A tiny, playful, privacy-first desktop charm inspired by the Indian nimbu-mirchi tradition. Mirchi is drawn entirely with native vector graphics and stays local to your computer.

• Windows: build-verified and smoke-tested. No .NET SDK or package install is required on standard 64-bit Windows installations with .NET Framework 4.x.
• Experimental macOS 13+: native AppKit source is included in mac and is build-verified in GitHub Actions. Interactive and visual testing on a Mac is still outstanding.

1. Download or clone this repository.
2. Double-click run.cmd.
3. Right-click the charm and choose Quit when you are done.

The first run builds Mirchi.exe beside the source. Later you can launch the .exe directly. Run build.cmd whenever you want to rebuild it.

The build uses the 64-bit .NET Framework C# compiler included with Windows:

build.cmd

Contributors with a .NET SDK can use the project build instead:

dotnet build Mirchi.csproj --configuration Release

For macOS build instructions, see mac/README.md.

Mirchi currently ships as source rather than a signed installer. It does not add itself to startup or install files elsewhere. To uninstall it, quit the app and delete the folder.

GitHub Actions builds both platform implementations on every pull request and every push to main. Successful runs provide an unsigned Windows executable and an unsigned macOS app bundle as workflow artifacts. These artifacts are for testing; Mirchi does not currently publish signed releases.

• Drag the top loop to hang it anywhere on the screen.
• Drag and release the charm to flick it.
• Pull the lower charm to stretch it, then release for a snap.
• Roll the mouse wheel over the charm to cycle designs.
• Double-click for a quick wiggle.
• Right-click for the design picker, Wiggle, Reset, or Quit.

• Nimbu Mirchi — India
• Nazar — Türkiye
• Hamsa — North Africa and West Asia
• Omamori — Japan
• Cornicello — Italy
• Lucky Knot and Coin — China

Mirchi is local and deliberately has no networking, storage, telemetry, clipboard, camera, microphone, shell, startup, or background-service code. It only uses native drawing, pointer input, a timer for the pendulum, and the primary screen size for its initial placement. It does not save its position or settings.

Mirchi is available under the MIT License.