explaingit

greenscreen410/singularity

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

20RustAudience · generalComplexity · 3/5LicenseSetup · moderate

TLDR

A Rust desktop app that overlays a physically simulated, drifting black hole that visually warps your screen like real gravity.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      Physics based black hole overlay
      Warps desktop visuals
    Tech stack
      Rust
      WGSL shaders
    Platforms
      Windows primary
      macOS untested
      Linux unsupported
    Use cases
      Visual desktop effect
      Screensaver mode

Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

filefunction / class

What do people build with it?

USE CASE 1

Add a visually striking, physics-based black hole effect to your desktop for fun.

USE CASE 2

Use screensaver mode so the effect only appears after the computer sits idle.

USE CASE 3

Switch between eight preset visual styles for different black hole looks.

USE CASE 4

Run the same effect as a shader plugin through ShaderGlass without building from source.

What is it built with?

RustWGSLWindows

How does it compare?

greenscreen410/singularityakitaonrails/ratatui-bubbleteadeepdiy/pdf2md
Stars202020
LanguageRustRustRust
Setup difficultymoderateeasyeasy
Complexity3/52/52/5
Audiencegeneraldeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you get it running?

Difficulty · moderate Time to first run · 30min

Requires the Rust toolchain to build from source, Windows is the only fully tested platform.

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

In plain English

Singularity is a desktop application that adds a slowly drifting black hole to your screen, bending everything behind it the way real gravity would bend light. Rather than a simple visual filter, the effect is calculated using actual physics equations that describe how light behaves near a black hole, so the warping, the dark shadow at the center, and the glowing ring of light around it are all produced by the same kind of math astronomers use, not a hand-drawn animation. The program runs as a single file with no installer and no extra software required. Once started, an invisible overlay covers the screen, the black hole wanders around on its own, and clicks pass through it so the programs underneath still work normally. A tray icon lets someone switch between eight different visual styles, move the hole with the keyboard and mouse, restrict it to one monitor, or turn on a screensaver mode where it only appears after the computer sits idle for a while. There is also an optional "Kerr mode" that gives the black hole spin, which changes the physics calculation and produces a more dramatic, asymmetrical warping effect, at the cost of more graphics processing power. The project is written in Rust and is built and tested on Windows, which is described as the primary and most reliable platform. A macOS version exists in the code but has never been tested on real Apple hardware, and Linux is not supported yet because neither of its two common display systems currently offers a way to exclude a single window from being captured by itself, which this effect depends on. For people who do not want to build the program from source, there is also a simpler alternative that runs the same visual effect as a shader plugin for a separate tool called ShaderGlass. The project only ever makes one network request: once a day it checks GitHub to see if a newer version is available, and this check can be turned off in a configuration file. It is released under the MIT license.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Show me how to build and run Singularity from source on Windows.
Prompt 2
Explain how the Schwarzschild and Kerr geodesic calculations differ in this project.
Prompt 3
How do I set up screensaver mode and idle_minutes in the config file?
Prompt 4
Walk me through loading the ShaderGlass version of this effect instead of the standalone app.

Frequently asked questions

What is singularity?

A Rust desktop app that overlays a physically simulated, drifting black hole that visually warps your screen like real gravity.

What language is singularity written in?

Mainly Rust. The stack also includes Rust, WGSL, Windows.

What license does singularity use?

Use freely for any purpose, including commercial use, as long as you keep the copyright notice.

How hard is singularity to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated moderate, with roughly 30min to a first successful run.

Who is singularity for?

Mainly general.

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

This repo across BitVibe Labs

Verify against the repo before relying on details.