Interview Coder (but now self-hostable and free)

An invisible desktop application that will help you pass your technical interviews.

https://www.interviewcoder.co (explains all the features)

hero.mp4

How to self host for free?

For image -> text translation, I went with gpt-4o. For answer generation, I've used claude 3.7 sonnet becauses it's the best. Both of these is easily changeable, and you can modify our own prompts too at backend/src/controllers

Requirements

• Bun installed (https://bun.sh/docs/installation)
• OpenAI API key
• Anthropic API key
• Supabase account (for auth and database). We need SUPABASE_URL and SUPABASE_ANON_KEY. Also supabase CLI installed
• Docker (optional, for hosting backend)

Steps

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/woaitsAryan/interview-coder-self-host
cd interview-coder-self-host

bun install

1. Create .env files and populate with the appropriate credentials

cp .env.sample .env
cp .env.local.sample .env.local

3. Login with your supabase CLI and do migrations

supabase login
supabase db push

4. Build the app for your platform

For this step, remember that whatever BACKEND_URL is in .env will be used as the backend url for the app. If you want to self-host it in a server, you'll have to change the URL and re-build this

bun run build

1. Run the backend

Either run it directly with bun:

bun run backend:dev

Or run it with docker:

bun run compose:build && bun run compose:up

6. Install the app

Go to releases/ folder and then find your .exe or .dmg or whatever and install it.

On install, you'll see a sign in page, click on the sign-up button, I'd recommend to just disable email otp, so you can directly sign up with email. After sign-up, it will just work

That's it? yay! Do as you plesae!

Some small caveats/issues you might experience:

• If you are running the app in dev using bun run dev so it'll open the developer console too by default so make sure to close that if you don't need it.
• I don't know how to close this app lol, I just go to process manager and kill it

Invisibility Compatibility

The application is invisible to:

• Zoom versions below 6.1.6 (inclusive)
• All browser-based screen recording software
• All versions of Discord
• Mac OS screenshot functionality (Command + Shift + 3/4)

Note: The application is NOT invisible to:

• Zoom versions 6.1.6 and above
  • https://zoom.en.uptodown.com/mac/versions (link to downgrade Zoom if needed)
• Mac OS native screen recording (Command + Shift + 5)

Features

• 🎯 99% Invisibility: Undetectable window that bypasses most screen capture methods
• 📸 Smart Screenshot Capture: Capture both question text and code separately for better analysis
• 🤖 AI-Powered Analysis: Automatically extracts and analyzes coding problems
• 💡 Solution Generation: Get detailed explanations and solutions
• 🔧 Real-time Debugging: Debug your code with AI assistance
• 🎨 Window Management: Freely move and position the window anywhere on screen

Global Commands

The application uses unidentifiable global keyboard shortcuts that won't be detected by browsers or other applications:

• Toggle Window Visibility: [Control or Cmd + b]
• Move Window: [Control or Cmd + arrows]
• Take Screenshot: [Control or Cmd + H]
• Process Screenshots: [Control or Cmd + Enter]
• Reset View: [Control or Cmd + R]
• Quit: [Control or Cmd + Q]

Usage

1. Initial Setup

   • Launch the invisible window
   • Login and subscribe

2. Capturing Problem

   • Use global shortcut [Control or Cmd + H] to take screenshots
   • Screenshots are automatically added to the queue of up to 5.

3. Processing

   • AI analyzes the screenshots to extract:
     • Problem requirements
     • Code context
   • System generates optimal solution strategy

4. Solution & Debugging

   • View generated solutions
   • Use debugging feature to:
     • Test different approaches
     • Fix errors in your code
     • Get line-by-line explanations
   • Toggle between solutions and queue views

5. Window Management

   • Move window freely using global shortcut
   • Toggle visibility as needed
   • Window remains invisible to specified applications
   • Reset view using Command + R

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or higher)
• npm or bun package manager
• Subscription on https://www.interviewcoder.co/settings (not needed for self-hosting)
• Screen Recording Permission for Terminal/IDE
  • On macOS:
    1. Go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > Privacy > Screen Recording
    2. Ensure that Interview Coder has screen recording permission enabled
    3. Restart Interview Coder after enabling permissions
  • On Windows:
    • No additional permissions needed
  • On Linux:
    • May require xhost access depending on your distribution

Tech Stack

• Electron
• React
• TypeScript
• Vite
• Tailwind CSS
• Radix UI Components
• OpenAI API

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.