FakeRing
A virtual ring light for your desktop, built with Go and Win32 magic
Client
Self
Year
2026-01-16
Agency
Personal
Role
Tech
FakeRing is a lightweight desktop utility that transforms your computer monitors into a powerful, software-based ring light. Designed for remote workers and developers, it solves the problem of poor video lighting without the need for additional hardware.
Standard webcams often struggle with auto-exposure in dimly lit rooms, leaving users in shadow during critical meetings. While a physical ring light is the traditional solution, it occupies desk space and adds to the clutter. FakeRing leverages the luminosity of your display panels to provide consistent, adjustable illumination directly from your workspace.
The application integrates deeply with the Windows operating system to create a non-intrusive, high-performance overlay. By utilizing native Win32 APIs, FakeRing ensures that its lighting effects are both powerful and completely transparent to your existing workflow.
Core Features
Multi-Monitor Support
Automatically detects all connected displays using EnumDisplayMonitors. The software creates independent lighting layers for each monitor, ensuring uniform coverage across your entire visual field.
Click-Through Transparency
Implemented via WS_EX_TRANSPARENT, the lighting overlay remains completely non-interactive. Mouse events pass through the ring light to underlying applications, allowing for uninterrupted productivity.
Subtractive Geometry
Advanced GDI drawing techniques create a "donut" effect. By subtracting an inner rectangle from the screen's workspace, the center remains clear while the edges provide maximum illumination.
Zero-Latency Rendering
Built with the Wails v3 framework and native GDI+ drawing. The application avoids the performance overhead of traditional web-based overlays by communicating directly with the OS graphics layers.
Technical Foundation
The architecture of FakeRing balances modern web UI with low-level systems programming. The frontend, built with React, provides a sleek control interface, while the Go backend handles the complex interactions with the Windows API.
Go & Wails v3
Lightweight binary with native OS hooks
Win32 GDI+
Direct-to-hardware graphics rendering
React Controls
Seamless real-time parameter tuning
Performance Advantage: Utilizes debounced configuration updates and native OS thread locking (runtime.LockOSThread) to maintain 60fps UI performance while preserving system resources.
Who This Is For
Remote Professionals
Maintain a professional presence in video calls, even in environments with unpredictable or poor lighting conditions.
Open Source Developers
A practical demonstration of Go and Wails v3's capabilities in high-performance desktop application development.
Why This Exists
FakeRing was born from a common frustration: the failure of webcam auto-exposure in dark rooms. While traditional lighting solutions work, they are often bulky and inconvenient for mobile or minimalist setups. Following a successful experiment with a blank browser tab, the project evolved into a dedicated tool designed to optimize this “accidental” discovery.
The design philosophy focuses on “invisible utility.” A product of this nature must provide its benefit without demanding the user’s attention or interfering with their tools. By solving the geometric challenge of drawing non-blocking rings over multiple displays, FakeRing achieves a level of polish that simple browser-based solutions cannot match.
Why Choose This
FakeRing offers a zero-footprint alternative to hardware ring lights. It consumes no desk space, requires no USB ports, and is powered entirely by the hardware you already own. Its implementation in Go ensures a small binary size and rapid startup times, making it a frictionless addition to any setup.
Unlike generic “white screen” applications, FakeRing is purpose-built for video conferencing. It understands monitor geometry, respects the OS work area, and stays out of your way while you work. It is a focused solution for a specific problem, executed with technical precision.
Elevate Your Video Presence
Download FakeRing and experience professional illumination without the hardware clutter.
