Noxu is a lightweight desktop utility that enables instant, global audio control across all active applications through a single configurable hotkey (Shift+A by default). Rather than manually adjusting volume application by application, Noxu hooks into the Windows/Linux audio session API to control all audio sources simultaneously.
The core challenge was achieving zero-latency response while maintaining minimal system impact — solved through optimized multithreaded background processing that keeps CPU utilization consistently below 1%.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| ⌨️ Global Hotkey | Shift+A instantly mutes/unmutes all active applications system-wide |
| 🧵 Multithreaded | Background listener runs on a separate thread — no UI blocking |
| ⚡ Zero Latency | Sub-millisecond response time from keypress to audio change |
| 🪶 Minimal Footprint | Sub-1% CPU utilization, 50MB RAM, 15MB install |
| 🚀 Startup Support | Configurable to run automatically on system boot |
| 🖥️ Cross-Platform | Supports Windows 10/11 and Linux |
| Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Python 3.5+ | Core application (~211 lines) |
| pycaw | Windows Core Audio API integration |
| keyboard | Global hotkey listener |
| threading | Multithreaded background process |
Key Engineering: The hotkey listener runs as a daemon thread entirely decoupled from the main process, ensuring zero UI impact. Audio session enumeration is cached on startup to minimize per-keypress latency.
- Windows 10/11 or Linux
- 15 MB disk space, 50 MB RAM
# 1. Download and extract the ZIP
# 2. Ensure the assets/ folder is in the same directory as Noxu.exe
# 3. Run the executable
Noxu.exeTo have Noxu launch automatically on boot, add it to your startup folder. See this guide for Windows setup.
Noxu/
├── assets/ # UI assets and icons
├── source/ # Python source code (~211 lines)
└── Noxu.exe # Compiled executable
| Hotkey | Action |
|---|---|
Shift + A |
Toggle mute/unmute all applications |
Riyon Praveen — Computer Science Student, University of South Florida
