This is a submission for the MLH x DEV Writing Challenge
What I Built
Not every hackathon project needs to solve a problem. Sometimes, you just want to build something silly, cute and fun!
Meet Ghostlet 👻, a tiny pixel-art desktop companion for Windows, built by three friends for Hacktoberfest 2026 Week 4.
Leave your PC idle, and little ghosts start appearing around your cursor. The longer you're away, the more ghosts, pumpkins, graves and spooky decorations accumulate.
But move your mouse or press a key, and they'll panic, grab their decorations and run away!
Why something useless?
We initially weren't even planning to participate in Week 4.
There were plenty of interesting projects being built, many experimenting with AI and solving practical problems. We wanted to try something different.
AI models were still relatively new to us, so instead of forcing ourselves to build something unfamiliar, we decided to use technologies we already knew and create something we would genuinely enjoy.
Our idea? Something deliberately useless, but fun!
We wanted people to have a little companion running in the background while coding, especially during Halloween.
🎨 Bringing Ghostlet to life
We split the work based on what we enjoyed most. My teammates focused on the creative side, while I handled most of the programming.
Taking inspiration from perler bead art, we manually created pixel-art ghosts and decorations, giving each character its own personality. There are even several ghost variations, including a rare witch ghost! ✨
Technically, Ghostlet is built with Python, PySide6 and the Windows API, which detects system idle time and allows the ghosts to react to user activity.
PySide6 was new to me, so understanding the framework and getting everything working was one of my biggest challenges. I used AI assistance through Claude on the web to help me learn unfamiliar concepts and work through implementation details.
It was a fun opportunity to explore desktop application development using Python!
Demo
Want some little ghosts on your desktop?
- GitHub: https://github.com/ashtonckj/ghostlet
- Download: Windows executable on GitHub Releases
No Python installation required!
The project is open source under the MIT License. Feel free to explore, customise the ghosts or create your own decorations!
Partner Technologies
Ghostlet uses Python, PySide6 and the Windows API. We didn't integrate any MLH partner technologies into the application itself. Instead, we focused on building something with tools we were comfortable with while using AI assistance as a learning aid.
Hackathon Experience
We participated online as a team of three:
Honestly, I'm glad I convinced everyone to give Week 4 a try!
The teamwork was amazing. Everyone contributed in their own way, and we had fun bringing our little Halloween idea to life.
We didn't build something that would change the world, but we made something that could brighten someone's day while coding. And I think that's pretty cool.
Halloween might be over, but who knows? Maybe Ghostlet will return with some Christmas friends! 🎄
Happy coding, and don't leave your computer unattended for too long. You never know who's watching. 👻
