A week ago OpenPilot, the open-source desktop agent I built because I wanted a Cursor-style tool that runs on my own model, had 1 GitHub star. I launched it on Product Hunt on October 9 and wrote a couple of posts here. This is a short, honest look at what actually happened, mostly so I remember it and partly in case it's useful to someone else launching a small project alone.
The numbers
All of these come straight from GitHub's API and the Product Hunt page, nothing rounded up.
| Oct 9 (before launch) | Oct 15 | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 1 | 18 |
| Forks | 0 | 4 |
| Windows installer + portable downloads (all releases, all time) | 170 | 423 |
| macOS downloads (dmg + zip) | 6 | 14 |
| Open issues | 0 | 1 |
Product Hunt: it finished launch day at #9 with about 88 upvotes and 54 followers. On launch day itself there were zero comments from other people, and one thoughtful question came in the next day.
What I learned
Upvotes are not installs. For most of launch day the Product Hunt page was getting attention but almost nobody was downloading. The "Visit website" button sends people to the landing page, and from there it's another click or two to GitHub Releases. When I put a direct Windows download link (plus a note about the unsigned-app warning) in the maker comment, downloads started moving. That's the single change I'd make earlier next time.
The unsigned installer costs people. Windows SmartScreen and macOS both warn on unsigned apps. Explaining it up front helps, but I'm sure some people bounce. Signing is on the list.
I'd rather write tutorials than announcements. An "it's live" post says nothing new after the first day. A step-by-step setup post, like the one on running it locally with Ollama and Qwen 3, answers the question people actually ask, which is "will this work with the model I already run?"
Slow and steady is still something. Downloads jumped in the first few days after launch and have settled to roughly 15 to 20 new installs a day. Not a rocket, but real people are trying it.
What's next
- A proper LICENSE file in the repo (it says MIT in the README, but GitHub doesn't detect it yet, which blocks some lists).
- Testing more local models and writing up what works and what breaks.
- Smaller fixes from the first issue reports.
A note on privacy since it comes up: OpenPilot currently sends anonymous usage data by default (app opens, feature use, token counts, no chats, files, paths or keys). You can turn it off during setup or in Settings → About.
If you've tried it with a model that didn't behave, I'd genuinely like to know which one. Repo is here.
I used an AI assistant to help draft and edit this post. The numbers are from GitHub and Product Hunt.
Top comments (1)
Thanks for sharing raw numbers instead of rounded ones. The first week after a solo launch is mostly about learning which channel actually brings people who try the thing, not just star it. Did the Product Hunt traffic convert to installs or issues at a different rate than readers coming from your DEV posts?