Building a Floating AI Assistant That Lives in the Corner of Your Screen

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.

If this is useful, a ❤️ helps others find it. All tests run on an 8-year-old MacBook Air. HiyokoHelper is a 360×440px floating window. Always accessible, never in the way. Cmd+Shift+H brings it to the front from any app. { "app": { "windows": { "label": "main", "width": 360, "height": 440, "resizable": false, "decorations": false, "alwaysOnTop": true, "transparent": true, "visible": false } , "macOS": { "activationPolicy": "accessory" } } } decorations: false — custom title bar alwaysOnTop: true — floats above everything activationPolicy: accessory — no Dock, no Cmd+Tab visible: false — hidden on launch js let shortcut: Shortcut = "CmdOrCtrl+Shift+H".parse ?; app.global shortcut .on shortcut shortcut, |app, , | { if let Some window = app.get webview window "main" { if window.is visible .unwrap or false { window.hide .unwrap ; } else { window.show .unwrap ; window.set focus .unwrap ; } } } ?; Works from any app — VS Code, Terminal, Finder, anywhere. .title-bar { -webkit-app-region: drag; } .title-bar button { -webkit-app-region: no-drag; } The title bar area drags. Buttons inside are clickable. tauri::command pub fn hide window window: tauri::Window { window.hide .unwrap ; // Process stays alive // Clipboard monitor keeps running // Shortcut still works } tauri::Builder::default .plugin tauri plugin autostart::init MacosLauncher::LaunchAgent, Some vec "--minimized" , Starts hidden at login. Ready for Cmd+Shift+H without ever appearing on screen. TL;DR: Floating assistant window in Tauri: decorations: false + alwaysOnTop: true + activationPolicy: accessory no Dock/Cmd+Tab . Global shortcut toggles visibility from any app. -webkit-app-region: drag for dragging without a native title bar. Close hides the window, not the process. HiyokoHelper OSS https://github.com/Hiyokoko/HiyokoHelper | X → @hiyoyok https://x.com/hiyoyok