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.

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