AirCube Tray

A lightweight Windows system-tray app that shows live AQI (Air Quality Index) from an AirCube sensor directly in your taskbar.

• Color-coded AQI number as the tray icon (updates live).
• Tooltip with temperature, humidity, eCO₂, eTVOC.
• Right-click popup with history charts (AQI, temperature, humidity, eCO₂, eTVOC).
• Configurable AQI threshold alerts.
• Auto-detects the AirCube over USB (VID 0x303A / PID 0x1001) with silent auto-connect and hotplug watching.
• Optional "start with Windows" toggle.

AirCube Tray is an official companion app for the AirCube hardware but it lives in its own repo so it can ship and version independently. Firmware and the main GUI app live in the AirCube repo.

---

Quick start

Install (Windows, recommended)

Download the latest installer from releases/ and run it:

AirCubeTray_Setup_v1.3.0.exe

The installer will:

• Install to Program Files\AirCubeTray (or per-user %LocalAppData% if you pick that option).
• Add a Start Menu shortcut and (optionally) a desktop icon.
• Optionally launch AirCube Tray at Windows startup.
• Clean up registry + shortcuts on uninstall.

Plug in your AirCube and the tray app will auto-connect. No settings required.

Run from source

Prereqs: Python 3.10+ and an AirCube connected over USB.

pip install -r requirements.txt
python aircube_tray.py

---

Building

Just the .exe

pip install pyinstaller
python build_tray.py

Produces dist/AirCubeTray.exe (~60 MB, single-file).

The .exe + Windows installer

Prereqs: Inno Setup 6 installed at its default path.

python build_installer.py

Produces installer_output/AirCubeTray_Setup_vX.Y.Z.exe.

The build script:

1. Kills any running AirCubeTray.exe (so PyInstaller can overwrite the locked binary).
2. Runs PyInstaller via AirCubeTray.spec (which bundles aircube_tray.ico as a runtime resource and sets the .exe icon).
3. Invokes Inno Setup on installer.iss.

Regenerating the app icon

The icon is generated from code so it's reproducible:

pip install Pillow
python generate_tray_icon.py

Overwrites aircube_tray.ico as a multi-size Windows ICO (16, 24, 32, 48, 64, 128, 256 px).

---

Files

File	What it is
aircube_tray.py	The app (PyQt6, tray icon, popup charts, serial I/O)
aircube_tray.ico	Multi-size app icon (output of generate_tray_icon.py)
generate_tray_icon.py	Pillow-based icon generator
AirCubeTray.spec	PyInstaller spec (bundles icon, sets exe icon)
build_tray.py	Builds dist/AirCubeTray.exe via PyInstaller
build_installer.py	One-shot: .exe + Inno Setup installer
installer.iss	Inno Setup script (install/uninstall, shortcuts, Run key cleanup)
requirements.txt	Runtime deps (PyQt6, pyserial, matplotlib) + optional Pillow for icon gen
releases/	Versioned release artifacts (gitignored)

---

How auto-detect works

• VID/PID match — The AirCube is an ESP32-H2 with USB-C wired directly to the chip, so on Windows it enumerates as the built-in USB Serial/JTAG: VID 0x303A, PID 0x1001.
• Description fallback — If a weird driver is installed, the app also looks for "USB JTAG/serial debug unit" or "Espressif" in the port description.
• Startup — Uses the last saved port if it's still plugged in; otherwise auto-detects silently.
• Hotplug — A QTimer polls every 2 seconds and connects the moment an AirCube is plugged in.
• Settings dialog — AirCube ports are starred (★) and sorted to the top so they're obvious if you need to pick manually.

---

License

See LICENSE.