Desktop app & auto-update

The desktop app is a thin Electron shell around the same engine you can run from source:

1. On launch it starts the bundled engine (stackradar-server, frozen with PyInstaller, so no Python is required) on a random free port on 127.0.0.1.
2. It waits for the engine's STACKRADAR_READY port=N line, then loads the dashboard in its window.
3. It borrows your login shell's PATH, so the engine finds Homebrew, nvm, pyenv, git, docker, claude, codex … even when launched from the Dock or Start menu.
4. Only one instance runs at a time. External links open in your browser. Quitting stops the engine.

Menu: File → Open in Browser, Show Settings Folder · Help → Check for Updates…, Wiki, Report an Issue.

Auto-update

The app uses electron-updater against this repository's GitHub Releases:

• 8 seconds after launch, and every 6 hours, it checks the latest release's latest*.yml.
• If a newer version exists it downloads in the background, then asks Restart now / Later.
• ⚙ Settings → Check for updates or Help → Check for Updates… triggers a check right away.

Platform	Auto-update
Windows NSIS installer	✅
Linux AppImage	✅
macOS	✅ for signed & notarized builds. Unsigned builds show the update but macOS blocks silent install, so download the new .dmg manually
Windows portable / Linux .deb	❌ download new versions manually

Building it yourself

cd desktop
npm ci
python3 -m pip install pyinstaller
npm run dist:mac     # or dist:win / dist:linux  → desktop/release/
npm start            # dev mode: runs ../stackradar.py with your Python

npm run dist* first runs scripts/build-backend.js (PyInstaller → dist/stackradar-server/), which also syncs the app version from VERSION. CI builds all three platforms on every v* tag. See Releasing.