Warm-N-Dim

A tiny Windows utility that overlays a warm tint and an extra-dim black layer on top of everything. Great for late-night coding, reading, or minimizing eye strain.

• Reduce perceived brightness below the system minimum
• Warm the screen (blue‑light reduction) with a configurable intensity
• Click‑through overlay that won’t block interaction
• Multi‑monitor support (one overlay per display)
• Global hotkeys (toggle, open controls, optional warmth/dim bumps)
• Schedule — fixed hours or local sunset→sunrise (offline city list)
• Fullscreen — hide overlay (default), ask after, or always stay on top
• Tray controls, Launch at startup, Debug → Flash overlay
• Settings persist between restarts
• Auto‑update via GitHub Releases, optional beta channel

Built with Electron + TypeScript. App identity: dev.evmlord.warmndim.

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Quick start (users)

• Stable: latest installer
• Beta: 0.4.0-beta.2 — after install, turn on Include beta updates (tray or Controls → Updates) if you want later betas

Windows SmartScreen may show “Windows protected your PC” (unsigned installer). Click More info → Run anyway. That is expected for new hashes.

1. Run the installer.
2. Find Warm N Dim in your system tray.
3. Click Open controls (or press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W) and adjust Warmth and Dim.
4. (Optional) Tick Launch at startup, set a schedule, or pick how fullscreen apps are handled.

The control window opens on first run only. After that the app stays in the tray; click the tray icon or start a second instance to reopen controls.

Tray menu: Toggle overlay, Open controls, Launch at startup, Include beta updates, Debug (flash, click-through, fullscreen probe, DevTools, logs), Check for updates, Quit.

Default hotkeys: Ctrl+Alt+W toggle overlay, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W open controls. Rebind (or clear) them in Controls → Hotkeys. They do not fire inside exclusive-fullscreen games (OS limitation).

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How it works

We draw two transparent, click‑through windows over each display:

• Dim layer: black with adjustable opacity
• Warm tint: warm orange with adjustable opacity

This reduces perceived brightness and blue light without changing physical backlight levels.

Windows often steals z-order from always-on-top windows. Overlay → Fullscreen apps lets you choose:

• Hide overlay (default) — hide until that app exits (better for games)
• Ask after fullscreen — hide during the session, then show a Warm N Dim prompt once you are back
• Always stay on top — keep the overlay and re-assert z-order every couple of seconds

Sunset/sunrise is computed locally (suncalc + a shipped city list). No geolocation or extra network calls.

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Build from source (contributors)

Requirements: Windows 10/11 x64, Node 18+ (LTS), pnpm (or npm).

pnpm i
pnpm test  # unit tests (schedule / fullscreen math / settings migrate)
pnpm dev   # watch + run Electron (tsc for main/preload/renderer)
pnpm dist  # build signed/unsigned installer (NSIS)

Project layout

dist/                     # compiled app used by Electron and packaged build
src/
  main.ts                 # Electron main entry (ESM)
  lib/                    # settings, overlays, tray, updater, hotkeys, schedule, fullscreen
  preload.ts              # Preload (compiled to CJS)
  data/cities.json        # offline city presets for sunset mode
  renderer/
    control.html
    control.ts            # no imports/exports; compiled as classic script
    overlay.html
    overlay.ts            # no imports/exports; compiled as classic script
    styles.css
  types/
    globals.d.ts           # ambient types (Settings, window.api)
icons/
  icon.ico
.github/workflows/
  release.yml             # Windows installer + GitHub Release (Actions tab)
docs/
  SIGNING.md              # how to ship, channels, SmartScreen, signing later
scripts/
  afterPack.cjs           # strip extra locales, PDF viewer, SwiftShader
  release.cjs             # build + electron-builder --publish always

Build configuration

• Separate tsconfigs:
  • tsconfig.main.json → ESM for main
  • tsconfig.preload.json → CJS for preload (Electron require() compatibility)
  • tsconfig.renderer.json → module: "None" for classic browser scripts
• electron-builder with NSIS target, appId: dev.evmlord.warmndim.

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Releasing

Installers are built and published by the Release GitHub Action (Windows), not from a laptop.

1. Push the branch that has the version you want (dev for a hyphenated beta, main for stable).
2. Actions → Release → Run workflow on that branch.

Hyphenated versions (0.4.0-beta.1) publish as GitHub Pre-release. Versions without a hyphen publish as Latest. Details, local fallback (pnpm release + .env), and signing notes: docs/SIGNING.md.

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Auto‑updates

• Uses electron-updater + GitHub Releases.
• On startup, the app checks for updates and downloads in the background. When ready, you’ll be prompted to restart.
• Tray menu includes Check for updates… and Include beta updates.
• Controls → Updates picks Stable or Beta. Beta follows GitHub prereleases (0.4.0-beta.1, etc.). After publishing a hyphenated version, confirm the GitHub release is marked Pre-release.

The installer is unsigned until a certificate is configured. See docs/SIGNING.md.

Publish config (in package.json → build.publish):

[{ "provider": "github", "owner": "evmlord", "repo": "Warm-N-Dim", "releaseType": "release" }]

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Troubleshooting

• DevTools Autofill warnings: harmless (Chromium DevTools tries to enable unsupported Autofill APIs).
• 7‑Zip symlink error during pnpm dist: enable Windows Developer Mode or run terminal as Administrator. Then delete %LOCALAPPDATA%/electron-builder/Cache and try again.
• Overlay doesn’t change: ensure the app logs show it is loading from dist/… paths and that dist/renderer/*.js exist. Use tray Debug → Flash overlay and Open overlay DevTools to verify.

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Privacy

• No data collection. No network calls except for checking updates (GitHub Releases).
• Sunset times are computed on-device from a latitude/longitude you set (or a preset city). The city list is shipped with the app.

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License

MIT — © EVMlord. See LICENSE.

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