OCR that watches your cursor, slowly
A TensorFlow attention-based text recognizer with a quirky party trick: point your mouse at text, wait ten seconds for the model to wake up, then watch it read.

What it does
Trains a neural network to recognize text using TensorFlow’s attention mechanism. Ships with mouse_prediction.py, which reads whatever text sits under your cursor — after a leisurely 10-second model load. Also bundles text_recognizer.py and a forked EAST detector for finding text boxes in real-world images.
The interesting bit
The training pipeline auto-generates synthetic data: it renders every font on your machine in distorted shapes, so you can bootstrap a letter-recognizer without hunting down labeled datasets. Think MNIST, but for your entire font library.
Key highlights
- Attention-based sequence recognition built in raw TensorFlow
train_letters.pygenerates synthetic training data from local fonts automaticallymouse_prediction.pydoes live screen OCR via mouse position- Forks EAST for text detection in natural images
- “Batteries included” — though the README doesn’t specify which batteries
Caveats
- 10-second cold-start for inference; no mention of GPU requirements or model size
- No accuracy numbers, benchmark comparisons, or dataset details provided
- README is sparse: no example outputs, no architecture diagram, no training time estimates
Verdict
Worth a look if you’re building an OCR pipeline from scratch and want to see attention mechanics without framework abstraction. Skip it if you need production latency or documented accuracy — this is clearly research-grade tooling with rough edges.