NowOnTaskbar

Show what's playing on your Windows taskbar. Works with Spotify, YouTube, Chrome, Edge, VLC — any app that uses Windows media controls.

No browser extension. No background. Just text on the taskbar.

Features

• Zero setup — detects media from any app automatically
• Notification reader — shows system toasts (WhatsApp, Teams, etc.) with slide animation
• Native look — transparent overlay, text floats directly on the taskbar
• No browser extension — uses built-in Windows APIs
• Centered taskbar — detects Windows 11 centered layout, positions correctly
• Auto-scroll — long titles scroll smoothly
• Customizable — font, colors, opacity, chroma key via Settings dialog
• Right-click tray — customize, toggle notifications, enable auto-start, exit

Install

Option 1: Download (1 minute)

1. Download NowOnTaskbar.exe from Releases
2. Run it — no install needed
3. Play something — title appears on your taskbar

Option 2: Build from source

git clone https://github.com/yaffalhakim1/nowplaying-windows.git
cd nowplaying-windows
dotnet build -c Release
.\bin\Release\net9.0-windows10.0.19041.0\NowOnTaskbar.exe

Notification setup (optional, one-time)

Notifications require package identity. Run once:

.\register-sparse.ps1

This creates a self-signed certificate and registers a sparse MSIX package. Windows will ask "Let NowOnTaskbar read your notifications?" — click Allow.

Run the exe from the same folder where you ran register-sparse.ps1. The package identity is path-dependent.

Requirements

• Windows 10 1809+ or Windows 11
• .NET 9 Desktop Runtime — click "Download x64" under "Run desktop apps". The regular .NET Runtime will not work.

Usage

Action	How
Start	Run NowOnTaskbar.exe
Use	Play anything — title appears on taskbar
Silence notifications	Right-click tray icon, uncheck Notifications
Auto-start	Right-click tray icon, click Auto-start
Customize	Right-click tray icon, click Settings
Exit	Right-click tray icon, click Exit

How it works

Media detection:

1. GlobalSystemMediaTransportControlsSessionManager monitors all media sessions system-wide
2. When a session changes, reads Title + Artist
3. Renders text via GDI TextRenderer on a transparent overlay

Notification display:

1. UserNotificationListener reads system toast notifications
2. Extracts sender + message from toast XML
3. Media text slides up, notification slides in from below
4. Holds 5 seconds, slides back out — 125fps, cubic ease-out

Taskbar positioning:

1. Finds Shell_TrayWnd via FindWindow
2. Enumerates children, filters system windows
3. Positions overlay left of the tray area
4. Re-checks every 100ms + bumps Z-order

Architecture

Program.cs              Entry point + media/notification listeners
TaskbarOverlayForm.cs   Transparent GDI overlay + scroll + slide animation
NowOnTaskbar.csproj     .NET 9 WinForms + WinRT (net9.0-windows10.0.19041.0)
Package.appxmanifest    Sparse package identity for notification access
register-sparse.ps1     One-time notification setup script

For Developers

Built entirely in C# WinForms — but if you come from JS/TS, see JS-DEVELOPER-GUIDE.md for a crash course in how the code works.

Tech stack

Layer	Tech
Framework	.NET 9 WinForms
Media	Windows.Media.Control (WinRT SMTC)
Notifications	Windows.UI.Notifications.Management
Rendering	GDI TextRenderer + ClearType
Transparency	Color-key (TransparencyKey = Black)
Animation	System.Threading.Timer @ 8ms + Stopwatch
Taskbar position	Win32 P/Invoke (FindWindow, SetWindowPos)

License

MIT