Trayify

Trayify is a lightweight Windows utility that adds minimize-to-tray behavior to desktop applications that do not provide it themselves.

Current version: v0.3.3

Highlights

• Clean list of user-facing/taskbar applications rather than every background process.
• Per-application minimize-to-tray toggle.
• Persistent local configuration.
• Per-app tray icons with restore/disable actions.
• Electron/Chromium handling for apps that re-show their windows.
• Automatic startup while at least one managed app is enabled.
• Built-in update checks and verified installer-based self-updates.
• No telemetry, analytics, advertising, or tracking.
• Native WinForms/Win32 implementation with no bundled UI framework.

Installer

The recommended download is TrayifySetup.exe from GitHub Releases.

The installer is per-user and does not require administrator rights. It installs Trayify to:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Trayify\Trayify.exe

It provides:

• Optional Desktop shortcut.
• Optional Start menu shortcut.
• Optional Pin-to-Start assistance.
• Proper Windows Settings > Apps > Installed apps registration.
• Graphical uninstall with an option to keep or remove Trayify settings.
• Silent install/uninstall modes for automation.

Silent install

TrayifySetup.exe /VERYSILENT /NOLAUNCH

Silent uninstall

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Trayify\Uninstall.exe /UNINSTALL /VERYSILENT

Pin to Start

Windows 11 does not expose a supported ordinary-installer API to silently pin a desktop application to Start.

Trayify Setup therefore creates the normal Start menu shortcut and can open Windows' application surface with instructions for the user to choose Pin to Start. It does not modify undocumented Start-menu databases.

Package managers

WinGet

Trayify includes WinGet manifest metadata using WinGet's supported portable package model. WinGet manages the standalone Trayify.exe, while the graphical setup remains the recommended interactive installer.

Submission to the Microsoft community catalog is tracked in winget-pkgs PR #438417.

After the package is accepted, installation is:

winget install ChristianVelvet.Trayify

Scoop

Trayify has an official Scoop bucket:

scoop bucket add trayify https://github.com/nocturney/scoop-trayify
scoop install trayify

To update later:

scoop update
scoop update trayify

Scoop installs the standalone executable in portable mode. Portable copies should be upgraded through Scoop rather than Trayify's installer-based self-update.

The same manifest is mirrored in this repository under packaging/scoop/trayify.json.

Updating

For a normal installed copy, choose Help > Check for Updates.

Trayify downloads the new official installer and SHA256SUMS.txt, verifies the installer checksum and file version, and only then starts the installer.

Portable/package-manager copies should normally be upgraded through their package manager.

Privacy

Trayify works locally and has no telemetry. See PRIVACY.md.

Security

See SECURITY.md.

Current binaries are not Authenticode-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on a newly downloaded release. Published SHA-256 checksums verify integrity, but they are not a substitute for publisher code signing.

License

Trayify is open source under the MIT License.

No third-party code or assets are bundled in the current release. See THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Build

Requirements:

• Windows
• Windows PowerShell
• .NET Framework C# compiler included with Windows

Build with:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\build.ps1

The build produces:

• Trayify.exe
• TrayifySetup.exe
• Trayify-vX.Y.Z-win.zip
• SHA256SUMS.txt
• release notes

Release process

• VERSION is the source release number.
• CI builds pushes and pull requests on Windows.
• A matching vX.Y.Z tag creates a GitHub Release automatically.
• WinGet and Scoop metadata are updated against immutable versioned release URLs.

See CHANGELOG.md.