How to run the open-source Clicky on your Mac

Yes. The first version of Clicky, the app that became HeyClicky, is on GitHub as farzaa/clicky under the MIT license. To run it you build it in Xcode on macOS 14.2 or later, deploy a small Cloudflare Worker, and bring three API keys: Anthropic, AssemblyAI and ElevenLabs. If you've built a Mac app before, the steps will look familiar, and you pay each API for what you use.

Know what you're getting first:

• It's the early version. The last push was April 28, 2026, and the README says new work stays private. HeyClicky's agents, named Clickys, routines and MCP connections came after and aren't in it.
• It talks, sees the screen on a hotkey and points with a blue cursor. It doesn't click or type for you.
• Nobody supports it but you, though the README says pull requests are welcome.

We make Koi, a finished app in the same space, and we say so where it comes up. The steps below follow the README as it stood on October 16, 2026; we wrote them from it, not from a fresh build, so check the repo for changes.

The README calls Clicky an AI teacher that lives as a buddy next to your cursor. It's a menu bar app, not a Dock app, and it works like this:

• Hold Control + Option to talk. Your voice streams to AssemblyAI, which turns it into text as you speak.
• It takes a screenshot when you use the hotkey, and sends your question and the screen to the model.
• The reply can carry point tags with screen coordinates, which fly a blue cursor overlay to the thing it means, across several displays.
• The answer is spoken back by ElevenLabs, as it streams in.

Under the hood, two panels do the work: the dropdown from the menu bar, and a full-screen transparent overlay for the cursor. A Cloudflare Worker sits between the app and all three services, so the README says your keys never ship inside the app.

First the Worker, which holds your keys:

1. Clone the repository and open its worker folder in Terminal.
2. Run npm install.
3. Add each key as a secret with npx wrangler secret put, once for ANTHROPIC_API_KEY, once for ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY and once for ELEVENLABS_API_KEY.
4. Set ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID in wrangler.toml. The README notes it isn't a secret.
5. Run npx wrangler deploy, and copy the Worker URL it prints.

Then the app:

1. Search the project for clicky-proxy, and put your Worker URL in place of the placeholder in CompanionManager.swift and AssemblyAIStreamingTranscriptionProvider.swift.
2. Open leanring-buddy.xcodeproj in Xcode. The typo in the name is on purpose, per the README.
3. Pick the leanring-buddy scheme, set your signing team, and press Command-R.
4. Allow what macOS asks for: Microphone, Accessibility, Screen Recording and Screen Content.
5. Hold Control + Option and ask something about your screen.

To test without deploying, run npx wrangler dev with your keys in a .dev.vars file, and point the Swift code at localhost:8787 instead.

The code is free. The services aren't: every question uses the model, every second of talk uses speech to text, and every answer uses the voice, each billed to your own account by its provider. Check each one's pricing page before you leave it running, and set a spending limit where the provider offers one.

The Worker is what keeps the keys out of the app, so treat its URL with care. Requests that go through it are billed to your keys, so don't paste it into a public repo or a screenshot.

With 7,714 stars and 1,542 forks on October 16, 2026, Clicky has a few descendants. The ones with signs of life, from GitHub:

• clicky-windows describes itself as a free, offline assistant for Windows that reads your screen, listens and speaks, running locally with Ollama.
• danpeg/clicky adds a proactive tutor mode on top of the original.
• Skilly, under Apache 2.0, grew into a product: an AI teaching companion with skills for Blender, After Effects, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Figma, a 15-minute free trial, and a hosted plan at $19 a month for 3 hours.

Building Clicky is a good way to learn how a screen assistant works. For daily use, most people are better off with a finished app.

• HeyClicky is where Clicky went: the same idea with agents, routines and connectors, and a free plan of 25 talk and 25 agent messages a month. Our HeyClicky review covers it.
• Koi is our take. Tap Fn + ⌘ once and talk: it answers out loud, sees the screen with each question (or only when you ask, or never), circles and draws on it, rewrites selected text and clicks for you. There are no keys to manage, dictation with Fn + ⌥ runs on your Mac, and it never buys, sends, posts, deletes or signs in.

What Koi gives up next to the open-source Clicky: it isn't open source, you can't bring your own keys or models, and it isn't free. Pro is $20 a month after a 3-day trial that needs a card, and it runs on macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel. More options in HeyClicky alternatives, and what Koi will and won't do on your Mac in our guide to an AI that controls your Mac.