winget install --id=XxDoomsdayxX.GitPulse -e GitPulse sits in the corner of your screen watching a list of GitHub repositories. When new commits land on any of them, its dot turns red and tells you how many commits you are behind. Click Pull and it fast-forwards your local clone, after verifying the folder really is a clone of that repository. When everything is in sync it stays green and silent.
> A 200-pixel desktop widget that tells you when your GitHub repos have moved ahead of your local clone — and pulls them with one click.
GitPulse sits in a corner of your screen watching a list of GitHub repositories. When new commits land on any of them, its dot turns red and tells you how many commits you're behind. Click Pull and it fast-forwards your local clone. When everything's in sync it stays green and silent.
No browser tab. No polling a terminal. One glance.
● 2 repos behind ⠿ ×
──────────────────────────────────────────
● gitpulse 3 behind
● byron-dashboard up to date
● api-server checking…
──────────────────────────────────────────
+ Add repository ↻ ⚙
Expand any row for the latest commit, its author and age, a branch picker, and per-repo actions.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Watch many repos at once | A stacked list, each with its own status, branch and local clone |
| Commits-behind count | "3 behind", not just "behind" |
| One-click pull | Fast-forward pull into your local clone, straight from the widget |
| Folder verification | GitPulse checks the folder you pick is really a clone of that repo before it ever pulls |
| Desktop notifications | Optional toast when a watched repo moves ahead |
| Branch picker | Watch any branch, not just the default one |
| Auto-update | New versions install themselves in the background |
| Start with Windows | Optional login-item, launched hidden to the tray |
| System tray | Icon colour-coded to the worst status; right-click for a per-repo summary |
| Secure token storage | Your PAT is encrypted with the OS keychain (Windows DPAPI) and never reaches the renderer |
| Cheap polling | ETag-conditional requests, so unchanged repos cost nothing against your rate limit |
| Draggable | Put it anywhere; position survives restarts and unplugged monitors |
| No admin required | Installs entirely in your user profile |
winget install gitpulse
To update later — though GitPulse updates itself:
winget upgrade gitpulse
> Requires Windows 10 1709 or later. winget ships with Windows 11 and is available for Windows 10 via the App Installer.
Download GitPulse Setup x.y.z.exe from Releases and run it. No admin password needed; installs to %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\gitpulse\.
git clone https://github.com/XxDoomsdayxX/GitPulse.git
cd GitPulse
npm install
npm start
GitPulse only ever reads. A fine-grained token is recommended:
A classic token with the repo scope also works, but it grants read and write to everything you can access — more than this widget needs.
> Your token is encrypted at rest via the OS keychain and is only ever sent to api.github.com.
Click ⚙, paste the token, hit Connect. The repository picker opens — search, then click any repo to start watching it. Add as many as you like.
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Click the bar | Expand / collapse the watchlist |
| Click a repo row | Show commit details, branch picker and actions |
| Pull | Fast-forward your local clone (asks for the folder the first time) |
| Seen | Mark the current remote commit as acknowledged without pulling |
| ⤢ GitHub icon | Open the repo in your browser |
| 🗑 | Stop watching the repo |
| + Add repository | Search and add another repo |
| ↻ | Refresh everything now |
| ⚙ | Settings — account, refresh interval, notifications, start with Windows |
Grab the ⠿ grip | Drag the widget anywhere |
| × | Hide to the system tray |
Esc | Close picker → close settings → collapse |
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 🟢 Green | Every watched repo is up to date |
| 🔴 Red | At least one repo has commits you haven't pulled |
| 🟡 Amber | A check failed — expired token, network, rate limit (the row says which) |
| ⬜ Pulsing | Checking right now |
GitPulse uses the GitHub REST API — it never reads your local .git folder except when you pull.
So the status answers "have I pulled what's on the remote?" — not "is my working tree clean?".
Pull safety: before running anything, GitPulse verifies the folder is a git work tree whose origin points at that exact repository, then runs git pull --ff-only with interactive prompts disabled. A mis-picked folder is rejected rather than silently pulling some other project.
npm start # run the widget
npm test # unit tests (settings migration, git handling, GitHub client)
npm run test:app # end-to-end smoke test in a real Electron window
npm run build # build dist/GitPulse Setup x.y.z.exe
main.js # Main process — window, tray, polling, IPC, notifications
preload.js # contextBridge — the window.widget API
lib/
settings.js # Schema + migration + atomic, debounced persistence
github.js # GitHub client — ETags, rate-limit backoff, error mapping
git.js # Safe git execution (argv, no shell) and clone verification
icon.js # Dependency-free PNG/tray icon generation
renderer/
index.html # Markup + CSP
style.css # OKLCH design system
app.js # Watchlist UI, driven by state pushed from main
test/ # Unit tests (node --test)
scripts/ # Icon generation + Electron smoke test
.github/workflows/ # CI on every push; release + winget submission on a tag
Bump version in package.json, then:
git tag v1.2.0 && git push origin v1.2.0
CI runs the tests, builds the installer, publishes the GitHub release, and — when a WINGET_TOKEN secret is configured — opens the winget-pkgs PR.
MIT — see LICENSE.
Built with Claude Code