Ava

Ava is a native Windows 11 productivity app built with Qt 6, QML, C++20, and Win32. It pairs a compact live-activity island with a separate native Codex workspace.

Application	Purpose
Ava	Island, launcher, media controls, system monitor, timer, wallpaper tools, Liquid Glass, and optional window tiling.
AvaChat	Native Codex conversations, approvals, attachments, diffs, and Git workflows.

Highlights

• Live Windows media, audio, battery, network, clock, calendar, and system state.
• Fast app, URL, file, and folder launching with Ctrl+K.
• Native optional Liquid Glass rendered through Windows Graphics Capture and Direct3D 11, with no embedded browser runtime.
• Cider enrichment for queue, playlists, search, history, lyrics, and audio pulse, with Windows media controls as the fallback.
• Reduced-motion support, native tray controls, persistent settings, and optional Dwindle window tiling.
• A separate native AvaChat client backed by the installed Codex app-server.

Build

Requirements

• Windows 11
• Visual Studio 2022 with the C++20 MSVC toolchain
• A Windows SDK that provides C++/WinRT headers (10.0.22000 or later)
• CMake 3.21+
• Qt 6.5+ with Core, Concurrent, Gui, Network, Qml, Quick, Quick Controls, Quick Dialogs, Quick Layouts, Shader Tools, Test, and Widgets

Only the MSVC toolchain is supported. Ava links directly against Direct3D 11, DWM, PDH, Windows Core Audio, and WinRT capture APIs.

Install the toolchain

If you already have a Qt-enabled developer shell, skip to Configure and build.

Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools are enough; the full IDE is not required. Install the Desktop development with C++ workload, then CMake:

winget install --id Kitware.CMake --exact

Qt can be installed without a Qt account using aqtinstall. qtshadertools is an add-on module and must be requested explicitly; the remaining modules ship with the base package:

python -m pip install aqtinstall
python -m aqt install-qt windows desktop 6.8.3 win64_msvc2022_64 -m qtshadertools -O C:\Qt

Configure and build

Point CMake at the Qt kit unless qmake is already on PATH:

cmake -S . -B build -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH="C:/Qt/6.8.3/msvc2022_64"
cmake --build build --config Release --parallel
.\build\Release\Ava.exe
.\build\Release\AvaChat.exe

Running from build\Release requires the Qt bin directory on PATH.

Deploy a standalone build

The install target copies both executables and runs windeployqt, producing a self-contained tree that runs without Qt on PATH:

cmake --install build --config Release --prefix .\dist
.\dist\bin\Ava.exe

The result is dist\bin (executables and Qt DLLs), dist\plugins, and dist\qml, wired together by a generated dist\bin\qt.conf. dist/ is ignored by Git.

Tests

Ensure the active Qt bin directory and build/Release are on PATH, then:

ctest --test-dir build -C Release --output-on-failure

The authenticated Codex end-to-end test is opt-in through AVA_RUN_LIVE_CODEX_TEST=1 because it uses the current account and workspace.

Runtime dependencies

AvaChat and the island's Codex panel require the Codex CLI, installed and signed in, at a version that provides codex app-server:

npm install -g @openai/codex
codex login

Ava discovers the CLI through AVA_CODEX_EXECUTABLE first, then the global npm package, common shim locations, and finally PATH. Git must be on PATH for worktrees and the Git change center. An authenticated GitHub CLI (gh) is needed only to create pull requests from AvaChat.

Notes and known issues

• The Liquid Glass shader is split across two adjacent string literals. MSVC truncates any single string literal longer than roughly 16,380 characters (error C2026). The HLSL pixel shader in src/liquidglasscaptureworker.cpp exceeds that, so it is written as two adjacent literals, which the compiler concatenates after the per-literal check. Keep the split when editing the shader; merging the halves back into one literal breaks the build.
• Smart App Control blocks locally built binaries. Ava is unsigned, so a machine with Smart App Control enabled refuses to start it with "An Application Control policy has blocked this file". Verify with Get-ItemProperty "HKLM:\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CI\Policy", where VerifiedAndReputablePolicyState is 0 for off, 1 for enforcing, and 2 for evaluation. Self-signing does not help, because Smart App Control requires a reputable publisher signature. Turning it off is permanent until Windows is reinstalled.

License

Ava's original source code is available under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0. Commercial use requires separate written permission from the project owner.

Bundled third-party fonts and icons retain their own licenses:

• Inter: assets/fonts/OFL-Inter.txt
• Geist Mono: assets/fonts/OFL-Geist.txt
• Microsoft Fluent UI System Icons: assets/icons/LICENSE