A Windows background program that reports how long since a human last touched the PC, and tells their input apart from simulated and unexplained input.
One command downloads the latest release and installs it for your user. It does not start the server or
register it to start at login; see After installing.
Windows only — releases are built for win-x64.
irm https://idle.bat.nz | iexRunning it again on an installed PC upgrades in place: a running server is stopped, the executable replaced and that server started again. Configuration and logs are left alone.
idle-server install # start it at login
idle-server start # start it nowidle-server uninstall removes the start-at-login entry again.
| Location | Notes |
|---|---|
%LOCALAPPDATA%\idle-server |
Per-user, no admin. The folder is added to your user PATH, so idle-server runs by name in new shells (including WSL).config.json, state.json and logs\ live beside the executable.= C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Local\idle-server |
Set these as environment variables before running the one-liner.
| Variable | Default | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
IDLE_SERVER_VERSION | the latest release | release to install, e.g. 0.1.0 |
IDLE_SERVER_BINDIR | see Where it installs | install directory |
# pin a version
$env:IDLE_SERVER_VERSION='0.1.0'; irm https://idle.bat.nz | iex
# install elsewhere
$env:IDLE_SERVER_BINDIR='C:\tools\idle-server'; irm https://idle.bat.nz | iexidle-server install --admin, run from an admin shell, registers a logon task with highest privileges instead, so the server runs as admin at every login and can see input into admin windows. The risk: the default folder is writable without admin rights, so any normal program (including the agents and stray scripts this tool watches) could replace idle-server.exe and gain admin rights at your next login, with no prompt. If you want an admin install, use a protected folder such as C:\Program Files\idle-server (make only config.json writable for your user there; leave logs to the server, since a folder you can write to would let a normal program redirect the admin server's log writes). install --admin warns but still registers.
$env:IDLE_SERVER_BINDIR='C:\Program Files\idle-server'; irm https://idle.bat.nz | iex
& 'C:\Program Files\idle-server\idle-server.exe' install --adminidle-server status # JSON: seconds since physical / simulated / unexplained input
idle-server status --text # short form, e.g. 6m · sim 1s
idle-server log --since 10m # recent input episodes
idle-server start # start the server
idle-server stop # stop the server
idle-server update # replace the executable with the latest releaseExit codes: 0 ok, 1 error, 2 usage, 3 server not running.
WSL does not add .exe for you, so run the Windows executable by its full name:
idle-server.exe status