AndreiShal
New member
I'm considering building an AI desktop assistant for web research, document drafting, file management, and system config. The standard agent stuff.
But here's the thing: everything I see out there is over-engineered and bloated.
Complex frameworks, graph orchestrators, huge container images that take gigabytes just to search the web. There's no clean, modular app that just works.
I'm building a modular desktop application where every piece is a separate plugin that you can snap in, swap out, or remove. Think of it like Lego blocks.
Here's what I mean by "everything is modular":
Not because Java is trendy, but because it gives me:
But here's the thing: everything I see out there is over-engineered and bloated.
Complex frameworks, graph orchestrators, huge container images that take gigabytes just to search the web. There's no clean, modular app that just works.
So my idea is different
I'm not building "yet another agent framework."I'm building a modular desktop application where every piece is a separate plugin that you can snap in, swap out, or remove. Think of it like Lego blocks.
Here's what I mean by "everything is modular":
1. The interface
- Don't like the terminal UI? Swap the UI module for a desktop window.
- Don't want a UI at all? Swap it for a web server module – now your agent is an API.
- Want a messaging interface? Drop in that module.
- Want all three at once? They all work side by side.
2. The AI provider
- Using a cloud provider today but want to switch to a local model tomorrow?
- Just swap the provider module. The agent itself doesn't care – it talks to whatever provider you've loaded.
3. The tools
- Calculator, file search, web scraping – each is its own module.
- Want to add "read my email"? Drop in an email module.
- Don't need web search? Remove that module.
4. Everything runs locally in one process
- No separate containers, no microservices, no IPC calls between parts that live on the same machine.
- Just lightweight modules loaded into one application.
The tech stack
Java 21.Not because Java is trendy, but because it gives me:
- Native desktop apps without bundled browsers (no 200 MB Chrome overhead),
- Proper threading for parallel tool calls,
- Runtime module loading out of the box.
My questions to the community
- Is there a real market for a lightweight, modular desktop agent? Or are people happy with the current tools despite the bloat?
- Does "modular everything" (not just tools) matter to non‑programmers, or is that just a developer obsession?
- What's the first thing this should do well for you to even consider it?
Excellent video. Thank you Tom
