A small pet fly for your Mac desktop.
The fly moves above your apps. Drop food and watch it land and eat. Move the pointer quickly near the fly to make it move away.
Download the desktop pet · Download the full-map preview
| Download | What you get |
|---|---|
| Desktop pet | The small smell circuit, with a fly above your apps. |
| Full-map preview | A separate window with Simple and Full map modes. Both data sets are included. |
All app, model, and animation code is public. Build the full-map preview from source.
The desktop clip uses a staged scene and the full-map model. Movement follows pet rules. Download the desktop and brain video for sharing.
These clips show recorded model runs at normal speed. The activity comes from the calculations. It is not measured in a living fly.
3,745 cells · 435,997 connections
Each dot shows one cell's model value. Dot positions form a diagram. Food search and eating follow pet rules. Read the guide and check the saved values.
166,700 cells · 25,582,938 connections
The view uses published cell-body positions. Brightness follows calculated spikes. The network includes the brain and nerve cord. Cells without positions still take part in the model. Movement toward food remains guided. Food use reads the MN9 feeding output.
This is an experimental model of the mapped network, not a complete working fly. The full-map preview is now available as a separate download. Its window includes both modes. Get the app or build the source. Read the model notes and check the saved values.
Ten flies start in a ring. Drop food to draw them together. Watch them fight as the ring closes. The last fly wins. Blood effects can be turned off.
Each fly has a separate brain state. Choose Simple or Full map. The brain activity comes from calculations. Combat, blood, health, and movement follow game rules. This Full map replay runs at three times model time.
Download Fruitfly Royale
or run make royale from this repository.
See controls, source, and model limits.
Two flies fight on a leaf stage. Watch double jumps, shields, throws, and ring-outs. Each fly starts with three lives.
Choose Simple or Full map. Each fly has a separate brain state. Calculated activity affects movement and attack timing. Fight rules come from the MIT-licensed Super Bash Folds engine. The flies have not learned how to fight. This Full map replay runs at three times model time.
Download Fruitfly Duel
or run make duel from this repository.
See controls, source, and model limits.
A larger simulated drone meets a walking game character on a ruined battle map. The character leaves a doorway. A geometric contact ends the encounter. The Full map calculates all 166,700 selected cells. A trained output map reads cell rates and controls forward speed and turns. The brain wiring stays fixed. Rendered game sensors find the character. A separate flight controller keeps the drone level. Enhanced videos add graphic game effects and an animated fly at a camera-drone remote. The optional studio scene follows a sample portrait at a set distance.
Get the FlyPilot experiment and read the setup guide and results. This source release uses Genesis and a local Python environment on Apple Silicon. It is separate from the desktop pet and does not change its download.
These steps install the desktop pet. For the two-mode preview, use its setup guide.
- Open the download page.
- Download the file that ends in
macos-universal.zip. - Open the ZIP file.
- Move Fruitfly to Applications.
- Open Fruitfly.
The fly appears on your desktop. Click the fly icon in the menu bar for controls.
This early release does not yet have Apple approval through notarization. If macOS blocks the app, open System Settings → Privacy & Security. Use Open Anyway if you trust this download. See Apple's instructions for more help.
- macOS 14 or later.
- An Apple Silicon or Intel Mac.
Windows and Linux are not supported. The app runs without an account, Python, or a separate data download.
- Click the fly icon in the menu bar.
- Click Place food.
- Click a location on your desktop.
Press Esc to cancel. Food placement also stops after 15 seconds.
You can also hold Option and double-click to drop food. This shortcut also sends the click to the app below. Use Place food to capture one click instead.
Normal clicks pass through the fly to your other apps.
| Control | Result |
|---|---|
| Place food | Select a location for a crumb. |
| Fly size | Make the fly smaller or larger. |
| Show brain activity | Open a live view of all 3,745 included cells. |
| Pause / Resume | Stop or continue the fly and food. |
| Hide fly / Show fly | Hide or show the fly and its food. |
| Bring fly here | Move the fly to the center of the current screen. |
| Clear food | Remove all crumbs. |
| Quit | Close the app. |
The fly stays on one screen. Use Bring fly here to move it to another screen. The app limits food to 12 crumbs. Uneaten crumbs expire after three minutes of active use. The app stops while the screen sleeps. It uses slower movement when Reduce Motion is on.
- Click the fly icon in the menu bar.
- Turn on Show brain activity.
- Click Drop food nearby in the new window.
Dots get brighter as their model values rise. The chart shows food input and circuit output over the last ten seconds. Click Pause to hold the fly and the values. Click Resume to continue.
Dot positions are a diagram. They do not show the cells' positions in a real brain. The lines show 600 selected connections from the included data. Read the activity guide for the scale and recording checks.
-
Install the Apple build tools:
xcode-select --install
-
Download the source:
git clone https://github.com/onequbitaway/fruitfly.git cd fruitfly -
Build and start the app:
make run
The build creates dist/Fruitfly.app. You can move this file to Applications.
Run make test to check the movement and included data.
Run make release to build one app for both Mac types.
Run make preview to download the checked data pack and build the full-map preview.
Run make preview-test to check its model. See the full-map source guide.
The app includes a small smell circuit from the MaleCNS brain map. It contains 3,745 cells and 435,997 connections. The map records connections between nerve cells.
The model uses those connections to change the fly's speed and turns. Food search, rest, eating, and pointer reactions use programmed rules. This is a desktop pet with a small brain model. It is not a complete fly brain or a learning experiment.
Read the data notes for the source, selection, and model limits.
The app uses the pointer position and mouse clicks for movement and food. It does not read your screen, record keys, or send data to a server. It saves only the fly size, the brain-view setting, and whether you opened it before. It does not start when you log in.
The app does not request access to your files, camera, microphone, or screen. The standard mouse shortcut uses a mouse event monitor. It does not require keyboard access.
Read CONTRIBUTING.md before you change the code. See docs/development.md for build and release steps.
The app code uses the MIT license. Brain data retains its own license. See docs/data.md.