Blink: Your Instant AI Sidekick

Select text. Hit a hotkey. Get AI magic. Instantly. Anywhere.

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✨ Pop-up Mode: Clean, controlled, and perfect for complex tasks.

🚀 Direct Stream Mode: Seamlessly injects AI responses right where you're working.

📧 Real-World Example: Drafting Emails in Gmail with Direct Stream.

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⚡ What's the Vibe?

Ever been deep in your workflow and thought, "Man, I wish I could just ask an AI to fix this, translate that, or summarize this wall of text without breaking my flow?"

Blink is the answer.

It's a slick, lightweight Windows utility that lives in your system tray and puts your favorite LLM just a hotkey away. No more copy-pasting into a browser tab. Just select, press, and get your response streamed right back to you.

This whole project is pure #VibeCode. It was built from scratch in under 24 hours with the help of AI, inspired by the cool concept of jasonjmcghee/plock. The mission? Create a Windows-native, feature-packed AI assistant that just works.

✨ Feature Drop

Blink isn't just a simple text-passer. It's stacked with features to actually make you faster.

• 🤖 Truly System-Wide: Works in VS Code, Chrome, Notion, Notepad... if you can select text, Blink is there.
• 🔥 Dual Output Modes: Get responses in a clean Pop-up Overlay or let Blink Direct Stream the answer by typing it out for you.
• 🧠 Conversational Memory: Ask follow-up questions. Blink remembers the last 50 messages so you don't have to repeat yourself.
• 📋 Clipboard Context: The ultimate power move. Copy a file, an image, or a block of text, then select an instruction and hit Ctrl+Alt+/. Instant two-part commands.
• 👁️ Adaptive Multimodal: Smart enough to know if your model can see. It sends images directly to vision models (like GPT-4o or Llava) or automatically performs OCR for text-only models.
• ⚙️ Total Control: A full settings UI in the system tray lets you switch models, manage API keys, toggle memory, and craft the perfect custom system prompt.
• 🚀 Launch & Forget: Set it to launch on startup, and it'll always be ready when you need it.

🚀 Get Started (The Easy Way)

No need to be a dev. Just grab the installer and you're good to go.

1. Head over to the Releases Section.
2. Download the latest Blink-Setup.exe.
3. Run the installer. Blink will live in your system tray.

Done. Seriously, that's it.

Note: Check the Releases tab to download the latest installer for new releases and updates.

💻 How to Use

The Main Move: Ctrl + Alt + .

1. Select any text on your screen.
2. Press Ctrl + Alt + ..
3. Watch the magic happen in your chosen output mode.

The Pro Move: Clipboard Context Ctrl + Alt + /

1. Copy your content (Ctrl+C on text, an image, or even multiple files in Explorer).
2. Highlight your instruction (e.g., "summarize this", "what's in this image?").
3. Press Ctrl + Alt + /.

Blink combines them and sends the request. This is your go-to for translation, summarization, and analysis.

🛠️ For the Devs (The VibeCode Way)

Wanna get your hands dirty or see how the AI did it?

1. Clone the repo:

   git clone https://github.com/JStaRFilms/Blink.git
   cd Blink

2. Setup your venv:

   python -m venv venv
   venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install the goods:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Make sure your local LLM (like Ollama) is running.
5. Run it:

   python main.py

Building the .exe Yourself

If you want to build the single-file executable, use the .spec file which handles all the complex pywin32 bundling and includes the icon/assets automatically.

# ⚠️ ALWAYS build with: pyinstaller Blink.spec
# Do NOT use: pyinstaller main.py — it ignores all pywin32 bundling logic!
pyinstaller Blink.spec

Why .spec file? The old CLI approach (pyinstaller --name Blink --onefile --windowed --icon="assets/icon.ico" --add-data="assets;assets" main.py) doesn't handle the complex pywin32 dependencies properly. The .spec file includes automatic collection of all required DLLs and data files.

The final Blink.exe will be in the dist folder with the icon and all assets bundled correctly.

Building the Installer Yourself

Once you have the Blink.exe, you can build the professional installer using Inno Setup:

1. Install Inno Setup (if not already installed):

   • Download from: https://jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
   • Install it on your system

2. Convert PNG assets to BMP (required by Inno Setup):

   python convert_assets.py

   This converts installer_banner.png and wizard_icon.png to BMP format.

3. Build the installer:

   # Make sure ISCC.exe is in your PATH, or use full path
   # In PowerShell, use: & "C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" Blink_Setup_Script.iss
   # In CMD, use:
   "C:\Program Files (x86)\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" Blink_Setup_Script.iss

The final installer Blink-Setup-v1.0.4.exe will be created in the dist folder.

Build Order: Always build the .exe first, then the installer. The installer script references the Blink.exe from the dist folder.

🤝 Let's Build Together! (Contribute)

This project was born from inspiration and built with AI, but its future is community-driven. Got a dope feature idea? Found a bug? Want to refactor something?

All contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingNewFeature).
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingNewFeature').
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingNewFeature).
5. Open a Pull Request.

Check out the open issues for ideas, or just drop a suggestion. Let's make Blink the ultimate AI sidekick for Windows.

🙏 Credits & Inspiration

Huge shoutout to Jason McGhee for his project plock. The original Rust-based concept was the spark that ignited this entire project. While Blink is a full rewrite in Python with a different feature set, it stands on the shoulders of that initial great idea.