a margin note, for the AI age

Understand what your AI is saying.

Highlight anything on your screen. Press one hotkey. Gloss answers with a plain-language decision card, in your language. For everyone who is tired of nodding along and hoping.

Download for Windows Watch the 2-minute demo

Free · Open sourceGlossOpen source: the full code is public. Free to read, run, and improve. It lives on GitHub. (MIT) · Windows 10/11 · Uses your own OpenAI key

Gloss, doing its one trick
your coding agent Should we use Docker for this? I'd containerize the API, add a reverse proxy, and set the environment variables in a .env file.
Gloss
You selected: environment variables
What it is
Named values your app reads when it starts, like API keys and passwords, kept outside your code instead of written inside it.
Why it's suggested here
Your project talks to an API, so it has a secret key. Your agent wants that key stored safely, not pasted into the code.
✓ If you say yes
Your secrets live in one small .env file that stays on your machine and out of your code. Sharing the project stays safe.
→ If you say no
The key gets written into the code itself. Anyone who sees the code, sees your key. Risky the moment you share or publish it.
Reversibility easy to undo context on
The Gloss scholar mascot

Codex Pets tell you what your agent is doing. Gloss tells you what it is saying.

how it works

Three seconds from confusion to decision.

first

Highlight

Any text, in any app. Your browser, your editor, ChatGPT, a live terminal. Gloss never breaks what's running.

then

Press Ctrl Alt E

Gloss sends your selection to GPT-5.6, with one screenshot when context is on, so it can see what you're actually building.

and then

Decide

What it is. Why it's here. What yes changes, what no costs, and whether you can take it back.

what's in the box

A decision card, not a dictionary.

Every card is built for the moment your agent asks you something. Everything else exists to make that moment easier.

It reads your screen

One optional screenshot per lookup, so answers are about your project. Not projects in general. Yours.

context onalways a visible toggle, mirrored in the tray

Your language, one tap

The whole card, translated. Hard words stay in English, glossed in yours, so you learn the real ones.

বাংলাEspañol+ yours

When briefly isn't enough

One more press hands the question to the flagship modelGlossFlagship model: a lab's biggest, most capable model. Slower and pricier, but it thinks harder..

Go deeperdeep

It keeps score

Every card you open is something you learned. Gloss counts.

"You learned 9 concepts this week."

Nothing between you and it

No account. No server. No telemetryGlossTelemetry: usage data an app quietly sends home. Gloss sends none.. Your key, your machine.

sk-…f2a9stays on your device

And there's him

He's Gloss too. Thinks while the thinking happens. Drag him anywhere, or let him nap.

The Gloss desktop pet
a note from the founder

English is the hidden syntax of coding.

AI opened building to everyone, but the vocabulary gate stayed shut, and it is twice as shut when English is not your first language. Mine is Bangla. So Gloss explains in plain words, then translates into yours, keeping the real terms visible so you actually learn them.

বাংলা

Environment variables (এনভায়রনমেন্ট ভেরিয়েবল) হলো নামযুক্ত মান, যেমন API key (গোপন চাবি) বা password, যা আপনার অ্যাপ চালু হওয়ার সময় পড়ে নেয়। এগুলো code এর ভেতরে না লিখে বাইরের একটি আলাদা ফাইলে রাখা হয়।

Key terms

environment variable → পরিবেশ চলক  ·  API key → গোপন চাবি

The Gloss scholar thinking
watch it work

Two minutes, start to finish.

under the hood

Built with Codex. Runs on GPT-5.6.

Gloss was built solo in three days for OpenAI Build Week, almost entirely inside one Codex thread. Inside the app, it is GPT-5.6 all the way down.

every lookup gpt-5.6-luna

The instant cards. One to three seconds, answers in plain words.

≈ half a cent
you press Go deeper gpt-5.6-sol

The flagship takes over. Longer answers, concrete examples.

deep
context is on image input

One screenshot rides along, so the answer fits what's on your screen.

context on
before you ask

The honest fine print.

Do I need an account?

No. Gloss has no accounts and no server. You paste your own OpenAI API key once, it stays on your device, and it is sent only to OpenAI. A lookup costs about half a cent.

Why does Windows warn me during install?

The installer is unsigned, which is normal for a young open-source project. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". You can also build from source; the repo has instructions.

Does it work outside coding?

Yes. Gloss reads anything you can highlight: contracts, forms, articles, settings pages. Coding agents are where it started, not where it ends.

Mac or Linux?

Windows 10/11 today. macOS is on the roadmap, along with sign in with ChatGPT the day OpenAI opens it to third-party apps.