Glint documentation
Glint is a lightweight, painter-rendered system monitor built for the developer’s personal Windows PC. Its frameless desktop HUD displays CPU, memory, and up to two disks without using HTML, Electron, or a web engine.
Maintenance mode: Glint is not in active feature development. The developer no longer uses Windows, and meaningful continuation would require a proper cross-platform redesign. That work is not currently planned.
Version 0.1.0 should be treated as a Windows 10-or-newer source project. Linux support is not implemented or tested: the runtime imports Windows WMI, the tray uses Windows startup APIs, and the Linux-specific HUD module is empty.
Current features
- A translucent 260 × 260 pixel Qt HUD drawn directly with
QPainter. - CPU and RAM percentages refreshed once per second.
- Usage bars for the first two detected disks.
- Green, yellow, and red bars at 50% and 80% boundaries.
- Left-drag repositioning.
- A system tray icon with show-on-double-click, startup, and exit actions.
- Optional CPU temperature data through WMI or OpenHardwareMonitor-compatible integration when the required runtime pieces are available.
Temperature values are collected but are not currently drawn by the HUD. GPU temperature and network counters are likewise not displayed.
Run from source
Glint requires Python 3.10 or newer on Windows.
git clone https://github.com/ZFordDev/Glint.git
cd Glint
py -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install --upgrade pip
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py
The committed requirements install PyQt6, psutil, WMI, and pywin32. Optional OpenHardwareMonitor temperature integration additionally expects its .NET assembly and Python/.NET bridge; Glint continues without those readings if they are unavailable.
The repository’s pyproject.toml declares glasshud package names and console
commands, while the current code lives under src and is launched by
main.py. Use the source command above unless the packaging metadata is fixed
and a release explicitly documents another entry point.
Controls
| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Left-click and drag | Move the HUD. |
| Right-click the HUD | Open the current one-item menu containing Exit. |
| Double-click the tray icon | Show and raise the HUD. |
| Toggle Run on Startup in the tray | Add or remove the Windows startup shortcut. |
| Choose Exit from the tray | Hide the tray icon and quit the application. |
Closing only the HUD may leave the tray process running because the application is configured not to quit when its last window closes. Use the tray Exit action to end the process reliably.
Known limitations
- Windows is the only supported and CI-tested operating system.
- Sensor availability depends on hardware and Windows exposing suitable data.
- Only the first two detected disks are shown.
- There is no settings panel, plugin system, compact mode, or multi-monitor positioning system.
- The dedicated updater is incomplete and must not be used as a supported update path.
- No packaged installer or current binary release is documented.
See maintenance and technical notes for the repository structure, packaging gaps, and requirements for any future revival.
Glint is available under the MIT licence.