Why Open-Source EEG Tooling Matters

I started building Squiggly in November 2025 out of frustration. There are good desktop EEG visualizers — some free, some paid — but almost nothing you can open in a browser, point at a recording, and immediately understand. For a field that touches mental health so directly, that gap felt wrong.

Brain data shouldn't be locked behind a license

EEG is increasingly part of how we understand ADHD, trauma, addiction, and anxiety. If the tools to look at that data are expensive or hard to install, we narrow the set of people who can learn, contribute, and build. Open source widens it.

That's not an abstract value. It changes who gets to participate.

What I optimized for

Squiggly is deliberately simple to reach for:

• Upload and go. Supports .EDF, .CSV, and .JSON with no install.
• Fast visual inspection. See the raw signal before you commit to any analysis.
• Quantitative basics. Amplitude, symmetry, coherence, LZC, and known risk assessments.

None of it is hidden. All the design and code are public, because in a domain that affects people's care, transparency is a feature, not a footnote.

Come build

If you care about EEG and have skills to contribute, the project is open and the door is wide. The goal is durable: keep EEG visualization and analysis open and free, so the next person doesn't have to start from frustration like I did.

In a world filled with secrets, openness matters.