Ziko

Ziko — AI Voice To-Do Assistant for Your Desktop

Say "Hey Ziko", tell it what to do, and it's on your list. A tiny robot pet that lives in the corner of your screen, manages your tasks and reminders by voice (Google Gemini Live) or by hand, and keeps everything on your own computer.

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✨ What it does

📸 Screenshots

Today	Upcoming	Add a task	Settings	Voice settings

Light theme:

📖 User manual (Linux)

Tested on Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME on Wayland. Other Debian/Ubuntu-based distributions should work the same way; KDE and X11 sessions haven't been tested yet.

1. Install

1. Download Ziko_<version>_amd64.deb from the latest release.
2. Install it (this also pulls in libportaudio2 for the microphone if you don't have it):

   sudo apt install ./Ziko_*_amd64.deb
   

3. Open Ziko from your app menu (press Super, type Ziko) — or run ziko in a terminal.

The robot appears in the bottom-right corner. Updating later is the same command with the newer file; your tasks and settings are kept.

2. Turn on voice (optional, ~1 minute)

Ziko uses Google's Gemini Live for speech. Each person uses their own free key:

1. Get a key at aistudio.google.com/apikey (sign in with Google → Create API key → copy it).
2. Click the robot → the voice bar says Voice is off → Add key.
3. Paste the key → Save & test. Ziko checks it with Google before saving; you'll see Connected.

The key is stored in your system keychain (GNOME Keyring / KWallet), never in a file and never shown again. Gemini usage counts against that Google account and may be billed depending on its plan.

3. Everyday use

Things you can say

"Hey Ziko" (it greets you with today's plan) · "Add call the bank tomorrow at 11 and remind me an hour before" · "What's on today?" · "What should I work on next?" · "Move the report to Friday at 4 PM" · "Mark call mom as done" · "Delete the old meeting" (Ziko asks you to confirm) · "Tell me a joke"

Good to know:

• A day without a time ("on Friday") means by the end of that day. Vague times ("later") get a follow-up question.
• If two tasks match ("call mom" vs "call mom about the trip"), Ziko asks which one — it never guesses.
• Ziko only says something is done after it's saved.
• While Ziko is speaking it ignores its own voice; just talk over it to interrupt.
• The panel shows a red Mic on chip whenever audio is going to Gemini. The mic closes after 10 s of silence.

4. Settings

Click the robot → Settings (bottom right). Everything saves instantly.

Start automatically: Settings → General → Start Ziko when I log in. Ziko then starts quietly (just the robot) every time you log in.

5. Troubleshooting

Logs live in ~/.local/share/Ziko/logs/ (task titles are left out unless you set ZIKO_DEBUG_CONTENT=1).

6. Uninstall

sudo apt remove ziko                                   # the app
rm -rf ~/.local/share/Ziko ~/.local/share/com.ziko.desktop   # optional: your tasks and settings
rm -f ~/.config/autostart/Ziko.desktop                 # optional: start-at-login entry

The API key can be removed first in Settings → Remove, or later in Passwords and Keys (entry ziko-desktop). On GNOME, also delete the Ziko: open panel shortcut in Settings → Keyboard → Custom Shortcuts.

🔒 Privacy

• Local first: tasks, reminders and settings are stored only in ~/.local/share/Ziko/ziko.db.
• Wake word on device: "Hey Ziko" runs on a small ONNX model on your CPU; nothing leaves the computer while idle.
• Gemini only when you ask: audio and typed requests go to the Gemini API during a conversation you start. Ziko doesn't record audio or save conversations. Google's retention depends on your key's plan — see the Gemini API terms.
• Locked-down backend: it listens on 127.0.0.1 only, needs a random per-launch token for every request, and the API key is never returned or logged (covered by tests).

📊 Resource use

Measured on the release build (Ubuntu 24.04, 20-core Intel Raptor Lake):

Installed size: 94 MB. Network: none while idle; ~32 KB/s up / ~48 KB/s down during a conversation.

🧠 How it works

flowchart LR
  subgraph Desktop["Tauri 2 shell (Rust)"]
    Pet["Robot pet window<br/>React + SVG"] --- Panel["Task panel<br/>React + Tailwind"]
  end
  subgraph Backend["Python sidecar · FastAPI · 127.0.0.1"]
    Wake["'Hey Ziko' detector<br/>LiveKit wakeword (ONNX)"] --> Voice["Voice service<br/>state machine"]
    Voice <--> Tools["11 validated tools"]
    Tools --> Tasks["Task + reminder services"]
    Sched["Reminder scheduler<br/>1 s tick, atomic claim"] --> Tasks
    Tasks --> DB[("SQLite")]
  end
  Panel <-->|REST + WebSocket, token| Backend
  Pet <-->|events| Backend
  Voice <-->|audio + tool calls| Gemini["Google Gemini Live"]

• Tools, not free-form actions: the model can only call 11 explicit tools (create / list / update / complete / archive tasks, reminders, daily summary, current time). Each is validated and runs in its own database transaction; the model hears the result only after it's committed.
• Reliable reminders: a database-polled scheduler claims due reminders atomically, so each fires once — even across restarts, sleep, or two scheduler instances.
• Calm UI: the robot is still between short moves, so an idle desktop costs almost nothing.

🛠️ Build from source

git clone https://github.com/itsMeJunaid/ziko-ai-voice-todo.git && cd ziko-ai-voice-todo
cd backend && uv sync && cd ../apps/desktop && pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev                       # run in development

Linux build prerequisites, the backend API, tests (pytest, vitest, Playwright), packaging (PyInstaller sidecar + .deb / Windows NSIS via GitHub Actions) and wake-word training are in docs/DEVELOPMENT.md.

🗺️ Roadmap

• Signed Windows installer from CI (workflow in .github/workflows/build.yml)
• Calendar sync, recurring tasks, more languages (Urdu)
• AppImage / Flatpak for non-Debian Linux

📄 License

Free and open source under the MIT License: use it, change it, share it, even commercially — just keep the copyright notice. The "Hey Ziko" wake-word model was trained for this project and is included under the same license. Google Gemini is a separate service with its own terms.