HASS Tray - Windows Service

A minimal Go application that can run as a Windows service with JSON logging.

Features

• Runs as a Windows service
• JSON logging with debug level
• Logs to current.log in the same directory as the executable
• Heartbeat logging every 5 seconds
• Interactive mode for testing

Requirements

• Go 1.21 or later
• Windows operating system
• Administrator privileges (for service installation)
• Task (taskfile.dev) - modern task runner

Installing Task

Download and install Task from taskfile.dev:

# Using Chocolatey
choco install task

# Using Scoop
scoop install task

# Using winget
winget install Task.Task

# Or download directly from GitHub releases

Building

task build

This will create hass-tray.exe in the current directory.

Installation

task install

This will:

1. Build the application
2. Copy the executable to %APPDATA%\hass-tray\
3. Display instructions for installing as a Windows service

To install as a Windows service (run as Administrator):

task service-install

Or manually:

sc create hass-tray binPath= "%APPDATA%\hass-tray\hass-tray.exe" start= auto
sc description hass-tray "Home Assistant Tray Service"
sc start hass-tray

Uninstallation

task uninstall

This will:

1. Stop and remove the Windows service
2. Delete the executable from the AppData directory
3. Remove the installation directory

Testing

To run the application in interactive mode for testing:

task run

This will run the application directly and show debug output in the console.

Logging

The application logs JSON-formatted messages to current.log in the same directory as the executable. Log entries include:

• Timestamp in RFC3339 format
• Log level (debug)
• Message content
• Service name

Example log entry:

{"timestamp":"2024-01-15T10:30:00Z","level":"debug","message":"Service heartbeat","service":"hass-tray"}

Service Management

Once installed as a service, you can manage it using Task commands:

• Install service: task service-install (requires admin)
• Uninstall service: task service-uninstall (requires admin)
• Start service: task service-start
• Stop service: task service-stop
• Check status: task service-status

Or using standard Windows commands:

• Start: sc start hass-tray
• Stop: sc stop hass-tray
• Status: sc query hass-tray
• Delete: sc delete hass-tray

Available Task Commands

• task build - Build the application
• task install - Build and copy to AppData directory
• task uninstall - Remove service and files
• task clean - Remove build artifacts
• task run - Build and run in interactive mode
• task test - Run tests
• task fmt - Format Go code
• task vet - Vet Go code
• task deps - Download and tidy dependencies
• task service-install - Install as Windows service (requires admin)
• task service-uninstall - Uninstall Windows service (requires admin)
• task service-start - Start the service
• task service-stop - Stop the service
• task service-status - Check service status
• task dev - Complete development workflow
• task - Show all available tasks

Development

The application uses the golang.org/x/sys/windows/svc package for Windows service functionality. The main service logic is in the Execute method of the myservice struct.

When running in interactive mode (not as a service), the application will run the same logic but in the foreground with console output.

Why Task instead of Make?

Task provides several advantages over Make:

• Better Windows support - Native Windows compatibility
• YAML configuration - More readable and maintainable
• Cross-platform - Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Dependencies - Better task dependency management
• Variables - More flexible variable handling
• Parallel execution - Built-in support for parallel task execution
• Silent mode - Better control over output verbosity