QuackCursor

S J — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 18:29:37 +0000

This is a submission for the DEV April Fools Challenge

What I Built

QUACK CURSOR

Your cursor will quack. I build a system-wide "enhancement" for Windows_(wait, other my fellow mates)_. It transforms your mundane computing experience into hmm... something.

Once launched, it globally tracks the victim's mouse. Every time they click the left or right, their computer emits a loud, asynchronous Duck Quack.
But wait, there's more! I incorporated a global click counter and small Easter egg: upon reaching their 10th click, the duck "takes flight" to 'something' in their default web browser.

Because it runs as a headless .pyw file, there is no terminal window to close. The only way to stop the quacking is to hunt down pythonw.exe in the Task Manager and end it!!!

Demo

🫵 check out the repo 😉👇 and have fun

Code

yesJ13 / QuackCursor

🦆 QuackCursor

QuackCursor is a system-wide "enhancement" for Windows, designed for the DEV.to April Fools Challenge. It transforms your mundane computing experience into a high-stakes waterfowl simulation.

🎭 The Concept

Why have a silent, efficient workstation when you could have a pond? QuackCursor implements three revolutionary UI/UX features:

Visual Overload: Replace your boring arrow cursor with a Rubber Duck icon.
Every single mouse click—left or right—triggers a high-fidelity quack.wav. This audio was synthetically birthed using the Gemini 2.5 Pro Preview TTS.
Every 10 clicks, your cursor achieves true enlightenment. Using Python’s legendary antigravity easter egg, your browser will soar to the classic XKCD comic, reminding you that there is more to life than clicking.

🛠 Tech Stack

Python 3.x: The engine of chaos.
pynput: The secret agent listening to your clicks across the entire operating system.
winsound: For low-latency, asynchronous quacking.
antigravity & webbrowser…

View on GitHub

How I Built It

Google AI Studio: The second chief admiral🙌, who rapidly prototyped and troubleshooted background hardware event listeners in Python. Structured the code, made the file paths bulletproof, and figured out the hybrid approach of mixing Windows cursor settings with a background pynput listener. AND generated the quack🦆😭
Python🐍: The core language. I intentionally used the pythonw.exe executable (via the .pyw file extension) to ensure the script runs completely "headless" without a console window.
pynput: Used to hook into system-wide mouse events so it registers clicks no matter what app the user is currently using.
winsound: Built into standard Windows Python. I used this instead of heavy libraries like pygame because it requires no extra dependencies and supports the SND_ASYNC flag, allowing the duck to quack without temporarily freezing the user's mouse pointer.
antigravity & webbrowser: Python's built-in Easter egg 🪺 module for the ultimate payload.

Prize Category

Best Google AI Usage: Figured out the tricky parts of Windows Python development, like how to run a .pyw file silently in the background using pythonw.exe💯💯
Community Favourite: Communities love projects that are fun, silly, and highly demo-able. Adding that as a 10-click easter egg shows you know your programmer culture. Something that makes the crowd
giggle. QuackCursor just brings joy❤️

SJ
@yesj13

DEV Community: S J