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mastalink edited this page Oct 9, 2026 · 1 revision

Desktop Manager, Installer & System Tray

Goal

Install, launch, operate, update, and troubleshoot the native BitCadence Windows Desktop Manager (scripts/desktop.pyw), system tray icon, one-click installer, and background process supervisor without keeping raw terminal windows open.

Architecture Overview

BitCadence provides a window-free, supervisor-managed desktop experience on Windows. It bridges command-line daemons and the browser Control Panel into a single executable workflow:

                               +-------------------------------------+
                               |           Desktop Shortcut          |
                               |          ("BitCadence.lnk")         |
                               +-------------------------------------+
                                                  |
                                                  v
                               +-------------------------------------+
                               |            pythonw.exe              |
                               |      (Subsystem: Windows GUI)       |
                               |    No black CMD console window!     |
                               +-------------------------------------+
                                                  |
                                                  v
                               +-------------------------------------+
                               |        scripts/desktop.pyw          |
                               |    --start-all    --minimized       |
                               +-------------------------------------+
                                                  |
                         +------------------------+------------------------+
                         |                                                 |
                         v                                                 v
           +---------------------------+                     +---------------------------+
           |     Tkinter Control UI    |                     |     Pystray Notification  |
           |     ("Local Control")     |                     |     System Tray Icon      |
           +---------------------------+                     +---------------------------+
                         |                                                 |
                         +------------------------+------------------------+
                                                  |
                                                  v
                               +-------------------------------------+
                               |      StackSupervisor Controller     |
                               |    Windows Job Object Isolation     |
                               +-------------------------------------+
                                     |            |            |
                    +----------------+            |            +----------------+
                    |                             |                             |
                    v                             v                             v
           +------------------+          +------------------+          +------------------+
           |  Gateway Server  |          | Scheduler Daemon |          |  Worker Wakers   |
           |    mco serve     |          | mco schedule run |          |  (fleet.toml)    |
           +------------------+          +------------------+          +------------------+

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Installation: One-Click Installer & Desktop Shortcut

BitCadence offers two installation methods on Windows:

Method A: The One-Click Installer (install.bat / scripts/install.ps1)

For new users and end-user workstations:

  1. Double-click install.bat in the repository root (or run powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\install.ps1).
  2. The installer automatically:
    • Locates or downloads Python 3.9+.
    • Creates a private virtual environment (.venv).
    • Generates a local access token (mco_tok_...) and configuration (~/.mco/.env).
    • Adds mco to your User PATH (%LOCALAPPDATA%\BitCadence\bin).
    • Creates a BitCadence shortcut on your Desktop pointing to the launcher.

Method B: Desktop Component Setup (scripts/install_desktop.ps1)

For existing source checkouts or developers:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\install_desktop.ps1 -Python .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe

This script:

  1. Installs desktop UI dependencies (pystray, Pillow) into .codex/desktopdeps.
  2. Generates the official multi-resolution icon (.codex/bitcadence.ico).
  3. Verifies that pythonw.exe exists in your Python directory.
  4. Generates standard Windows shortcuts (BitCadence.lnk) in both your Desktop and Start Menu Programs folders pointing to: 
    Target: <path-to>\pythonw.exe "<repo-root>\scripts\desktop.pyw"
Start In: <repo-root>

2. First Launch & Guided Startup

Double-click the BitCadence icon on your Desktop or Start menu.

BitCadence Desktop Control Window

What Happens on First Launch:

  1. Window-Free Launch: Launched via pythonw.exe, so no black command prompt window flashes or remains on your screen.
  2. Single-Instance Guard: If BitCadence is already running, launching the shortcut again does not start a duplicate server. Instead, it signals the existing instance via ~/.mco/desktop/show-window and brings the existing window to the front.
  3. Automatic Component Discovery: The app inspects your system to identify running gateways, schedulers, and workers.
  4. Clicking "Start All":
    • Starts the Gateway API server (http://127.0.0.1:18789).
    • Waits for the /readyz health probe to pass (up to 30 seconds).
    • Starts the background Scheduler daemon.
    • Starts all configured workers in ~/.mco/fleet.toml whose mode is set to waker or poll.

3. What Starts Automatically

When you click Start all (or launch with --start-all), the supervisor starts the complete local stack in strict topological order:

Component Command Invoked Purpose
Gateway Server python.exe -m mco.cli serve --host 127.0.0.1 --port 18789 Local API server, SQLite database interface, SSE event bus, and Web Console backend.
Scheduler python.exe -m mco.cli schedule run Evaluates cron loops and interval automation declared in ~/.mco/schedules.yaml.
Fleet Workers Commands configured in ~/.mco/fleet.toml Starts event wakers or polling processes for each active agent (e.g., codex-beast, claude-cio).

Process Guard (Windows Job Object): All child processes spawned by the supervisor are attached to a Windows Job Object configured with JOB_OBJECT_LIMIT_KILL_ON_JOB_CLOSE. If the desktop supervisor terminates unexpectedly or crashes, the Windows kernel automatically terminates all child worker processes, preventing orphaned background zombies.

4. System Tray & Minimized Behavior

The Desktop Manager integrates with the Windows Notification Area (System Tray):

  • Minimizing to Tray on Close (X): Clicking the X button in the window title bar does not terminate BitCadence. It withdraws the window into the notification tray, keeping all background agents and the gateway running uninterrupted.
  • Starting Minimized at Boot: Running with the --minimized flag starts the application directly in the notification tray without ever flashing a GUI window: 
    pythonw.exe scripts\desktop.pyw --start-all --minimized
  • System Tray Context Menu: Right-clicking the BitCadence tray icon provides:
    • Open BitCadence: Restores the main Control window.
    • Start all: Starts all configured stack components.
    • Stop all: Gracefully stops workers, scheduler, and gateway.
    • Open console: Launches your default web browser directly to http://127.0.0.1:18789/console.
    • Exit: Gracefully terminates all supervisor-owned child processes and exits the application completely.

5. Configuring Autostart on Sign-in

To have BitCadence automatically start in the tray whenever you log in to Windows:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\desktop_autostart.ps1 -Pythonw "C:\path\to\.venv\Scripts\pythonw.exe"

This places a shortcut in %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup configured with --start-all --minimized.

To remove autostart:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\desktop_autostart.ps1 -Remove

6. Where the Logs Live

BitCadence organizes logs cleanly on disk:

Log File Path What It Contains
Desktop Supervisor ~/.mco/desktop/logs/desktop.log Supervisor lifecycle events, start/stop requests, and process health checks.
Component Logs ~/.mco/desktop/logs/<component>.log Combined stdout/stderr for each individual managed component (gateway.log, scheduler.log, <instance>.log).
Standalone Gateway ~/.mco/logs/gateway.log Gateway server logs when run outside the desktop supervisor.
Individual Agent Logs ~/.mco/logs/<instance>.log Output generated by worker CLI executors.

Filtering Logs in the GUI:

In the Desktop Control window:

  1. Click any row in the Component table (e.g., gateway or claude-cio).
  2. The bottom log viewer instantly filters to show the last 100 lines of output for that selected component.
  3. Deselecting rows returns to the unified log stream.

7. Updating BitCadence

Updating Source Installations:

The setup script includes automated upstream update checks:

  1. Open PowerShell in the BitCadence directory: 
    git pull --ff-only origin main
  2. In the Desktop Control window, click Reload settings to pick up configuration changes, or click Restart all to restart services with updated code.

Updating Package Installations:

If installed via pip:

pip install --upgrade "bitcadence[desktop]"

8. Uninstalling

To cleanly remove BitCadence from your computer:

  1. Exit the Desktop Manager: Right-click the system tray icon and select Exit (or run python -m mco.desktop.app --quit).
  2. Remove Autostart: 
    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\desktop_autostart.ps1 -Remove
  3. Remove Shortcuts: Delete BitCadence.lnk from your Desktop and Start Menu Programs folders.
  4. Clean up Configuration & Logs: Delete the ~/.mco directory (Remove-Item -Recurse ~/.mco).
  5. Delete Repository / Environment: Delete the BitCadence installation folder.

Operating System Compatibility: Linux & macOS Status

Platform Desktop Manager GUI (desktop.pyw) Background Service Deployment Browser Web Console
Windows 10/11 Full Support (Native Tkinter + Pystray + Job Objects) Task Scheduler (schtasks) Supported
Linux (Ubuntu/Debian/RHEL) Not Supported (CLI returns error) Native systemd user units Supported
macOS (Apple Silicon & Intel) Not Supported (CLI returns error) Native launchd user plists Supported

Linux Alternative:

On Linux, the Desktop GUI is deliberately disabled (if os.name != "nt": raise SystemExit("The desktop manager currently supports Windows.")). Instead, Linux operators use native systemd user units:

mco service install
systemctl --user enable --now bitcadence-gateway
systemctl --user enable --now bitcadence-scheduler

Access the UI via browser at http://127.0.0.1:18789/console.

macOS Alternative:

On macOS, background persistence is managed via native launchd:

mco service install
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.bitcadence.gateway.plist

Access the UI via browser at http://127.0.0.1:18789/console.

If It Goes Wrong

1. "SupervisorAlreadyRunning" Error on Startup

  • Cause: Another instance of desktop.pyw is already running or held open in the system tray.
  • Fix: Check your system tray (notification area overflow arrow). If present, right-click and choose Open BitCadence. If stuck, terminate lingering Python processes: 
    python -m mco.desktop.app --quit

2. "Pillow or pystray not found"

  • Cause: Python environment was installed without desktop dependencies.
  • Fix: Run the dependency installer: 
    powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File scripts\install_desktop.ps1

3. "Gateway failed readiness probe"

  • Cause: Port 18789 is occupied by an orphaned process or external server.
  • Fix: Check what process is listening on port 18789: 
    Get-NetTCPConnection -LocalPort 18789 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object OwningProcess
    Terminate the lingering process or change the port in Desktop settings.

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