serial-port-notifier

A lightweight, cross-platform (Windows/Linux) desktop utility that monitors serial ports in real-time, notifies you on connection changes, and allows quick actions to copy port names or launch terminal emulators (PuTTY, RealTerm, etc.) with custom arguments.

🛠️ Development Roadmap: Cross-Platform Serial Port Notifier

Phase 1: Project Skeleton & Core Hardware Logic (The Engine)

• Set up the Python virtual environment and folder structure.

• Create the configuration manager (utils/storage.py) to handle reading/writing settings.json locally without admin rights.

• Build the background hardware monitor (core/monitor.py) using pyserial to detect connected ports, grab VID/PID data, and check if a port is "Busy" or "Available".

Phase 2: UI Foundation & System Tray (The Face)

• Initialize the main PyQt6 application.

• Create the System Tray Icon and the basic right-click context menu.

• Wire the background hardware monitor to the system tray so the menu dynamically updates (adds/removes ports) in real-time.

Phase 3: Custom Notifications & Basic Actions (The Voice)

• Build the custom, cross-platform PyQt Toast Notification system (with auto-hide timeout and a close "X" button).

• Implement the "Quick Copy" feature (clicking a port copies it to the clipboard).

• Build the logic to execute standard third-party Launchers (PuTTY, RealTerm) passing the %1 and %2 arguments.

Phase 4: Configuration UI & Core Settings (The Dashboard)

• Build the main "Settings" dialog UI.

• Implement the "Launchers" tab (Add, Edit, Delete, Duplicate, Move Up/Down).

• Implement the "Custom Labels/Rename" dialog.

• Implement the "Hidden Ports (Blacklist)" tab.

Phase 5: Advanced Developer Features - Part 1 (The Tools)

• Build the "Quick Peek" read-only data monitor window.

• Implement the DTR/RTS "Reset Device" hardware toggle functionality.

• Create the "Auto-Baud Rate Probing" logic.

Phase 6: Advanced Developer Features - Part 2 (Automation & Networking)

• Build the Auto-Connect / Script Hook rules engine.

• Implement the TCP/IP Serial Bridge (Port Forwarding) logic.

• Create the Connection Event History (Log) window.

Phase 7: Polish, Autostart & Packaging (The Finish Line)

• Add the Settings Export/Import functionality.

• Write the OS-specific Autostart scripts (Windows Startup folder / Ubuntu .desktop file).

• Write the PyInstaller build script to compile everything into a single, no-admin executable.