WinThing v2.0.0

WinThing v2.0.0

Remotely control your Windows or Linux computer via MQTT and Home Assistant.

What's new in this release

• Multi-platform: Windows, Linux, and macOS support
• Home Assistant MQTT discovery: Automatically creates sensors, buttons and switches in HA
  • Fixed discovery topic path so entities are correctly registered
  • Battery charging sensor correctly maps to ON/OFF
• Monitoring: CPU, memory, battery, now-playing published on configurable interval
• Robustness fixes:
  • Exponential backoff on reconnect (5s → 10s → 20s → 40s → 60s)
  • Fixed "too many publishes in progress" error during HA discovery
  • Scheduler uses fixed-delay (no pile-up if broker is slow)
  • run command accepts full Windows paths (e.g. C:\Program Files\app.exe)
  • Linux command failures now visible in debug logs

Installation

Windows

1. Download winthing-2.0.0-windows.exe
2. Download winthing.conf.example, rename to winthing.conf, place in the same folder
3. Set your broker address and credentials in winthing.conf
4. Double-click the EXE — it appears in the system tray
5. Auto-start: copy both files to %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Linux / macOS

1. Download winthing-2.0.0-linux.jar (requires Java 17+)
2. Download winthing.conf.example, rename to winthing.conf, place in the same folder
3. Run: java -jar winthing-2.0.0-linux.jar
4. Optional Linux dependencies: playerctl, xdotool or wmctrl

Configuration (winthing.conf)

broker = "192.168.0.x:1883"
mqtt_protocol = "tcp"
username = "mqtt"
password = "mqtt"
clientid = "WinThing"
prefix = "winthing"
reconnect = 5
monitoring_interval = 30
device_name = "PC"