https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray
:information_source: HackerTray is a minimalist Hacker News app for Linux
https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray
gtk-application hacker-news-reader linux-desktop-app
Last synced: 2 months ago
JSON representation
:information_source: HackerTray is a minimalist Hacker News app for Linux
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray
- Owner: captn3m0
- License: mit
- Created: 2013-11-27T18:49:45.000Z (over 12 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2026-03-30T17:04:22.000Z (2 months ago)
- Last Synced: 2026-03-30T19:07:35.679Z (2 months ago)
- Topics: gtk-application, hacker-news-reader, linux-desktop-app
- Language: Python
- Homepage: https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray
- Size: 182 KB
- Stars: 249
- Watchers: 11
- Forks: 33
- Open Issues: 1
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.md
- Changelog: CHANGELOG.md
- Funding: .github/FUNDING.yml
- License: LICENSE
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README
# HackerTray
[](https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/)
[](https://coveralls.io/github/captn3m0/hackertray?branch=master)
HackerTray is a simple [Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/) Linux application
that lets you view top HN stories in your System Tray. It uses appindicator where available,
but provides a Gtk StatusIcon fallback in case AppIndicator is not available.
The inspiration for this came from [Hacker Bar](https://web.archive.org/web/20131126173924/http://hackerbarapp.com/) (now dead), which was Mac-only.
Over the years, this has been tested across multiple system tray implementations, including:
- Waybar on sway
- i3bar with i3
- ElementaryOS
- KDE Plasma 6.6
- GNOME 50
The new flatpak installation is in need of more testing.
## Screenshot
## Installation
HackerTray is distributed as a python package. Do the following to install:
```sh
pipx install hackertray --system-site-packages
```
There is a Flatpak build and submission in progress.
### Upgrade
The latest stable version is 5.0.0.
You can check which version you have installed with `hackertray --version`.
HackerTray will automatically check the latest version on startup, and inform you if there is an update available on the command line.
## Options
HackerTray accepts its various options via the command line. Run `hackertray -h` to see all options. Currently the following switches are supported:
1. `-c`: Enables comments support. Clicking on links will also open the comments page on HN. Can be switched off via the UI, but the setting is not remembered.
2. `--chrome PROFILE-PATH`: Specifying a profile path to a chrome directory will make HackerTray read the Chrome History file to mark links as read. Links are checked once every 5 minutes, which is when the History file is copied (to override the lock in case Chrome is open), searched using sqlite and deleted. This feature is still experimental.
3. `--firefox PROFILE-PATH`: Specify path to a firefox profile directory. HackerTray will read your firefox history from this profile, and use it to mark links as read. Pass `auto` as PROFILE-PATH to automatically read the default profile and use that.
4. `--reverse` (or `-r`). Switches the order for the elements in the menu, so Quit is at top. Use this if your system bar is at the bottom of the screen.
Note that the `--chrome` and `--firefox` options are independent, and can be used together. However, they cannot be specified multiple times (so reading from 2 chrome profiles is not possible).
### Google Chrome Profile Path
Where your Profile is stored depends on [which version of chrome you are using](https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src.git/+/62.0.3202.58/docs/user_data_dir.md#linux):
- [Chrome Stable] `~/.config/google-chrome/Default`
- [Chrome Beta] `~/.config/google-chrome-beta/Default`
- [Chrome Dev] `~/.config/google-chrome-unstable/Default`
- [Chromium] `~/.config/chromium/Default`
Replace `Default` with `Profile 1`, `Profile 2` or so on if you use multiple profiles on Chrome. Note that the `--chrome` option accepts a `PROFILE-PATH`, not the History file itself. Also note that sometimes `~` might not be set, so you might need to use the complete path (such as `/home/nemo/.config/google-chrome/Default/`).
### Firefox Profile Path
The default firefox profile path is `~/.mozilla/firefox/*.default`, where `*` denotes a random 8 digit string. You can also read `~/.mozilla/firefox/profiles.ini` to get a list of profiles. Alternatively, just pass `auto` and HackerTray will pick the default profile automatically.
## Features
1. Minimalist Approach to HN
2. Opens links in your default browser
3. Remembers which links you opened, even if you opened them outside of HackerTray
4. Shows Points/Comment count in a simple format
5. Reads your Google Chrome/Firefox History file to determine which links you've already read (even if you may not have opened them via HackerTray)
### Troubleshooting
If the app indicator fails to show in Ubuntu versions, consider installing
python-appindicator with
`sudo apt-get install python-appindicator`
Note that appindicator is no longer supported in non-Ubuntu distros, because it only works on Python2.
### Development
To develop on hackertray, or to test out experimental versions, do the following:
- Clone the project
- Run `uv venv --system-site-packages`. This is required to allow access to the global pygobject install.
- Run `uv run hackertray` with the required command line options
## Analytics
On every launch, a request is made to `https://pypi.python.org/pypi/hackertray/json` to check the latest version.
**No more tracking**. All data every collected for this project has been deleted. You can see [the wiki](https://github.com/captn3m0/hackertray/wiki/Analytics) for what all was collected earlier (Version `< 4.0.0`).
## Credits
- Mark Rickert for [Hacker Bar](http://hackerbarapp.com/) (No longer active)
- [Giridaran Manivannan](https://github.com/ace03uec) for troubleshooting instructions.
- [@cheeaun](https://github.com/cheeaun) for the [Unofficial Hacker News API](https://github.com/cheeaun/node-hnapi/)
## Licence
Licenced under the [MIT Licence](https://nemo.mit-license.org/). See the LICENSE file for complete license text.