Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#1

Post by Nair0 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

DeskDash is an app I built for myself in Rust with Tauri.

I wanted to be able to have my desktop be a lot more functional, run scripts from it, have todo lists, or simply make it prettier

There are already some existing solutions but all were either too slow, too unsecure or just weren't able to do enough

I chose to build my own, where each widget is sandboxed and locked behind permissions you approve. And where each widget is just HTML+JS code so it's easy to write my own for whatever I need

People on Reddit liked the idea so I ended up making it a full product

Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own
desktop-dashboard.com

Re: Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#2

Post by atmanactive » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 7:15 PM UTC

Does it support portable mode?

Re: Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#3

Post by Nair0 » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 7:30 PM UTC

atmanactive wrote: post #2

Does it support portable mode?

Not really, though you could move the installer from one device to the other and just regenerate the license key

It uses the Windows Credential Manager to save stuff like api keys for some widgets, and a couple of other things. Is part of the security model so widget makers are unable to reach any kind of sensitive details you hold

Re: Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#4

Post by atmanactive » Mon, Aug 03, 2026, 10:39 PM UTC

Nair0 wrote: post #3

atmanactive wrote: post #2

Does it support portable mode?

Not really, though you could move the installer from one device to the other and just regenerate the license key It uses the Windows Credential Manager to save stuff like api keys for some widgets, and a couple of other things. Is part of the security model so widget makers are unable to reach any kind of sensitive details you hold

I don't mind rebuilding the keys here and there when I change the machine, but I do mind having to rebuild everything from scratch. If portable mode isn't available, then, at minimum a full export/import is needed (sans keys, of course).

Re: Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#5

Post by Nair0 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 6:18 AM UTC

atmanactive wrote: post #4

Nair0 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, though you could move the installer from one device to the other and just regenerate the license key It uses the Windows Credential Manager to save stuff like api keys for some widgets, and a couple of other things. Is part of the security model so widget makers are unable to reach any kind of sensitive details you hold

I don't mind rebuilding the keys here and there when I change the machine, but I do mind having to rebuild everything from scratch. If portable mode isn't available, then, at minimum a full export/import is needed (sans keys, of course).

ah but you can. The configs, widgets installed etc are all saved in one folder. You can copy everything to the new install folder when you need to. You just have to use the installer so everything gets set up properly and then you just copy the configs to the new destination

Re: Show HN: Add secure widgets on your Windows Desktop or write your own

#6

Post by Nair0 » Tue, Aug 04, 2026, 7:33 AM UTC

atmanactive wrote: post #4

Nair0 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, though you could move the installer from one device to the other and just regenerate the license key It uses the Windows Credential Manager to save stuff like api keys for some widgets, and a couple of other things. Is part of the security model so widget makers are unable to reach any kind of sensitive details you hold

I don't mind rebuilding the keys here and there when I change the machine, but I do mind having to rebuild everything from scratch. If portable mode isn't available, then, at minimum a full export/import is needed (sans keys, of course).

Ah and also, if you are just interested in multi device, I can create you multiple license keys, one for each device, if you need to. At some point I might sell each extra device as a small add-on, but for now it's just "ask and you get" so you can just move the configs folder when you need to