§ 01 / Studio

An open-source
studio at the
boundary of
LLMs & software.

Est. 2024
Built in public
Apache-2.0

Valthrax is the open-source workshop of Suryanand Sunil. A growing index of free, Apache-2.0 tools — and soon, AI products and open courses built for engineers and students who want to do more without burning a fortune in API credits. Got an idea you wish existed? Pitch it →

Maker
suryanand.com
GitHub
@Suryanandx
Out now
4 projects · Apache-2.0
Coming
AI products · courses
Pitches
open · always
§ 02 / Index

The catalogue.

Everything below is installable
via pip. Source is public.
001
Prompt version control and eval harness. SHA-addressed prompts, async runner, FastAPI + HTMX web UI.
v0.1.0 · 2024
Python · FastAPI
002
Terminal UI for OpenRouter. Query 200+ models, switch live, stream markdown, track cost per message.
v0.1.0 · 2024
Python · Textual
003
Local-first agentic voice pipeline. Microphone → STT → LLM → TTS → speaker. Sub-second perceived latency.
v0.1.0 · 2024
Python · async
004
Open-source Cluely alternative. Stealth meeting overlay, agent-driven answers, Ollama + OpenRouter, scriptable HTTP daemon.
v0.1.0 · 2026
Electron · Python · FastAPI
§ 03 / Dossier

Each one, specifically.

Status, license, install — at a glance.
001 / Pressmark
Pressmark
Stable · v0.1

Prompt engineering without version control is archaeology. Pressmark treats prompts as first-class artifacts: every commit gets a content-addressed SHA, a parent pointer, and a commit message.

Five built-in scorers (exact, contains, regex, LLM-judge, semantic). Async eval runner with crash-safe per-row writes. Compare any two runs side-by-side. CI gate via --min-pass-rate.

Installpip install pressmark
LicenseApache-2.0
StackPython · FastAPI · HTMX
002 / Switchboard
Switchboard
Stable · v0.1

The fastest path between a terminal and any frontier model. Streams markdown as it arrives. Switch models mid-conversation. Tracks tokens and USD per message.

Built on Textual. SSE streaming via httpx. Searchable model browser, system-prompt editor, export-to-file. One pip install, no config.

Installpip install switchboard-tui
LicenseApache-2.0
StackPython · Textual · httpx
003 / Murmur
Murmur
Alpha · v0.1

Speech in, speech out. Microphone, transcription, model, synthesis, speaker — wired into one streaming loop. Defaults to local-only; cloud providers are opt-in per stage.

Sentence-boundary buffering means TTS begins speaking the first sentence while the LLM is still generating the second. Every stage is swappable with a single config line.

Installpip install murmur-voice
LicenseApache-2.0
StackPython · asyncio
004 / Cue
Cue
Stable · v0.1

The open-source meeting assistant. Cluely-class stealth overlay invisible to screen-share, agent-driven answers, real-time transcript pipeline, scriptable HTTP daemon under everything.

Bring your own model — Ollama or OpenRouter, side by side. Ten built-in scenario templates: coding, meeting, interview, sales, email, writing, research, math, custom, plus a smart-detect Auto. Download as a desktop app, install the Python CLI, or hit the daemon's REST endpoints from anywhere.

Installpip install cue
DesktopMac · Win · Linux
LicenseApache-2.0
StackElectron · Python · FastAPI
§ 04 / Notes on craft

How these are made.

Working principles, not a manifesto.
→ 001

Tools should fit one hand.

Each project is intentionally small. One command to install, one to run, one config file. If a feature needs a wizard, it usually needs to be cut.

→ 002

Plain text wins.

Configs are TOML. Data is JSONL or SQLite. UI ships as HTML over the wire. No build steps, no bundlers, no transpilation. Everything is grep-able.

→ 003

Default to durable.

SQLite, not Postgres. Filesystem, not S3. Local-first whenever possible. Cloud is opt-in, per stage. Anything you build today should still install in five years.

→ 004

Public from line one.

Every commit is on GitHub. Every release is on PyPI. CI runs on push. There's no private fork, no enterprise tier, no roadmap behind a wall.

→ 005

Naming is design.

Pressmark, Switchboard, Murmur, Cue — each name carries an idea about its job. A name doing real work is an interface for everyone who hasn't read the README.

→ 006

Crash safety, always.

Long-running loops write incremental state. Pulling the plug at any point should leave a recoverable artifact, not a corrupt file or a half-finished run.

§ 05 / Soon

On the bench.

What's drying in the rack.
Dates are when, not if.
AI · Products

Hosted tools, on top of the same primitives.

The open-source projects below are the foundation. Soon, hosted variants — same code, none of the setup. For the people who want the result, not the install command.

in development
Open · Courses

AI for engineers and students — without the credit tax.

Practical courses on building with LLMs, agents, evals, and pipelines — taught against free and local models first. The goal: ship real things on a student budget.

writing in progress
Open Source · Next

More tools, requested by you.

Most of what gets built next will come from the pitch box. If a request makes sense and a few people would use it, it goes on the bench.

taking pitches
§ 06 / Pitch

Got an idea? Pitch it.

Free, open source, Apache-2.0.
No commitment, no fee.

Most of what's already in the catalogue started as a small itch — something I wanted to exist and didn't. If you've got a similar itch, send it. If a few engineers would use it, it goes on the bench. If it's already half-built, even better.

  1. 01One paragraph is enough. Don't write a spec.
  2. 02Tell me who'd use it and what they're stuck on today.
  3. 03If it makes sense, it ships open under Apache-2.0.
  4. 04You'll be credited in the README. Always.

Built and maintained by
Suryanand Sunil.
Independent · 2024–.

github.com/Suryanandx
suryanand.com
Open to collaborators.

Hand-written HTML.
Instrument Serif, Inter,
JetBrains Mono.
No build step.

valthrax.
VLT-2024-001
Catalogue · Edition One
Pressed in the open.