I’ve been working on an open-source project called Julie (desktop AI assistant, local-first, agentic computer use). It started as a personal tool and has grown enough that I’m considering turning it into a real product. I have a ton more features i didnt push yet, including bug fixes and determinisim in the agent behaviour.

I have about $5k I can realistically put toward this and I think it could be sustainable if I can get a small but real group of users.

I’m trying to sanity check a few things before committing:

Is this the kind of thing people actually pay for, or does it stay a hobby/open-source tool?

What would you focus on first to validate demand without burning the budget?

Any advice on early distribution for dev tools like this?