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Auto Tip Clock

中文

A lightweight Windows desktop clock that auto-hides at the screen edge and pops up at scheduled times for reminders. Supports custom audio, global hotkeys, drag-to-reposition, and works out of the box.

Example

Features

Feature Description
Scheduled Reminders Set any number of reminder times in config.toml (24-hour format)
Audio Alerts Optional WAV, FLAC, or MP3 file per reminder; silent reminders supported
Global Hotkey Show/hide clock with Ctrl+Alt+B (customizable)
Drag to Reposition Drag the popup window anywhere; position is saved automatically
Auto Hide Hides automatically after a configurable duration (default 3s)
Slide Animation Smooth slide-in / slide-out animation
Tray Menu System tray icon - left-click to toggle, right-click for menu
Color Customization Change text and background colors via color picker
Auto Start Optional Windows startup launch
DPI Aware Supports multi-monitor and high-DPI setups
Single Instance Prevents duplicate processes
Multi-language Auto-detects system language (Chinese / English)

Notes

  1. This is free software released under the MIT license.
  2. Time format is HH:MM:SS (24-hour), e.g. 08:00:00. Single digits must be zero-padded.
  3. display_time and [[schedule]] are hot-reloaded and deduplicated at runtime. Changes to hotkey_*, auto_start, and volume require a restart. Change colors, opacity, and window position through the application.
  4. WAV, FLAC, and MP3 files must be in the config.toml directory, and all three may omit the extension. For identical stems, lookup order is WAV → FLAC → MP3; an explicit extension selects that file. Absolute paths and subdirectories are rejected.
  5. The EXE directory is preferred for configuration. If it is not writable, %LOCALAPPDATA%\TipClock\config.toml is used automatically. When configuration is first created, demo.mp3 is extracted into the same directory.
  6. volume controls only Tip Clock's audio stream and never changes the Windows system volume.

Installation

Download tip_clock.exe from the Releases page, place it in any folder, and run it. config.toml and the example audio demo.mp3 are created on first launch.

Build from source

# Requires Rust 1.85+ (edition 2024)
git clone https://github.com/Mikachu2333/tip_clock.git --depth=1
cd tip_clock
cargo build --release

Configuration

Edit config.toml in the active configuration directory. display_time and [[schedule]] hot-reload within about one second; changes to hotkey_*, auto_start, and volume require a restart. Change colors, background opacity, and window position through the application; those values are written back immediately. If the EXE directory is not writable, the active directory is %LOCALAPPDATA%\TipClock.

[general]
# Launch on Windows startup
auto_start = false

# Background color RGB (0-255), opacity (0-100, 0=fully transparent, 100=solid)
bg_r = 255
bg_g = 255
bg_b = 255
bg_opacity = 0

# Text color RGB (0-255)
text_r = 0
text_g = 0
text_b = 0

# Auto-hide after N seconds (1-60)
display_time = 3

# Default volume (0-100)
volume = 80

# Show/hide hotkey
# Modifiers: alt, ctrl, shift, win (use + to combine)
hotkey_mod = "Ctrl+Alt"
hotkey_key = "B"

# Window position (top-left pixel coordinates, -1 = auto)
window_x = -1
window_y = -1

# ── Reminder schedule ─────────────────────────
# Each [[schedule]] block defines one reminder.
#
# time: HH:MM:SS (24-hour)
# audio: optional WAV / FLAC / MP3 file in the config directory

# Audible reminder; omitted extension searches demo.wav, demo.flac, demo.mp3
[[schedule]]
time = "08:00:00"
audio = "demo"

# Silent reminder: omit audio
[[schedule]]
time = "13:42:57"

Audio Configuration

  • audio is optional; omitting it creates a silent visual reminder.
  • WAV, FLAC, and MP3 are supported.
  • Audio files reside beside config.toml.
  • demo.mp3 is extracted when the initial configuration is created.

Multiple Reminders at the Same Time

Entries with the same time form one reminder group. If one timestamp contains a silent entry plus audio = "A" and audio = "B":

  • The clock appears once; the silent entry does not create another popup.
  • A and B are queued in configuration order, not played simultaneously or interrupted.
  • Identical time + audio entries are deduplicated; different audio at the same time is retained.
  • “Skip next reminder group” skips the whole timestamp group. A group missed while paused is not replayed.

Tray Menu

Item Action
Next Show the next group time and audible marker
Show Clock / Hide Clock Toggle clock visibility
Skip next reminder group Skip every reminder at the next timestamp
Pause / Resume Pause or resume all reminders
Edit Config Open config.toml in Notepad
Text Color... Change clock text color
Background Color... Change clock background color
Opacity Adjust background opacity in a numeric field
Restart Restart Tip Clock
Exit Quit the program

Left-click the tray icon = toggle clock Right-click the tray icon = open menu

Hotkeys

Hotkey Action
Ctrl+Alt+B (default) Show / hide clock

Customizable in config.toml. Supported modifiers: alt, ctrl, shift, win. Supported keys: A-Z, 0-9, F1-F12, Space, Enter, Esc, etc.

Project Structure

src/
├── main.rs      — Entry point, tray menu, message loop
├── config.rs    — TOML config parsing, time normalization
├── audio.rs     — External WAV / FLAC / MP3 playback (rodio)
├── gui.rs       — Clock window (GDI+ rendering, DPI aware)
├── hotkey.rs    — Global hotkey (RegisterHotKey)
└── i18n.rs      — Multi-language support (Chinese / English)
res/
├── demo.mp3     — Example audio extracted with the initial config
├── icon_raw     — Tray and application icon (256×256 raw RGBA)
└── icon.afdesign — Editable icon source

License

MIT

Author: Mikachu2333