
Cerebro App – Open-source productivity booster with a brain - b01t
https://cerebroapp.com/
======
gregparadee
Some of the comments in this thread are the exact opposite thing I would
expect from this community and it is shameful. It's unfortunate that the top
comment is one of these which could steer some people away from reading
further.

As many others in this thread have pointed out, Cerebro is a pretty cool app
that borrows from some core OS functionality and improves on it. Is its design
100% perfect? Maybe not. However, instead of commenting the application isn't
exactly the way YOU would have done it and complaining try offering some
constructive criticism.

If the app is memory hogging, not following best coding practices, or you have
a cool idea of how something could be done instead share that feedback and
offer better ways to do things. Not only does this benefit the developers
working on this app but it helps others who may be working on becoming better
developers themselves.

I myself am a naive developer. However I enjoy developing in my free time to
keep myself thinking and I enjoy learning new things. I frequently visit this
community to see what others are working on and looking at all the cool
applications that people develop is a great way to pass time. If I had worked
on something really hard, posted it, and then received some of these comments
I would be extremely discouraged.

That said, if a Cerebro developer is reading, this looks like a really cool
improvement on Spotlight (I use OSX). Keep up the good work and don't let the
negative comments in here discourage you or your team!

~~~
mememachine
I actually find comments like yours far more obnoxious than level-headed
criticism. This communities purpose is not to be a marketing team for whoever
wants to post here. Criticism is much more edifying than blind support.

~~~
wmccullough
The problem I see in this community is that much of the time, many aren't
providing criticism. If it were only criticism, I'd even agree. The truth is
that the so called "criticism" is really armchair quarterbacking most of the
time.

~~~
nurettin
I wish you and some other Hn'ers would stop hating on armchairs.

------
unhammer
There are quite a few of these Quicksilver-clones these days:

* Ulauncher [http://ulauncher.io/](http://ulauncher.io/)

* Albert [https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert#albert-](https://github.com/albertlauncher/albert#albert-)

* Synapse [https://launchpad.net/synapse-project](https://launchpad.net/synapse-project)

* Kupfer [https://kupferlauncher.github.io/](https://kupferlauncher.github.io/)

* Zazu [http://zazuapp.org/](http://zazuapp.org/)

* M-x counsel-linux-app [http://oremacs.com/2016/03/16/counsel-linux-app/](http://oremacs.com/2016/03/16/counsel-linux-app/)

I've tried a couple, but I always end up back to Alt+F2 in XFCE, since most of
these launchers always start so slowly in comparison, and I never use any
other features (more than once) than starting Firefox/Emacs/Terminal …

~~~
ue_
Rofi is fast, customisable and nice.

~~~
gremlinsinc
I like rofi + i3w on Antergos, after using tiled windows and all the hotkey
goodness it'd be hard to switch back to a more window-ed experience.

------
myfonj
Related: For fast _filesystem search_ on Windows (NTFS) I cannot recommend
enough _Everything_ [0]. Instant search through all drives. This app really
shines. Under 1 Mb install size, blazing fast interface (can be bound to
global hotkey), command line interface, optional HTTP interface, small memory
footprint (depends on the size of indices). Really, if you haven't seen it,
check it out.

It basically connects to the NTFS database, fo that's why it is instant. Still
don't understand why OS does not do this.

[0] [http://voidtools.com/](http://voidtools.com/)

~~~
m3Lith
There's also Wox [0], which provides a nicer UI/UX over top of Everything.
Also has some interesting plugins.

[0] [http://www.getwox.com/](http://www.getwox.com/)

~~~
pragmatick
I've tried Wox and other launchers that include Everything several times and I
always go back to having a launcher for, well, launching and using Everything
for searching. For me the compact design of a launcher is not well suited to
show a couple of file search results. But of course that also depends on what
files you usually search for, how many results there will be and what you do
with them. If, for example, you often search for documents it's fine. But I
usually search for source code files and what not and there it's different.

------
juandazapata
Great, another electron app. This one takes almost 300mb of RAM, just sitting
there, being idle and doing nothing:
[http://imgur.com/a/vITos](http://imgur.com/a/vITos)

~~~
netsharc
The question is, is it fast? It annoys me if I hit the shortcut keys and the
window takes a long time to pop up, I use Find and Run Robot(1) on Windows and
it shows up instantly. It even has plugins, but you have to _gasp_ write them
in C/C++!

1)
[https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/](https://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/)

~~~
juandazapata
After I saw the memory consumption, I honestly didn't played with it a lot. It
seems fast, but not as fast as Alfred (I use macOS).

------
sandGorgon
I wonder why people dont use pyqt? my startup's first product was a Square-pos
like tool built in pyqt and cross compiled to exe, dmg and linux executable.

We made it run on Windows XP machine with 256 mb ram total. Oh and we embedded
cherrypy into it.

For lots of products with performance as a criterion, pyqt toolchain is so
much better than electron. And programming in qt isnt bad at all.

~~~
Longhanks
Deploying PyQT (statically, most end users don't have it installed) is a major
PITA.

~~~
sandGorgon
that's actually not true. we statically compiled the binary to include all qt
dependencies and it ran out of the box - remember we were installing on low
end POS machines and pyqt worked beautifully.

Qt does not need to be dynamically linked. In fact the commercial versions of
qt have even better toolchains.

------
fredsir
MacOS, and Linux, and Windows? Let me guess: it's some web-electron-app-
native-things, right?

Yes it is.

Not gonna replace (native) Alfred for me, no.

~~~
aetherspawn
Equally, it's free. Alfred wants me to pay for it again to upgrade to the
newest version, but I'm feeling like I kind of don't want to sink more money
into it ..

~~~
risyasin
Alfred as a launcher it's free and way more efficient than spotlight. But just
as the comment above, paid version is really nice and worth that price. Even
deserve more. There is a website packal.org for workflows. It's amazing.
Really miss fuzzy search on Gnome-shell or windows search.

------
lfcipriani
I wrote about a cross-platform alternative using Terminal, specially if you
work with multiple OSs [https://hackernoon.com/cross-platform-productivity-
tool-with...](https://hackernoon.com/cross-platform-productivity-tool-with-
terminal-7dd0487ead93)

------
LeanderK
i see some criticism of electron in the comments because of it's high memory
footprint. If i would have to create an offline app i would also choose
electron, because of it's simplicity and my familiarity with the technology.
Is there something being done or planned to reduce the footprint? Or something
on the roadmap? I would guess a browser is just not optimised for a use-case
comparable to Cerebro (running as a daemon).

~~~
Mithaldu
> I would guess a browser is just not optimised for a use-case comparable to
> Cerebro (running as a daemon).

That's pretty much it. There's no useful way to make electron slimmer in any
way, since it comes with the full chrome browser in the backpack and there's
nothing you can do, because chrome's being the base of the huge pyramid with
your teeny tiny bits of html and js on top.

It's useful for proto-typing or one-off apps, but for long-running things
you're better of making it a chrome app directly (i.e. reusing Chrome's memory
foot-print), or making it into a proper native app.

------
flocial
I wish siri would let me type queries.

Having "information at your fingertips" really kills productivity for me. I
need long stretches away from twitch reactions to "what's the capital of
Uganda?" type of intrusive thoughts. I'd honestly pay for a "2 click" browser
extension where you only get to make two clicks on any link per hour for a
given domain on a blacklist of time sinks during certain hours.

~~~
laurieg
Forgive me if you aren't looking for advice, but I recommend a distraction
notebook:

Keep a small notebook beside you and promise yourself you are going to focus
on the topic at hand for a period of time. When a thought, question or search
topic pops into your brain, write it in the notebook. When you have some free
time you can pick up the notebook at look up all those things. Of course, I
often find that coming back to them they aren't all that important at all, and
feeling of desperately needing to know has gone.

~~~
flocial
Thank you, I actually do something like this. If I get stuck writing I'll
write out all the scatter brained thoughts into a catch all file.

Otherwise, I try to create separate physical spaces for various tasks and try
to practice mindfulness in general. It will always be an ongoing process
though.

------
bmpafa
I love the idea of extending it with Javascript. Every service my company uses
has an API that'd be (presumably) trivial to wire-in to this, making for a
nice alternative to the traditional informational portal.

------
throwaway2048
So its an embedded webbrowser with built in bookmarks.

Am i missing something here?

~~~
rmrfrmrf
Seems more like it's Quicksilver built on a browser stack

------
amcrouch
I used Launchy for years but then when setting up my last day to day laptop
switched to Wox ([http://www.getwox.com/](http://www.getwox.com/)) after
trying Hain. It was too limited at that point.

On Linux, I use Super (Windows) key to use the inbuilt launcher which meets
all my requirements. If Windows had anywhere near this level of usefulness in
its start menu I wouldn't need the third party Wox.

~~~
otterpro
Wox looks like a front-end to Everything
([https://www.voidtools.com/](https://www.voidtools.com/)), but with really
nice UI and also plugins, etc. It looks nice.

------
wideem
[http://imgur.com/a/Oyjqt](http://imgur.com/a/Oyjqt) Can't even launch the
application

------
motyar
Flashlight is my fav
[http://flashlight.nateparrott.com/](http://flashlight.nateparrott.com/)

------
harrygeez
So basically... an imitation of Spotlight? I prefer that they copy Alfred's
UI. Simple and does all I need. Need Alfred on my Windows machine!

~~~
snowcrshd
Check Hain [1] on Windows. It works very nicely.

[1]
[https://github.com/appetizermonster/hain](https://github.com/appetizermonster/hain)

~~~
harrygeez
Thanks for the suggestion! Unfortunately, it's also an Electron app, which is
something I would like to avoid. If footprint is also a concern to you check
out [http://keypirinha.com](http://keypirinha.com)! It's really great, with
the only concern being not very elegant aesthetically...

~~~
galfarragem
Just installed Keypirinha. It's great! Thanks for the hint.

Edit:
[https://github.com/Keypirinha/Keypirinha](https://github.com/Keypirinha/Keypirinha)

------
uziar
Every thread I have seen here on HN that presents another bloated Electron app
seems to be filled with criticism, and I must admit that this restores my
faith in humanity. If the consensus was that Electron apps is a good thing and
we need more of them, it would be very depressing.

I do think the criticism is productive, because it's usually not targeted
against the developer or the app idea, but that it's built on the Electron
framework. Maybe many developers using Electron do not have much experience
and it seems like a good idea in their heads. In this case criticism is
helpful because the developer will learn that Electron is bad and should be
avoided.

A crude analogy: If I was driving on an divided highway in the wrong lane
without knowing, I would be very grateful if the first car I met in the
opposite lane would use the horn and blink the lights to get my attention so I
could immediately stop and turn around.

------
binaryanomaly
Great to see some open sourced based efforts in this area. Imho FOSS is a
promising approach for this kind of helper apps. Although I've tried a few of
the closed source alternatives I'm not yet definitely sold to one. A community
driven approach could provide a better result in the long run. The best of
luck for the future...

------
nathancahill
Not as polished, but I wrote something similar that leverages Google or
DuckDuckGo on top of Hammerspoon. If you're in to little tweaks like this to
boost your productivity on a Mac, definitely check out Hammerspoon.
Hammerspoon is quite light, and runs on Lua.

Here's my version, Anycomplete:
[http://github.com/nathancahill/Anycomplete/](http://github.com/nathancahill/Anycomplete/)

And the Show HN thread:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065670](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13065670)

------
vorticalbox
Doesn't Cortana do this? Also unit dash can also search the web and local
files.

------
codingdave
Is finding things such a pain point for many people? I work with a few
tools/programs, and a few locations where my documents and data live. I know
where those are and go to them so often it takes no effort. The few times I do
need to go elsewhere, the tools that come with the OS work fine.

So, sure, great, more power to you if you want to write a tool like this. I'm
just not feeling the pain that would make me have any interest in giving it a
try.

~~~
fredsir
I don't use my mouse for navigation if I can help it. With Alfred (similar
tool to this) I can navigation to any folder on my system, any contact, search
on duckduckgo, translate words/sentences/currency, navigate my clipboard,
restart/shutdown/lock my computer, open any app with just a keyboard shortcut
and a few letters that specify what I'm going for.

It's like a very precise search engine for your personal machine.

It's amazing how great it works, and not having that available when I'm using
a computer ruins things for me.

If that is not enough, Alfred also has lots of other awesome features.

------
niklasber
"Search everything in few clicks" \- poorly phrased or actually promotes
navigating by clicking instead of using keyboard?

~~~
pymai
some keyboards make clicky sounds ;)

~~~
JetSpiegel
For the ones that don't, there's
[https://github.com/zevv/bucklespring](https://github.com/zevv/bucklespring)

------
hexmiles
i tried this app, i actually love it. the fact is in electron is not that big
of a deal, but i would awensome if i could share the electron instance between
multiple electron app, but i guess is something hard.

Good job dev

------
iKenshu
On Windows...

Are anyone using keypirinha?

Is cerebro better?

~~~
pymai
ive been trying keypirinha since a few weeks ago. its not bad. its nice
improvement over launchy and is being developed unlike launchy which hasnt
been touched in years. having to change the settings from a text file in
keypirinha is bit of a pain though.

anyway, from what i can tell, cerebro is able to show you a lot more things
and also has plugins. keypirinha just shows basic things like files and apps i
think

------
eDISCO
I tend to use Gnome Do[1] as my launcher. I haven't observed any noticeable
battery drain (on Arch) despite the fact that it runs in background.

There's a neat comparison of different launchers available on Wikipedia[2].

1:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Do](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNOME_Do)
2:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_desktop_applicat...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_desktop_application_launchers#Linux)

As someone mentioned previously the Alt + F2 (or F3) works well enough in XFCE
most of time.

I'll give Cerebro a try...

------
replete
Yeah there are other similar apps.

But this one is written in Javascript, so that is something going for it. More
accessible, millions of packages to drop in easily.

Nice job.

------
lettersdigits
>
> [https://github.com/KELiON/cerebro/blob/master/app/AppUpdater...](https://github.com/KELiON/cerebro/blob/master/app/AppUpdater.js)
> :

> export default class AppUpdater { ......

why is this a class ? just so it can auto-exececute without being called ?

i would prefer an 'export default function init(){ // init code'

~~~
rounce
Not even. `export default new class ...` would be 'equivalent' to an IIFE;
using CommonJS module caching to produce singleton behaviour. This should just
export a function. That's it.

------
drinchev
OMG, another electron app that is meant to run as a daemon.

It's terrible. I already have hard times with Slack taking more memory than i
would expect from a chat.

Yeah, I know that it's super hard to make native GUI these days, but please if
you try to attract developer community with plugins and you have a relatively
simple app, don't choose electron for that.

Examples of good ol' native desktop apps : twitter for OSX.

~~~
mcjiggerlog
Wow, some of the comments in this thread are pretty harsh considering the
developer has worked hard on providing what looks to me like a pretty cool
free app. Nobody is forcing you to install it.

~~~
juandazapata
So, people shouldn't be able to comment their point of view because the
developer worked hard?

~~~
popey456963
I think people should be slightly less critical of design decisions enforced
by a limited amount of time to work on a side-project that's free.

Comments such as "why didn't you make everything from scratch" probably aren't
going to contribute much to the conversation.

~~~
rimantas
Well, maybe we should choose our projects based on time we have for them,
instead of using a hammer to drive in a screw?

~~~
Blahah
Or maybe the app works great and nobody cares what technology you wish had
been used.

~~~
rimantas
We have already established this is not the case.

~~~
Blahah
No, we haven't. A bunch of people have used the app (including me) and said
nice things about it. Then some other people have spouted vitriol about the
fact that it's made with electron. Frankly all we've established is that a lot
of people are bitter about electron and don't have the basic manners required
to take part in a constructive technology community.

------
ryanisinallofus
Mac and Swift/Obj-C fanboys will always rail against anything that fails their
purity tests. Electron certainly has some issues they need to work out, but
Electron criticism doesn't need to dominate this comments section to the rate
that it is.

~~~
Mithaldu
Fwiw, i work on windows and also reject anything electron that isn't designed
to be started, do a thing, and closed quickly.

------
faragon
"Cerebro" in Spanish means "brain".

~~~
SFJulie
Not even close, it is the «brain» as invented by Pr Xavier in X-men.

Spanish must have stolen it in an alternate universe when the X-men went back
in time fighting the spanish inquisition disguised as lumberjacks and it's ok.

~~~
WildUtah
Hm.

I don't expect it that it was the Spanish Inquisition.

Cerebrō was Latin for brain before it was Spanish, so probably it's some kind
of Future Past thing with the Colosseum. Which explains why it's so beat up,
but not how Magneto lifted it when the Romans didn't have steel-reinforced
concrete.

------
runeks
What's it like compared to Spotlight on OSX?

~~~
yarou
It's Spotlight++, even better with an NP-hard template system.

------
screed
Default Spotlight in macOS?

------
tankmohit11
i just use alt+space in kde plasma 5.

------
pikzen
Years of work can still amount to absolute crap. You're not shielded from
criticism because your software is free.

~~~
sidcool
There's difference between arrogant criticism and constructive feedback. Most
of those who rudely criticize are those who rarely create anything. Instead
they are mostly into commentaries.

~~~
pikzen
Aaaaah, the good old "you shouldn't critize if you haven't created anything
argument". Easily applied to "you can't criticize music if you haven't
recorded an album" and "Why are you criticizing this movie you haven't even
filmed a blockbuster".

Commentaries have a valid point, with or without creation.

~~~
sidcool
I disagree. I can dislike a song. If I am able to talk to the singer/musician,
I won't say 'You Suck', that would be rude.

~~~
gwn7
I think that you are focusing on "rudeness" too much.

This is the internet.

And this is a (mainly) hacker community -who are not known for their
politeness-, and good engineering matters for hackers. (as it should) I think
that this is the perfect medium for rudeness.

The whole reason people post their projects here is to get criticism of any
kind. If one is disheartened because of a rude comment, one needs to grow up.

One needs to learn how to deal with comments; learn to decide on which ones to
take seriously and which ones to not..

The good thing about the internet is that most of us are anonymous here. So
you can not judge my comments based on my identity (or my history, e.g. what i
have done). Nor you can punch me in the face for being rude or something. The
thing you get in exchange is honesty (hopefully).

This is healthy. Let's embrace it, and keep politeness and politics for face-
to-face meetings.

~~~
a_t48
> And this is a (mainly) hacker community -who are not known for their
> politeness-

And you hold this up as an ideal rather than something we can improve upon?
Tone matters.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

> Be civil. Don't say things you wouldn't say in a face-to-face conversation.
> Avoid gratuitous negativity.

If you want to act differently than in real life, this is not the site.

~~~
gwn7
Good point.

I might be wrong.

I was trying to say that everybody needs to learn how to deal with rude
people/comments.

This does not justify the bad tone nonetheless.

------
philonoist
No love for Listary?

------
ericmason
“Cerebro.app” can’t be opened because it is from an unidentified developer.
I'm really curious why developers release software without signing it. The Mac
developer account and code signing certificate seem like a small cost if
you're releasing software you actually expect people to use. Personally, I see
that warning and assume the developers aren't serious and/or don't care about
their users and delete the software.

~~~
FreakyT
Personally, I support developers not signing apps out of principle.

Gatekeeper on Mac OS, while ostensibly a "security" restriction, is nothing
more than a blatant money-grab by Apple.

