What is Luke?
Luke is an AI-powered desktop companion that lives on your screen. He watches your cognitive load in real time, catches you before you make a mistake you'll regret, and speaks your language — without ever getting in the way.
He's not an app you open. He's a presence. Always there. Never annoying.
Built specifically for students, people with ADHD and dyslexia, and mental health counselors — the three groups that mainstream software has always left behind.
75% of high school students are stressed all the time. 1 in 3 college students has anxiety or depression. 366 million adults globally have ADHD and lose 22 working days per year to unsupported brains. Luke is for them.
Demo
📺 Demo video coming soon
The moment that matters: Type an angry message anywhere on your screen. Wait 3 seconds. Luke intercepts it before you send it and guides you through a 60-second reset.
Features
Phase 1 — Live Now
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Animated Desktop Widget | Luke lives in the corner of your screen. He blinks, breathes, and reacts. Draggable. Always on top. |
| Live Cognitive Load Score | 0–100 score updated every 10 seconds from facial emotion, open windows, switch count, and break history |
| Hey Luke — Voice System | Wake word triggers Whisper → Claude → ElevenLabs. Full conversational AI, eyes-free |
| Chat Coach | Reads clipboard every 3 seconds. Detects angry tone. Intercepts before you send. Guides a breathing reset. |
Phase 2 — In Progress
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Facial Emotion Detection | face-api.js reads your webcam locally — 7 emotions, every 5 seconds. Zero video uploaded. |
| Desktop Clarity Mode | Tracks inactive apps. Auto-minimizes what you haven't touched in 10+ minutes. |
| Study Visualizer | "Hey Luke, visualize the Krebs cycle." Claude returns a clean SVG diagram instantly. |
| Smart Reminders | Context-aware nudges that adapt to your current stress level |
Phase 3 — Roadmap
| Feature | What it does |
|---|---|
| Micro Journal | One word every evening at 7pm. After 30 days — a full mood calendar. |
| Weekly Behavioral Report | Stress trends, focus hours, emotional patterns. PDF export for counselors. |
| Vent Mode | "Hey Luke, I need to vent." Luke listens. Responds warmly. Stored locally only, never transmitted. |
| Focus Shield | Blocks interruptions for a set time. Full debrief after. |
| Distraction Report | At 6pm: "YouTube — 9 visits, 31 minutes." No blocking. Just the truth. |
| ADHD Mode | Audio-only, larger text, slower speech, auto Pomodoro. Built for neurodivergent users. |
| Counselor Dashboard | With consent, shares behavioral summaries with a therapist. Patterns only, never message content. |
Tech Stack
Desktop Shell → Electron + React + Vite
Animations → Framer Motion
State → Zustand
Storage → SQLite via better-sqlite3 (local only)
Styling → Tailwind CSS
AI Brain → Anthropic Claude API (claude-sonnet-4-20250514)
Voice Output → ElevenLabs (eleven_turbo_v2)
Voice Input → OpenAI Whisper API
Emotion Vision → face-api.js (TinyFaceDetector — runs in-browser)
Tone Analysis → Sentiment.js
Calendar → Google Calendar API
Privacy First
Luke is built on a simple promise: your data never leaves your machine.
- Face video is processed locally via face-api.js — nothing is uploaded
- Voice commands are transcribed and discarded — not stored
- All behavioral data (stress logs, vent entries, clipboard history) lives in a local SQLite database only
- Luke works fully offline after initial API key setup
- The counselor report feature shares patterns only — never message content, never vent transcripts
Getting Started
Prerequisites
- Node.js 18+
- npm or yarn
- API keys for: Anthropic, ElevenLabs, OpenAI (for Whisper)
Installation
# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/your-team/luke.git
cd luke
# Install dependencies
npm install
# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env
# Fill in your API keys (see Environment Variables below)
# Run in development
npm run dev
# Build for production
npm run build
Environment Variables
Create a .env file in the root with:
ELEVENLABS_API_KEY=your_key_here
ELEVENLABS_VOICE_ID=your_voice_id_here
OPENAI_API_KEY=your_key_here
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_key_here
GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID=your_key_here
GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET=your_key_here
Project Structure
luke/
├── electron/
│ ├── main.js # Electron main process
│ ├── preload.js # Context bridge
│ └── windowManager.js # Always-on-top window logic
├── src/
│ ├── components/
│ │ ├── LukeFace.jsx # Animated SVG character
│ │ ├── StressRing.jsx # Cognitive load ring
│ │ ├── ChatCoach.jsx # Angry message interceptor
│ │ ├── VoiceListener.jsx# Wake word + Whisper
│ │ └── SidePanel.jsx # Expanded Luke panel
│ ├── hooks/
│ │ ├── useStressScore.js
│ │ ├── useClipboard.js
│ │ ├── useVoice.js
│ │ └── useEmotion.js
│ ├── services/
│ │ ├── elevenlabs.js
│ │ ├── whisper.js
│ │ ├── claude.js
│ │ ├── sentiment.js
│ │ └── faceDetection.js
│ ├── store/
│ │ └── lukeStore.js # Zustand global state
│ ├── db/
│ │ └── database.js # SQLite local storage
│ └── App.jsx
├── .env.example
├── package.json
└── vite.config.js
Luke's System Prompt
Every Claude API call uses this context-aware system prompt:
You are Luke, a warm emotionally intelligent desktop companion.
You help students, people with ADHD and dyslexia, and mental health counselors.
Rules:
- Max 50 words per response unless the user asks for more
- Short sentences only — never bullet points in spoken responses
- Always acknowledge how the user is feeling before giving information
- Never moralize or lecture
- Gentle humor when the user seems okay
Context injected with every message:
- stress_score: [0-100]
- dominant_emotion: [happy/sad/angry/fearful/neutral]
- time_of_day: [morning/afternoon/evening/night]
- open_windows: [number]
- last_break: [X minutes ago]
Who It's For
Students — 47 tabs, 0 focus, exam in 6 hours. Luke watches their stress, visualizes study concepts on voice command, and actually tells them to take a break.
ADHD + Dyslexia — 366 million adults with ADHD. 1 in 10 with dyslexia. Luke's audio-only, low-clutter, voice-first design is built for how their brains actually work — not retrofitted.
Mental Health Counselors — Walk into every session with a behavioral summary: stress trends, emotional peaks, focus data. Without asking the client to do a single extra thing.
The Numbers
| Stat | Source |
|---|---|
| 75% of high school students feel academic stress all the time | EssayPro, 2025 |
| 1 in 3 college students has anxiety or depression | ACHA, 2025 |
| 37% of people stop therapy due to cost or access | US Therapy Access Survey, 2022 |
| 366M adults globally have ADHD | Global ADHD Meta-Analysis, 2024 |
| 22 working days lost per year by adults with untreated ADHD | ADDA Workplace Studies, 2025 |
| $122.8B annual US cost of adult ADHD | Journal of Managed Care, 2025 |
Team
Luke Out For Us — Built at Hackathon 2025
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Aryan | Builder |
| Arshia | Builder |
| Divij | Builder |
| Vraj | Builder |
Contributing
Luke is a hackathon project — but if you want to build on it, go for it.
- Fork the repo
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feature/your-feature - Commit your changes:
git commit -m 'add: your feature' - Push and open a PR
License
MIT — do whatever you want, just don't make something that hurts people.
*Most tools optimize for output.* *Luke optimizes for the human behind the output.* **Built with care by Luke Out For Us · 2025**
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