Why I built it
I work from a laptop most days. I like cats. Those two facts do not always fit in the same room.
When I am deep in code or on a long client call, I miss the small comforts of having a pet nearby - the warmth, the curiosity, the sense that someone else is in the room even if they are asleep on the desk. I did not want another productivity app. I wanted something that felt like company.
Catto started there: a pixel cat that curls up on your screen and stays with you through the workday.
What Catto does
Catto is a desktop companion for Windows and macOS. He sits on your screen like a cat who has claimed the corner of your monitor. He watches what you are doing, reacts to your day, and naps when things go quiet.
A few behaviors I cared about when building him:
- Curious by default - he pays attention to your screen time the way a real cat pays attention to a moving cursor
- Sleeps when you slow down - when your mouse goes still or the evening rolls in, he curls up for a nap instead of demanding attention
- Works alongside you - when you are typing or chatting, he pulls out a tiny keyboard and taps along, which sounds silly until you have done it for an hour and realize you are smiling
- The speed limit - work too fast for too long and Catto starts sweating. Little speech bubbles like "Slow down~" or "Take a breath~". Not a lecture. A nudge from someone who noticed you have not moved in a while
None of this makes you ship faster. That is the point.
How I thought about the product
Client work teaches you to scope for ROI slides and maintenance contracts. Personal projects let you scope for feeling.
I kept Catto small on purpose:
- One-time adoption at $1. No subscription, no upsell ladder, no "premium meow pack"
- Beta on Windows and macOS because those are the machines I live on and can support honestly
- Animations and naps over feature lists - every pixel animation is for people who miss their pets when they are glued to a laptop
If you love cats and live on your laptop, Catto is meant to feel like a little friend curled up nearby - without the fur on your keys.
What I took from it
Building Catto reminded me why I still make things outside client deadlines. The constraint was emotional, not technical: does this make a lonely work afternoon feel a little less empty?
That question is worth asking on bigger projects too. Software does not always need to optimize a metric. Sometimes it just needs to stay close without getting in the way.