K, choose Force Reload Skills, and ask the skill to create a pet.

For example:

$hatch-pet create a tiny desk goblin

Or:

$hatch-pet turn my dog into a Codex pet

Or something looser:

$hatch-pet create a new pet inspired by my recent projects

The skill handles the pet-specific work: concept planning, animation rows, sprite sheet assembly, validation, previews, and packaging. The result is a Codex-compatible pet saved locally, which you can refresh and select from the Pets settings.

If you do not know what to hatch, Codex Pets is a small community gallery that can give you ideas for pet styles, themes, and prompts before you make your own.

What Makes a Good Pet Prompt?

Keep it simple. These pets are small, so clear silhouettes beat elaborate designs.

Good prompt ideas:

• a sleepy raccoon with a tiny laptop
• a calm duck that looks focused while Codex runs
• a blue-screen gremlin for debugging sessions
• a tiny robot with one glowing eye
• my dog as a pixel-style coding companion

Avoid asking for too many props, tiny labels, complex backgrounds, or realistic detail. A Codex Pet needs to read well as a small animated sprite, not as poster art.

If you use a reference image, describe what should carry over: color, shape, expression, accessory, or personality. Do not assume the skill will preserve every detail from a photo.

Why This Feature Works

Codex Pets sound like a joke until you treat them as ambient UI.

A coding agent spends a lot of time in states that are easy to miss: still working, waiting for permission, ready for review, stuck on input. A normal app badge or notification can tell you some of that, but a floating overlay keeps the state in your peripheral vision.

That is why the feature lands better than it should. It makes Codex feel present without requiring another panel, dashboard, or notification stream. If you want the broader OpenAI tools view, this older roundup of useful ChatGPT tools is a decent snapshot of how quickly the ecosystem keeps shifting.

Should You Try It?

If you use the Codex app, yes. Turn on a built-in pet first and see whether the overlay helps or annoys you. If it helps, install hatch-pet and make something that fits your workspace.

It will not write better code for you. It will not replace good review habits. But it can make long Codex sessions easier to track, and it gives the app a little more personality without getting in the way.

The post Codex Pets: What They Are and How to Hatch Your Own appeared first on Hongkiat.

Binky is a native macOS app for cleaning up those fussy folders. It can sort a folder on demand, watch folders continuously, and move files according to rules you control. It waits for files to finish arriving first, then routes them into folders like Images, PDFs, Media, Documents, Archives, Apps, Screenshots, and Misc.

The point is not clever file management. It is predictable file management.

Quick Sort Handles One-Off Cleanup

Binky’s Quick Sort is for the folder you want to clean right now. Pick an inbox, run the sort, and Binky sweeps through the files in one pass.

Downloads is the default target, but it is not the only one. You can use it on any folder that has become a dumping ground: Desktop, a shared folder, a client upload folder, a screenshots folder, or wherever your Mac stores chaos. If your issue is less about sorting and more about Finder itself feeling limited, a utility like XtraFinder sits in the same Mac productivity lane.

By default, sorted files land in folders such as:

• Images/
• PDFs/
• Media/
• Documents/
• Archives/
• Apps/
• Screenshots/
• Misc/
• Review/

Binky waits for files to settle before moving them, so it does not grab a download halfway through. It also uses collision-safe moves, so two files with the same name do not overwrite each other.

Anything unknown or questionable goes to Review first. That is the part that makes the app feel safer than a blunt extension-based sorter. If Binky is not confident, it does not bury the file somewhere random.

Routines Watch Folders Continuously

Quick Sort is manual. Routines are automatic.

A Routine is a named watcher with its own source folder, rules, and optional Finder tags. You can have one Routine for Downloads, another for Desktop, another for a Dropbox inbox, and another for a screenshots dump. Each one can follow different routing logic.

That makes Binky more flexible than a simple Downloads cleaner. It can sit behind the places where files enter your workflow and keep them from becoming junk drawers.

Rules Give You Control

Binky can sort by file type, but it is not limited to extensions.

Rules can match by name, extension, file kind, size, date, origin, OCR or receipt hints, and Finder tag conditions. A rule can move a file, rename it, apply Finder tags, extract an archive, install from a DMG, trash a match, or fan files out by tag.

A few practical examples:

• send invoices and receipts into a finance folder
• keep client uploads away from general downloads
• route screenshots separately from normal images
• move project exports into the right project folder
• tag files during sorting so they are easier to scan in Finder

Rules run before the default sorted folders. So if you want receipts handled separately, Binky can catch them before they fall into a generic PDFs folder.

It Fits Into Mac Workflows

Binky is built with SwiftUI and AppKit, so it behaves like a Mac app rather than a web app wrapped in a window.

It supports Finder Quick Actions and Services, which means you can select files in Finder and run Sort with Binky directly. If you like tuning Finder actions yourself, this guide to adding items to the macOS context menu is a useful companion.

It also includes an Apple Shortcuts action called Sort Files, so you can pass file paths to the running app from your own automations. For a broader example of Mac automation, see this walkthrough on how to automate opening and positioning apps on Mac.

There is a binky command-line tool too, for people who want to preview sorts, run Routines from Terminal, or plug the same rules into scripts. The app, CLI, and Routines use the same preferences and routing logic, so you are not maintaining separate systems.

Binky also keeps history and batch summaries. You can see what moved, what was skipped, and what went to Review. Undo is available where macOS allows it.

What It Does Not Do

Binky moves files. It does not copy them. When a file is sorted, the original leaves the source folder and goes to its destination.

It also only watches folders while the app is running. If Binky is closed, new files stay where they are. Open it again or run Quick Sort, and it can clean up what accumulated.

There is no cloud account involved. Sorting happens on your Mac, and Binky does not upload your files.

The Bottom Line

Binky is a small Mac utility for a common problem: folders that turn into junk drawers because sorting files by hand is boring.

The app is more useful when you stop thinking of it as a Downloads cleaner and treat it as an inbox cleaner. Point it at any folder where files pile up, set a few rules if the defaults are not enough, and let Review catch anything uncertain.

Binky requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It is open source under the MIT license, and the 1.x line is free. You can download the DMG from binkyfiles.com and install it like a regular Mac app.

The post Binky Is a Free Mac App That Sorts Messy Folders for You appeared first on Hongkiat.

You open a blank canvas, try a few hex codes, hate all of them, then end up nudging saturation sliders for twenty minutes like that somehow counts as design progress.

I have been there more times than I want to admit.

There are plenty of websites that can help you generate palettes, browse combinations, test contrast, and build gradients without fighting your tools. If you want to understand why some combinations work and others do not, this guide to the basics behind color theory is a useful companion. Here are five worth bookmarking.

1. Coolors

Coolors is still one of the fastest ways to get unstuck.

Its main draw is the palette generator. Tap the spacebar, and it keeps serving new combinations until something clicks. That alone makes it useful when you need quick inspiration, but Coolors goes further than that.

It also includes palette exploration, an image picker, a contrast checker, a palette visualizer, gradient tools, and even Tailwind-focused color helpers. If you want one site that can take you from rough inspiration to something you can actually test in a UI, this is probably the most complete one on the list. For a broader view of what’s available, see our roundup of free color tools for web designers.

2. Grabient

Grabient is the one I would open when the brief calls for gradients first, not flat palettes.

It is built around generating CSS gradients with a clean interface and quick export options. The site also doubles as a palette finder, so it is not limited to flashy background blends, but gradients are clearly the star here.

If you build landing pages, hero sections, or marketing visuals and want gradients you can tweak without wrestling with CSS by hand, Grabient is a very handy shortcut.

3. ColorHub

ColorHub feels more product-minded than a lot of palette tools.

Instead of stopping at color generation, it tries to help you preview palettes in more realistic layouts. Its newer versions also added starter kits, palette previews on landing-page style templates, a contrast checker, favorites, and curated palette libraries.

That makes it especially useful if you are not just hunting for a nice palette, but trying to figure out whether that palette will still look good once it hits an actual interface.

4. Color Hunt

Color Hunt is simple in the best way.

It is basically a big, browsable collection of hand-picked color palettes, organized by mood, theme, and style. Pastel, retro, dark, wedding, food, sunset, neon. You can drift through it for five minutes and usually come away with something usable.

I like it because it does not overcomplicate the job. Sometimes you do not want a full palette lab. You just want to browse good combinations until one feels right.

That is exactly what Color Hunt is good at.

5. Gradients by Colorion

If all you need is a gradient and the CSS for it, Colorion keeps things nice and direct.

The site offers a hand-curated collection of background gradients, lets you change direction, and gives you the generated CSS immediately. No long setup. No extra friction. Just browse, tweak, copy, and move on.

It is especially useful for quick web design work when you want a softer background, a more interesting callout section, or a color blend that looks more polished than a flat fill.

Which One Should You Start With?

If you want the short version:

• Use Coolors when you want the broadest toolbox.
• Use Grabient when gradients are the main job.
• Use ColorHub when you want to preview palettes in something closer to a real UI.
• Use Color Hunt when you just want to browse good color combinations fast.
• Use Colorion when you want ready-made gradients and CSS with almost no effort.

Most of us do not have a color problem. We have a workflow problem.

The right tool does not magically give you taste, but it does help you explore faster, compare better, and stop second-guessing every hex code. That alone is a good reason to keep these five bookmarked. If you are starting a new project and still working through what colors to use, how to choose a color scheme for your website goes deeper into that decision.

The post 5 Color Palette Generator Websites Worth Using appeared first on Hongkiat.

It helps users scan faster and saves you from drawing the same magnifying glass, hamburger menu, or notification bell over and over. If you want to cast a wider net, this list of icon search engines is a useful companion.

The harder part is finding libraries that are pleasant to browse, visually consistent, and broad enough that you do not run out of options halfway through a project.

These 11 cover a good spread: open-source defaults, premium systems, huge libraries, and a few more style-specific picks.

1. Lucide

Lucide is a clean open-source icon library with a crisp, minimal style that drops into modern web apps without fighting the rest of your interface.

It is more than a website with SVG downloads. It also has packages for React, Vue, Svelte, Solid, Astro, React Native, and more, which makes it practical for actual product builds rather than one-off mockups.

If you want lightweight outline icons with a consistent look, Lucide is easy to keep in rotation.

2. Iconsax

Iconsax targets designers who want range. It is more commercial than barebones open-source libraries, and the main draw is sheer volume. The site has tens of thousands of icons across multiple styles, framework support, a Figma plugin, and AI-assisted icon generation.

It works well when you need one library that covers dashboards, mobile UI, admin screens, and edge-case icon needs without switching visual styles halfway through.

3. The Noun Project

The Noun Project is less of a single icon pack and more of a huge icon marketplace. You get a massive, diverse collection of symbols made by many contributors, which helps when you need a very specific concept that most UI icon sets do not cover. The tradeoff is consistency, because not every icon will feel like it belongs in the same interface.

For presentations, editorial graphics, concept-driven visuals, or hard-to-find symbols, it is a useful place to look.

4. Iconic

Iconic keeps things straightforward. The site calls its icons pixel-perfect, works on a 24 by 24 grid with a 1.5px stroke, and splits the collection between free and pro sets. The free license is usable, which puts it ahead of icon libraries that bury the useful stuff behind pricing caveats.

The library covers interface-friendly categories and everyday UI shapes, with a style that sits comfortably in web products.

5. Hugeicons

Hugeicons is built around scale. The site positions itself as a giant icon system for both designers and developers, with framework packages, a Figma plugin, icon fonts, and enough breadth to cover almost any app category you can think of.

You pick this when you want scale, coverage, and a polished commercial ecosystem around the icons rather than something intimate or opinionated.

6. Pixelarticons

Most icon libraries aim for smooth and neutral. Pixelarticons goes in the opposite direction with a full pixel-art look. If you are designing something retro, game-like, playful, or deliberately low-fi, this fits better than forcing a generic outline icon pack into the wrong project.

The library has thousands of icons across multiple styles, with a free tier and a pro upgrade for the full set.

7. Nucleo

Nucleo is built around workflow as much as icon count. It combines a large premium library with its own app for browsing, customizing, and exporting icons, plus React packages for developers.

If you work on larger design systems or manage assets across teams, that extra layer is useful. Plenty of icon sites stop at “here are some SVGs.” Nucleo is built more like a full toolkit.

8. Iconoir

Iconoir is an open-source option that is modern, flexible, and genuinely free without the usual premium bait hanging over every click. Its style is clean and slightly expressive without becoming noisy. The project also supports multiple outputs, including SVG, font, React, React Native, Flutter, Figma, and Framer.

If you want a free library that still feels product-ready, Iconoir is easy to recommend.

9. Feather Icons

Feather is simple, open source, and very restrained. No marketplace pitch. No bloated interface. Just a clean collection of icons with adjustable size, stroke width, and color.

If your taste runs minimal and you do not need thousands of niche symbols, Feather is an easy default.

10. Phosphor Icons

Phosphor is a flexible icon family used widely in product and interface work. It is broad and designed to work across UI, diagrams, presentations, and general digital product design.

If Feather feels too sparse for you, Phosphor is often the next step up.

11. Pikaicons

Pikaicons is more playful than the flatter, more clinical icon libraries out there. The site pitches it as a modern icon library for web and mobile, with more than 5,000 icons, multiple styles, and a Figma-first workflow. That makes it useful for designers who live in Figma and want something with a bit more charm without losing consistency.

Pikaicons works well when you want your UI to look polished without making it feel sterile.

The post 11 Icon Pack Websites Designers Should Bookmark appeared first on Hongkiat.

If you enjoy this kind of thing, our earlier roundup of interesting websites you should bookmark goes in a different direction but scratches the same itch. This list stays practical: 11 websites worth bookmarking because they do something well.

iLoveIMG

iLoveIMG is one of the easiest places to start when you need to resize, compress, crop, convert, watermark, or clean up images without opening Photoshop. It packs a long list of image tools into a simple browser interface, and most of them work in bulk, which is where the real convenience kicks in.

What makes it useful is how little setup it asks from you. Drop in a few JPGs or PNGs, pick the action you need, and you are done. If you like collecting this kind of utility, these online tools for web design projects are a good companion read.

BookFinder

BookFinder is a price comparison engine for books. Search for a title, author, or ISBN, and it pulls listings from a large number of booksellers so you can compare prices for new, used, rare, and textbook editions in one place.

It is especially handy when you are chasing an out-of-print title, an older edition, or the cheapest possible copy of a book you only need for reference. Instead of bouncing across marketplaces one by one, you get a broader view of availability, condition, and pricing almost immediately.

Gapminder

Gapminder is one of the best websites for anyone who likes data but does not enjoy being buried in dry reports. Its mission is to challenge common misconceptions about the world using interactive charts, short explainers, and quizzes built around global trends.

You can use it to explore data on poverty, life expectancy, education, population, energy use, and more. Teachers, journalists, students, and curious readers will get the most out of it, but even a quick visit can reset a few assumptions about how the world is changing.

AsanConvert

AsanConvert does one very specific job that will make perfect sense to a very specific crowd: it converts CorelDRAW files across versions and exports them into formats such as PDF, AI, EPS, SVG, and PNG. If you have ever received a .cdr file that your version of CorelDRAW refuses to open, this site is aimed straight at that headache.

That narrow focus is exactly why it is useful. Instead of hunting for desktop workarounds or asking someone else to re-save the file for you, you can upload it and convert it in the browser. Not everyone will need this, but the people who do will probably bookmark it on the spot.

curlconverter

curlconverter takes a raw curl command and turns it into code for other languages and libraries. Paste in a request copied from your browser or terminal, then convert it into Python requests, JavaScript fetch, Node.js, Go, PHP, and plenty more.

For developers, this is a small but excellent shortcut. A copied curl request is often the fastest way to capture an API call, but not the nicest thing to drop into an app. curlconverter handles the translation step quickly, and the browser-side conversion is a nice touch too.

ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer

ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer lets you browse tax filings from millions of U.S. tax-exempt organizations. You can search by nonprofit name, person, city, keyword, or EIN, then dig into revenue, expenses, executive compensation, and full filing text.

This is a strong research tool for journalists, donors, job seekers, and anyone doing due diligence. If you want to know how a nonprofit is funded, how large it has become, or what its filings actually say, this site makes that process much easier than digging through scattered public records on your own.

archai

archai is a short adaptive assessment that tries to measure how ready you actually are for AI. According to the site, it takes about eight minutes and ends with a single result you can share.

What I like about the idea is that it does not present itself as another broad AI news or prompt library site. It feels more like a focused diagnostic. If you are curious where you stand, or you want a lightweight conversation starter for teams thinking about AI adoption, it is a neat little tool.

Ninite

Ninite has been around for years, and it is still one of the cleanest Windows utilities on the web. You pick the apps you want, download one custom installer, and Ninite handles the rest. No bundled junk, no endless Next buttons, no toolbars quietly sneaking in.

It is excellent for setting up a new PC or refreshing an old one. Browsers, messaging apps, utilities, runtimes, developer tools, media players, compression tools, and more are all there. For Windows users, it sits nicely alongside our list of free Windows tools you should install.

CEOExpress

CEOExpress feels like an old-school web portal, and that is exactly the charm. It collects links to business news, financial resources, research tools, travel info, weather, newspapers, and other executive-focused utilities in one dense homepage.

The design is unapologetically dated, but that almost helps. There is very little fluff between you and the links. If you like the idea of a start page that acts more like a control panel than a polished content experience, CEOExpress still does that job surprisingly well.

Music-Map

Music-Map is a music discovery tool built around one question: if you like this artist, who else should you listen to? Type in a band or musician, and it returns a visual map of nearby artists that listeners tend to associate with them.

It is refreshingly simple. No playlist bait, no recommendation essay, no account needed. Just type a name and follow the trail. If you are trying to branch out from an artist you already love, this is a fast and enjoyable way to do it.

Worldometer

Worldometer is a real-time statistics website that tracks numbers across population, health, food, energy, water, environment, economics, and more. It is best known for live counters and fast-glance global stats, which is why it keeps popping up whenever people want a quick sense of scale.

The appeal is obvious: the data is presented in a way that feels immediate. Open it and you are not digging through a report. You are looking at moving numbers, ranked tables, and simple topic pages that make large abstract quantities easier to grasp. It is one of those reference sites that works because it gets to the point quickly.

Final Thoughts

Most people use the same handful of websites every day and rarely look beyond them. That is why lists like this are still fun to build. The web gets a lot more interesting once you start collecting niche tools, odd utilities, and sites that do one job well.

And if you know a few more in this vein, send them over. These lists are never really finished.

The post 11 Useful Websites You Should Know appeared first on Hongkiat.

GhostTrack is a Python command-line tool that groups a few public data lookups into one menu. You can run it locally, pick an option, and get results without setting up anything complex. I spent some time with it to see what it actually does and where it falls short.

What you get with GhostTrack

After installing and running it, the menu gives you four options:

• IP Tracker
• Show Your IP
• Phone Number Tracker
• Username Tracker

The IP Tracker takes any address you throw at it and pulls country, city, region, ASN, ISP, timezone, and rough coordinates from ipwho.is. Running it against a test IP gave back readable output in seconds. To understand how much an IP can already reveal on its own, this breakdown of what your IP exposes is worth reading alongside it.

The Phone Number Tracker parses a number using Python’s phonenumbers library and returns region, carrier, timezone, formatting, and number type. The Username Tracker checks whether a handle shows up across a list of social platforms by hitting profile URLs and reading the response.

If username lookups are what you are after, Sherlock is worth comparing. It covers more platforms and scales larger, but the idea is similar.

This is not a live location tracker. It wraps public lookups and common Python libraries into something a bit more convenient to use.

What actually works

That does not make it useless.

If you are running beginner OSINT labs, security demos, or CTF prep and need one quick interface for basic recon, GhostTrack lowers the friction. One script, one menu, readable output without stitching together separate commands. That is the main appeal: convenience over capability.

The code itself is small and readable. For someone learning how these lookups work, it is a decent starting point to see how IP metadata, number parsing, and username checks are handled programmatically.

Where the pitch overstates what it does

The marketing leans on phrases like “track location” and “track mobile number,” which sound more dramatic than what actually happens when you use it.

The IP lookup gives approximate geolocation from an API, useful context but not live tracking. The phone lookup tells you carrier and region, not where someone is right now. The username check mostly reports whether a handle exists on a platform.

Going in expecting precision surveillance will disappoint you. Going in expecting a quick public-data aggregator makes the tool feel more honest.

Rough edges you will notice

The username checker flags HTTP 200 as a match, which is blunt. Some sites serve friendly pages even for accounts that do not exist, so false positives are likely. The phone-number tracker also defaults to Indonesia as the region, understandable given the author’s background, but not useful if you are working with numbers from elsewhere.

Beyond that, there is very little documentation, no validation notes, and no discussion of error cases. For a quick personal script this is fine, but it means you have to manually verify anything important.

Who it actually suits

GhostTrack makes most sense for:

• beginners exploring how OSINT lookups work
• hobbyists who want a menu instead of running separate commands
• quick demos showing what public metadata can reveal

It is less suitable for professional investigations, anything where evidence quality matters, or workflows that need clean reporting and real validation. It is not Maltego or a full recon platform. It is a small script behind a terminal menu.

The Privacy Angle

What stands out most after using it is not GhostTrack itself. It is how much metadata ordinary systems already expose. IP geolocation, carrier info, timezone hints, and username reuse patterns all add up. Even basic lookups can sketch a surprising amount of context when stacked together.

Defensively, that is a good reason to audit your own digital footprint. If you want to take that further, this guide on deleting your digital footprint is a practical next step.

The post How Good Is GhostTrack for IP Phone and Username Lookups appeared first on Hongkiat.