I built a free AI that reads my screen and answers out loud – no API key, runs offline with Ollama

#python #opensource #ai #showdev

I kept hitting ChatGPT's $20/mo wall. So I built my own.

Clicky is a free, open-source AI assistant for Windows that floats next to your cursor, reads your screen, and speaks the answer back out loud. No copy-paste. No alt-tab. No subscription.

The problem I was solving

Every time I hit an API limit or saw that $20/mo charge, I thought — I have a decent laptop, Ollama runs locally, why am I paying for this?

But existing local AI setups require you to open a terminal, type prompts, copy-paste context... it's friction. I wanted something that just worked — press a hotkey, ask a question, get an answer.

How Clicky works

Press Ctrl+Alt+Space anywhere on Windows
It captures all your screens and starts listening
You ask your question out loud
It reads the screen context, queries the AI, and speaks the answer back

That's the entire flow. No window switching. No typing.

Tech stack

Python + PyQt6 — system tray app, always running in background
Whisper.cpp — fast local speech-to-text (runs on CPU)
Ollama — local LLM inference (llama3.2:3b for text, qwen2.5vl:3b for vision)
edge-tts — Microsoft's neural TTS, free and offline-capable
PyInstaller — packages everything into a single Windows .exe
Inno Setup — builds the one-click installer

AI provider flexibility

Clicky isn't locked to Ollama. It supports:

Provider	Cost	Requires
Ollama (local)	Free forever	~4GB RAM
OpenAI GPT-4o	Pay per use	API key
Anthropic Claude	Pay per use	API key
GitHub Copilot	Free with Student Pack	GitHub account

What it can do

Read whatever is on your screen (YouTube, code, emails, docs, anything)
Search the web and answer instantly
Point at exact UI elements with a glowing arrow overlay
Click buttons on your behalf just by asking
Answer questions about code you're looking at without copy-pasting

Setup in v1.1.1

The latest version ships with a first-run setup wizard — it detects if Ollama is missing, downloads and installs it automatically, then pulls the right models. One click from installer to working AI.