nickvasilescu/parallax

What it is

Parallax is a web application that bundles separate studios for images, video, voices and music, plus derivative tools (remix, shot-by-shot cinema, shorts, ads, single-purpose apps), a community feed, a personal library, credits, a developer API and an MCP server. It targets people who want an AI media studio they can run themselves rather than a hosted product, and developers who want a working reference for wiring many models behind one interface.

Model calls go through a single gateway, treg.to. The per-model controls, inputs and exact prices live in a registry, and a budget variable caps paid spend over a rolling 24-hour window. The agent chat at /supercomputer can run on a scripted stand-in, on Parallax's own loop, or on an external Hermes agent hosted on a cloud computer such as Orgo; in the Hermes setup the agent calls the studio's tools over MCP and generations require a priced approval card paid from member credits.

Quick start

Install Node.js 22.13 or newer; the app uses Node's built-in SQLite, so no separate database is needed. Then:

git clone https://github.com/nickvasilescu/parallax.git
cd parallax
npm ci
PARALLAX_DEMO_SEED=1 npm run dev

Open http://localhost:3000 and use the guest account with its initial credits. The seed variable adds four demo accounts and roughly sixty published posts, each carrying the prompt that created it so Recreate works; omit it for an empty feed. No provider key is required in this mode: models return built-in sample files.

For real generations, copy .env.example to .env.local, set TREG_TOKEN, and keep TREG_DAILY_BUDGET_USD low during trials. For a background deployment, npm ci && npm run build followed by deploy/start.sh mock (drop mock for live) runs the built app with data and logs under deploy/run/.

Constraints and unfinished parts

• There is no payment processor: the top-up button grants free credits, and PARALLAX_DEMO_BILLING=off disables it. The LAUNCH-WEEK offer on the home page is sample marketing text.
• The Hermes engine is tested only against a stand-in agent, not a live one. The external agent's own shell, file and memory tools are outside Parallax approval cards, so a public instance should not be pointed at a personal agent; the Hermes-on-Orgo guide describes the safe topology.
• SUPER_MODE=live can start cloud computers and connect outside apps, both of which can incur costs, and has had much less testing than the studios. Canvas boards are stored in the browser only, and Horizon is a preview.
• Read SECURITY.md before exposing the app publicly. Licensed under MIT as an independent project, unaffiliated with the model and service vendors it connects to.

HotRepo's take

On the TypeScript new-project list for 2026-11-15, the repository recorded 109 stars and 80 forks, with 8 stars and 6 forks gained over a roughly 1.5-hour window; the star curve shows 104 to 109 between 07:46 and 08:46 UTC. A fork-to-star ratio that high is unusual for a young project and suggests people are cloning it to run rather than only reading, but it is a single snapshot and does not establish adoption. The distinguishing technical fact is scope: an MIT studio with mock mode, a model registry with price checks, and a documented route to running the agent on an external Hermes instance. The README is also candid that the Hermes path and live agent modes are the least exercised parts, which matters more here than the star count when deciding whether to deploy it.