Sheet S — Support
Answers, in descending order of how often they are needed
The questions first, then the full setup guide — tokens, scopes, sounds, plugins and the settings JSON, which is what you were really looking for.
S-01 — Frequently asked, allegedly
Which providers does it support?
Azure DevOps and GitHub, together in one list. Pull requests and builds from both, one tray icon summarising all of it. New providers plug in behind a single seam, so more can follow.
Does it work with on-prem Azure DevOps Server?
Point the connection at your server URL instead of dev.azure.com. If the REST API answers and your token can reach it, Greenlight can watch it.
Where do my tokens go?
Windows Credential Manager, DPAPI-encrypted per user, keyed by connection. Not in settings.json, not in a log, not on a server of ours — there is no server of ours.
Is there telemetry?
No. Greenlight talks to your remotes and to the update feed. That is the entire list.
Mac or Linux?
Not today. The tray behaviour and credential storage are Windows-specific. The UI framework is cross-platform, so this is a someday rather than a never.
How does it update?
Quietly, in the background, on the stable channel. You will not be interrupted to approve it.
Can I watch a pipeline without watching the whole project?
Yes. Scopes are per connection and go down to individual repos and pipeline definitions. That granularity is the difference between a useful light and a broken one.
Do I need the physical stoplight?
No. It is an optional plugin for people who want their build status visible from across the room. The tray icon does the same job with less soldering.
Is there a course for the stoplight build?
Planned. A short video series covering parts, relays, the bridge and the plugin folder — with the mistakes left in. It will appear on the lamp page when it exists.
Does it fix the build?
No. It reports the failure quickly and in a tasteful enamel red. The fixing part remains, tragically, yours.
Why is it free?
While it is in beta, it is free. That will not last — a beta ends, and this one ends with a price on it. It will be an affordable price: it is a tray icon, and we know it. Nothing you install today stops working when that happens.
Is this a Microsoft or GitHub product?
No, and neither company has been consulted about the name. Greenlight is made by Meddling Idiot Software, LLC.
S-02 — Setup guide
From installed to informed, in the order it happens
Short version: token, scope, done. The rest is for when short versions stop working — which is usually about four minutes in.
S-02 — Step 1
Get a token
Greenlight reads. It never writes, merges, approves or cancels anything, so keep the scopes small — future you, reading an incident report, will appreciate it.
Azure DevOps
User settings → Personal access tokens → New token. Scopes: Code (read), Build (read), Identity / Profile (read). That last one is how Greenlight knows which PRs are yours.
GitHub
Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens. Fine-grained: Pull requests (read) and Actions (read) on the repositories you watch. Classic: repo. Actions is the one people miss — without it the builds list stays empty and the API returns no error to say why.
On-prem
Point the connection at your Azure DevOps Server URL instead of dev.azure.com. If the REST API answers and the token can reach it, Greenlight can watch it.
S-02 — Step 2
Add a connection
Open the window from the tray, go to Settings, add a connection. Paste your organisation URL (https://dev.azure.com/yourorg or your on-prem server URL) or your GitHub owner name, then the token. Hit Test, then Save.
Greenlight then discovers the projects and repositories your token can see. Add as many connections as you like; they all feed one list and one tray icon. This is the part where people paste the token into the URL field. It is fine. Everyone does it once.
S-02 — Step 3
Choose what to watch
Expand a connection's scopes and tick the projects, repos and pipelines that matter. Watching everything is possible and is a mistake — the light only means something if the things behind it do.
- Scopes go down to a single pipeline definition.
- Polling interval: sixty seconds is a sane start.
- Build retention: a week of history is plenty of evidence.
- A saved connection with nothing ticked watches nothing, faithfully.
S-02 — Step 4
Notifications and sounds
Each event is a separate switch. Defaults are on for the things that need you, and off for the things that would train you to ignore toasts entirely.
A PR is assigned to you for review
on
A PR you authored was approved
on
Changes were requested on your PR
on
A build failed on a watched pipeline
on
A build recovered
on
A build succeeded with no prior failure
off
A new PR appeared in a watched repo
off
Build events can also play a .wav of your choosing. Choose responsibly, or do not.
S-02 — Step 5
Lamp plugins
Drop a plugin assembly into the plugins folder and restart. Loaded lamps show up under Settings → Build Indicator Lamps, where each one can be restarted if it loses its hardware.
The K8055 stoplight and its 32-bit bridge are covered on the lamp page, along with the planned video course.
%AppData%\DevWatch\plugins\YourLamp.dll %AppData%\DevWatch\plugins\plugin.log
S-02 — Step 6
Where settings live
Everything is per user under %AppData%\DevWatch\. Tokens are not in there — they live in Windows Credential Manager, DPAPI-encrypted, keyed by connection.
{
"connections": [
{ "organizationUrl": "https://dev.azure.com/myorg", "authMethod": "Pat" }
],
"polling": { "intervalSeconds": 60, "buildRetentionDays": 7 },
"notifications": {
"prAssignedToMe": true,
"prApproved": true,
"prChangesRequested": true,
"buildFailed": true,
"buildRecovered": true,
"buildSucceeded": false,
"newPrInWatchedRepo": false
},
"ui": { "startMinimized": true, "startWithWindows": true, "theme": "System" }
}S-02 — Step 7
When the icon goes grey
Grey means it knows nothing
Disconnected, still loading, or no watched item has reported yet. Open Settings and re-test the connection; an expired PAT is the usual culprit.
Nothing after connecting
Check the scopes. On GitHub, a fine-grained token missing Actions (read) shows pull requests but no builds at all — the API answers with an empty list rather than an error, so nothing looks broken. Also confirm the token can see the project: Greenlight only discovers what the token is allowed to discover.
The lamp stopped responding
Restart the lamp from Settings → Build Indicator Lamps, then read plugin.log. USB boards lose connections; the bridge re-acquires the board rather than holding it open.
Two windows, or none
Greenlight is single-instance and launches minimised. If you cannot find it, look in the tray before launching it four more times.
S-03 — Before you report anything
Two things to bring
01
Your version
It is in the window title. Yes, that one.
02
plugin.log
Only if a lamp is involved. It lives beside the plugin DLL.
03
The two states
What the tray icon was showing, and what you expected instead.
Feature requests: boards, work items and in-app code review are deliberately out of scope. Anything that makes the light more honest is fair game. Back to the setup guide ↑
Named for what happens to working software.
Someone got curious. It is fine. It is going to be fine.
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