Peek

Psst. Something wants to move into your Stream Deck.

Peek is a tiny liquid creature that lives on a key: two shy eyes, and a lot going on behind them. It is born the moment you add it, a little different from every other Peek there is, and at first it is shy. It melts away when you reach for the keys and peeks out again when you are still. Give it a few days.

BORN UNIQUE — Every Peek gets its own name, its own eyes, its own temper and a favourite move of its own. Some are sunny, some grumpy, some dreamy. Some have a freckle. Yours will be yours.

TRUST TAKES TIME — Peek counts the hours you spend together. A stranger hides; a shy one watches from the bottom edge; a friend shows you everything it feels. In a week or two it is waiting up for you. It never asks for anything, and it never punishes you for being away.

IT FEELS WHAT YOUR COMPUTER FEELS — Peek reads the computer it lives on: how hard the processor works, how full the memory is, how fast data flows through the network, the battery, the hour. Overheated when the fans spin up, dizzy when memory is full, breezy when a big download blows through, out on the highway when the network really flies, sleepy late in the evening, and with an opinion about you being up at three in the morning. Over forty feelings in all, and it shows every one with its eyes alone.

IT COMES ALONG — Put a Peek key on more than one page. Switch pages, and it comes over, and how it comes depends on how it feels and how well it knows you. It is rarely the same way twice.

SECRETLY CLEVER — Peek notices more than it lets on. It learns your hours. It remembers its birthday. There are a few things it only does for someone it trusts, and there are secrets to find, if you pay attention. We are not telling.

ON A NEO — Add the Infobar action, and it says how your Peek feels and why, in plain words.

PRIVATE BY NATURE — To know whether you are there, Peek reads how long ago the keyboard or mouse was last used, never what you typed. To feel the network, it reads the counters the system keeps of how much data has gone through: never what, or where to. Everything it reads stays on your computer, and Peek never uses the network itself. No account, no ads, no purchases.

Sound is off until you turn it on: a little voice, a giggle, a purr.

macOS 12 or newer and Windows 10 or newer, with the Stream Deck app 7.6 or newer. Works on any Stream Deck with keys; the Infobar action needs a Stream Deck Neo.

A backup that survives a crash

Peek now keeps its own backup of your friend on your computer, alongside Stream Deck's copy.

If a forced restart or a crash leaves Stream Deck's copy empty or out of date, Peek brings your friend back by itself.

Your friend is backed up the first time this version starts, so there is nothing to do.

Your friend remembers everything it did before.