DesktopFly
A 3D fruit fly that lives on a macOS desktop, driven by a spiking simulation built from the FlyWire brain wiring and the MaleCNS brain-to-leg network, with a live brain window you can click to stimulate a region.
GitHub avatar of denissergeevitch, not the project’s own logo — taken from github.com on 2026-10-02.
What it is
DesktopFly puts a 3D fruit fly on a macOS desktop whose behaviour comes from a live spiking simulation rather than an animation. Its brain window draws the 23,210 real neuron soma positions from FlyWire v783 with spikes flashing at their actual locations, and clicking a region stimulates it; the two glowing markers are the Giant Fibers, the escape command neurons. Version 1.1.0 added a MaleCNS v1.0 extract — 1,045 neurons and 17,224 measured connections — so simulated motor activity drives articulated legs, stepping and steering.
Who built itThe repository has fourteen commits from five people — Denis Shiryaev on 7, Ruslan Semov on 3, DenisSergeevitch on 2, and one each from two others. Five of the fourteen carry a co-author trailer and all five name a Claude model: Fable 5 four times and Opus 5 once.
How it is put together
The parts · 4Two published connectome datasets are loaded as live spiking simulations and connected through a modelled interface: the FlyWire brain supplies the circuits, MaleCNS supplies brain-to-leg wiring, and between them sit modelled senses and joints. The desktop application is a renderer and a control surface for that simulation rather than an animation with a neural skin — which is why the brain window exists at all, and why clicking a region is a stimulus rather than a settings change.
- data/
- The connectome extracts — six files, 2.1 MB — from FlyWire v783 and the MaleCNS v1.0 extract of 1,045 neurons and 17,224 measured connections.
- The brain window
- 23,210 real neuron soma positions with live spikes at their actual locations, clickable to stimulate a region, with the Giant Fibers marked as the escape command neurons.
- The modelled interface
- What joins the FlyWire brain to the MaleCNS motor network — the part the changelog describes plainly as modelled rather than measured.
- assets/
- Three files and 267 KB — the fly model and the frames the README uses to show the brain window and the desktop.
Choices, and what they beat
Drive the fly from a live spiking simulation instead of animating it over a behavioural script with a neural-looking overlay
The README shows the neuron positions and the spike locations, so the wiring is on screen and the claim is checkable rather than asserted.
Add the MaleCNS motor network rather than faking locomotion over replaying walking animations
Version 1.1.0’s changelog states that motor activity drives articulated joints with joint and foot-contact feedback, built on a published extract of 17,224 measured connections.
Describe the brain-to-leg link as modelled over presenting the joined system as wholly measured
The changelog says the existing FlyWire brain connects through a modelled interface, which is the difference between the two datasets and the glue.
Read fromREADME, changelog and the repository tree of denissergeevitch/desktop-fly, read 2026-10-02.
Build log
3 stages- 01
Fifty files, and the data is most of them
The repository was created on 2026-08-18, its last push is 2026-09-05 and it holds fourteen commits from five people. It is 50 files in total, of which
data/accounts for six files and 2.1 MB andassets/another 267 KB — the connectome extracts are the substance of the repository, and the application is thin around them. Five of the fourteen commits carry a co-author trailer and all five name a Claude model, four of them Fable 5. - 02
The fly moves because neurons fired, and you can watch them
The README’s brain window is the part that makes the claim checkable: 23,210 real neuron soma positions from FlyWire v783, with live spikes drawn at their actual locations, and clicking any region stimulates it. Two yellow markers are identified as the Giant Fibers — the escape command neurons — so the reader can see the wiring and not just a fly moving. The combination described is identified neural circuits joined to modelled senses, joints and behaviour.
- 03
Version 1.1.0 is a changelog entry about a second dataset
The changelog’s 1.1.0 entry, dated 2026-09-05, is the clearest statement of how the project grew: a MaleCNS v1.0 extract with 1,045 neurons and 17,224 measured connections was added, and simulated motor activity now drives articulated joints, forward and backward stepping and steering, with joint and foot-contact feedback. The existing FlyWire brain connects to it through a modelled interface — which is the honest description of what joining two published datasets requires.
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