A local dev-server control center for Windows. Scan a folder, and Beacon finds every project inside it, launches the right dev server with the right package manager, and keeps a live dashboard of logs, ports, and resource usage — all without touching a terminal.
Point Beacon at a folder full of side projects, and it takes care of the rest:
- 🔍 Auto-discovery — recursively scans for Node/npm projects and plain static HTML/CSS/JS sites, skipping
node_modules,dist,build,target, and dotfolders along the way. - 🧭 Framework detection — recognizes Next.js, Vite/React, Express, and more, and labels each project accordingly.
- 📦 Package-manager aware — reads
packageManager(or falls back to the lockfile) and starts each project with the correct binary — npm, pnpm, yarn, or bun — instead of guessing. ▶️ One-click start/stop/restart — spawns the dev script, auto-detects the port it lands on, and streams stdout/stderr live.- 🖼️ Favicon everywhere — pulls each project's real favicon, including inline
data:URIs and Vite/CRA assets served frompublic/. - 🌐 Zero-config static server — plain HTML/CSS/JS projects with no build step get served instantly by a built-in local file server.
- 📊 Live stats — per-project CPU and memory usage, sampled efficiently (no full-system scans).
- 🔔 Background & tray — closing the window keeps servers running in the tray; get a native notification if something crashes or a port collides.
- 📌 Pin, search, filter — pin favorites, search by name, filter by framework or running state.
- ⌨️ Keyboard accessible — every interactive element is reachable and operable without a mouse.
- 🔄 In-app updates — checks for and installs new releases from Settings, no manual reinstall needed.
| Layer | Stack |
|---|---|
| Shell | Tauri 2 (Rust) |
| UI | React 19 + TypeScript + Vite |
| Process management | Native Rust process spawning, no shell dependencies beyond your package manager |
| Styling | Hand-rolled CSS design system (spacing/radius/type scale, no framework) |
npm install
npm run tauri devnpm run tauri buildThe signed NSIS installer will be at src-tauri/target/release/bundle/nsis/.
beacon/
├── src/ React frontend (single-page dashboard)
├── src-tauri/ Rust backend — scanning, process management, tray, static server
└── .github/ README assets & CI release workflow
Every push of a v* tag builds a signed installer via GitHub Actions and publishes it as a draft release (see .github/workflows/release.yml). See CHANGELOG.md for version history.
MIT — see LICENSE.