frontend-app-windows

Windows tray app that pulls notifications from the backend and shows them as toasts. Clicking a toast opens its link. Requires Windows 10/11 and Python 3.12.

How it works

• A background thread polls GET /internal/pull-notifications every 5 minutes (every 30 s while the server reports has_more, with backoff on errors).
• The newest 5 messages pop up; older ones go silently to the notification bar. One extra toast says how many more are there and whether more are waiting on the server.
• The API key is stored in Windows Credential Manager.

Setup

py -3.12 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements-dev.txt

Run from source

$env:NOTIFIER_API_KEY = "your-key"   # or skip: the app asks on first run
python src\main.py                   # tray app
python src\main.py --once            # one poll, then exit
python src\main.py --set-key         # (re)enter the API key

Test without the real backend

The mock server always returns 10 messages with has_more: true.

# terminal 1
python tools\mock_server.py

# terminal 2
$env:NOTIFIER_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:8000/internal/pull-notifications"
$env:NOTIFIER_API_KEY = "dev"        # any value, the mock ignores it
python src\main.py --once

Without --once the tray app polls again after 30 s, because the mock always says has_more.

Configuration

Variable	Default	Purpose
NOTIFIER_URL	https://notifier.gansejunge.com/internal/pull-notifications	Endpoint
NOTIFIER_API_KEY	(Credential Manager)	Overrides the stored key, for development
NOTIFIER_API_KEY_HEADER	X-API-Key	Header name the backend expects
NOTIFIER_POLL_SECONDS	300	Normal polling interval

Other settings (app name, backoff, has_more delay) are in src/config.py.

Build the exe

.\build.ps1 -Console   # first build: keeps a console so startup errors are visible
.\build.ps1            # release build, no console

Output: dist\MyApp\MyApp.exe. Ship the whole dist\MyApp\ folder (it is --onedir, not a single file). Test the built exe, not just the source: missing PyInstaller imports only show up there.

Runtime notes

• Logs: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Notifier\app.log
• Tray menu: Check now, Set API key, Start with Windows (built exe only), Quit.