Darren Strydom · All apps

Game launcher · v1.0.3

Nexus

Every game you own. One launcher.

Nexus pulls your games from six stores and your own folders into one library, times every session, and turns it into stats, streaks and a Wrapped-style year in review. It's my biggest side project, designed and built in the evenings since March 2026.

Get Nexus
Read the changelog

Free · Windows · Updates itself in place

Nexus
  • 8months in the making
  • 40releases
  • 7stores and sources
  • 237commits
  • 2,100+automated tests

The story

My games were spread across six launchers.

I'd open Steam, then Epic, then Xbox, trying to remember what I owned and what I'd meant to finish. Nexus started as a weekend fix for that: one library for everything installed on my PC.

It grew into the app I open every evening. It tracks what I play, keeps me going with streaks and levels, and when I can't decide, it opens a pack of cards and picks for me. Eight months and forty releases in, Nexus 1.0 rebuilt every screen around a new layout.

Role
Solo: product, design, engineering and releases
Timeline
March 2026 to now
Platform
Windows desktop
Price
Free

What it does

A launcher that knows what you play.

Store launchers each show you their own shelf. Nexus reads all of them, then adds what none of them do: a record of what you actually played, and help choosing what's next.

  • One library, seven sources

    Steam, Epic Games, GOG, Xbox, Battle.net, Ubisoft Connect and any folder you point it at. Duplicates across stores are found for you to resolve.

  • Play tracking

    Launch a game from Nexus and it times the session, even when another launcher starts the game. A Now Playing strip and a small desktop card show what's running.

  • Streaks, XP and mastery

    A daily streak, levels, mastery tiers for each game, achievements that unlock as you play, and a retirement ceremony when you finish or drop a game.

  • Wrapped

    A Spotify Wrapped-style story for any period: top games, genres, play patterns and milestones, with cards to share.

  • Open a pack

    Can't decide? "What should I play?" rips open a card pack and flips over your next game.

  • Covers, scores and times

    Artwork, critic scores and HowLongToBeat times on every game page, fetched in the background.

  • Twitch, built in

    Your followed channels, who's live, top clips and streams of games in your library, with a pop-out player and chat.

  • Cloud backup

    Back the library up to Google Drive by hand or on a schedule, and restore it on any PC.

  • Themes and Retro mode

    A Theme Studio with presets you can share, and a Retro mode that turns the library into a DOS-era terminal, BIOS screen included.

Screens

Every page, rebuilt for 1.0.

Nexus 1.0 swapped the sidebar for a top bar and redesigned every page. Click any screen to see it full size.

Home. What you're playing (or the best game you haven't started), Up next, your week, streak, level and achievements.
Library. Every store in one grid, with filters and search.
Quick view. Play time and progress in a drawer beside the library.
Game page. Ratings, How Long to Beat, screenshots, similar games and Twitch.
Open a pack. "What should I play?" as a card pack.
Wrapped. A story you step through, with animated stats.
Stats. An activity chart, a streak heatmap and mastery tiers.
Achievements. Progress towards locked ones, and an Almost there row.
Twitch. Who's live, and what's trending in your library.
Theme Studio. Presets, colours and fonts, saved as a file you can share.

Built with

Rust underneath, React on top.

Desktop app
  • Tauri 2
  • Rust

A native Windows app with a small installer that updates itself.

Interface
  • React 19
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS 4
  • Radix UI
  • Zustand
  • Motion

Two complete interfaces: the modern app and Retro mode.

Data
  • SQLite

Your library lives on your PC. No account needed.

Integrations
  • IGDB
  • SteamGridDB
  • HowLongToBeat
  • Twitch
  • Google Drive

All optional, and off until you connect them.

Quality
  • Vitest
  • Testing Library
  • cargo test

Over 2,100 automated tests across the app.

Behind the build

Find, organise, enrich, play.

  1. FindReads each store's record of installed games, plus any folders you add.
  2. OrganisePuts every game in one local library and spots duplicates.
  3. EnrichFetches covers, scores and play times in the background.
  4. PlayLaunches the game, times the session and updates your stats.

Highlights

  • Seven stores, seven formats

    No two launchers record installed games the same way, and none of them document it. Nexus has a reader for each, down to a Battle.net database decoded from a reverse-engineered format.

  • Twitch inside a desktop app

    Twitch only lets its player run on local web pages, which a packaged app isn't. Nexus hosts the player from a tiny web server of its own, so streams and chat play right in the app.

  • Private by default

    Twitch and Google Drive sign-ins are encrypted and locked to your Windows account. The only thing Nexus sends home is an opt-in, anonymous daily count, published in full.

Release history

Forty releases in eight months.

The milestones. Every release is in the full changelog.

  1. v1.0.3

    A Now Playing card on your desktop while Nexus is minimised.

  2. v1.0

    The whole app rebuilt around a top bar. Home becomes a dashboard, every page is redesigned, and "What should I play?" becomes a card pack.

  3. v0.5.5

    A security release after a full audit.

  4. v0.5

    The Twitch tab rebuilt around your followed channels.

  5. v0.3

    Streaks, levels, mastery tiers, achievements and the retirement ceremony.

  6. v0.2

    Google Drive backup and restore.

  7. v0.1

    First commit: one library, play tracking, collections and tags.

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