{"slug": "building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen", "title": "Building a Floating AI Assistant That Lives in the Corner of Your Screen", "summary": "A developer built HiyokoHelper, a floating AI assistant that lives in a 360x440px window always on top of the screen. The Tauri-based app uses a global shortcut (Cmd+Shift+H) to toggle visibility from any application and stays running in the background without a Dock icon. The project is open-source and runs on an 8-year-old MacBook Air.", "body_md": "If this is useful, a ❤️ helps others find it.\n\nAll tests run on an 8-year-old MacBook Air.\n\nHiyokoHelper is a 360×440px floating window. Always accessible, never in the way. Cmd+Shift+H brings it to the front from any app.\n\n```\n{\n  \"app\": {\n    \"windows\": [{\n      \"label\": \"main\",\n      \"width\": 360,\n      \"height\": 440,\n      \"resizable\": false,\n      \"decorations\": false,\n      \"alwaysOnTop\": true,\n      \"transparent\": true,\n      \"visible\": false\n    }],\n    \"macOS\": {\n      \"activationPolicy\": \"accessory\"\n    }\n  }\n}\n```\n\n`decorations: false`\n\n— custom title bar`alwaysOnTop: true`\n\n— floats above everything`activationPolicy: accessory`\n\n— no Dock, no Cmd+Tab`visible: false`\n\n— hidden on launch\n\n``` js\nlet shortcut: Shortcut = \"CmdOrCtrl+Shift+H\".parse()?;\n\napp.global_shortcut().on_shortcut(shortcut, |app, _, _| {\n    if let Some(window) = app.get_webview_window(\"main\") {\n        if window.is_visible().unwrap_or(false) {\n            window.hide().unwrap();\n        } else {\n            window.show().unwrap();\n            window.set_focus().unwrap();\n        }\n    }\n})?;\n```\n\nWorks from any app — VS Code, Terminal, Finder, anywhere.\n\n```\n.title-bar { -webkit-app-region: drag; }\n.title-bar button { -webkit-app-region: no-drag; }\n```\n\nThe title bar area drags. Buttons inside are clickable.\n\n```\n#[tauri::command]\npub fn hide_window(window: tauri::Window) {\n    window.hide().unwrap();\n    // Process stays alive\n    // Clipboard monitor keeps running\n    // Shortcut still works\n}\ntauri::Builder::default()\n    .plugin(tauri_plugin_autostart::init(\n        MacosLauncher::LaunchAgent,\n        Some(vec![\"--minimized\"]),\n    ))\n```\n\nStarts hidden at login. Ready for Cmd+Shift+H without ever appearing on screen.\n\n**TL;DR:** Floating assistant window in Tauri: `decorations: false`\n\n+ `alwaysOnTop: true`\n\n+ `activationPolicy: accessory`\n\n(no Dock/Cmd+Tab). Global shortcut toggles visibility from any app. `-webkit-app-region: drag`\n\nfor dragging without a native title bar. Close hides the window, not the process.\n\n[HiyokoHelper (OSS)](https://github.com/Hiyokoko/HiyokoHelper) | X → [@hiyoyok](https://x.com/hiyoyok)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen", "canonical_source": "https://dev.to/hiyoyok/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen-1l8k", "published_at": "2026-06-14 02:25:30+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-14 02:58:53.619080+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["developer-tools", "ai-products"], "entities": ["HiyokoHelper", "Tauri", "MacBook Air", "VS Code", "Terminal", "Finder", "GitHub", "@hiyoyok"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/building-a-floating-ai-assistant-that-lives-in-the-corner-of-your-screen.jsonld"}}