Greenlight stoplight markGreenlightMeddling Idiot Software

Sheet D — Setup guide

From installed to informed, in the order it happens

Short version: token, scope, done. The rest of this page is for when short versions stop working — which is usually about four minutes in.

On this page

1Tokens2Add a connection3Choose what to watch4Notifications & sounds5Lamp plugins6Where settings live7When it goes grey

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. Grant repo, and add read:org if you want organisation repositories discovered for you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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" }
}

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. 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.

Still not informed?

The support page covers everything people actually ask, in descending order of how often they ask it.

Get the installer

Windows 10 / 11 x64 · installs and updates itself