SyncthingTray

A lightweight system tray manager for Syncthing on Windows, built with C# (.NET 8 WinForms).

Screenshots

Tray Menu	Settings	Taskbar

Features

• Launches Syncthing hidden (no console window)
• Tray icon shows running state (sync/pause icons) with dark-themed context menu
• Start, stop, and restart Syncthing from the tray menu
• Pause/resume syncing via menu or middle-click
• Open the Syncthing Web UI with a double-click
• Synced Folders submenu — open any synced folder in Explorer
• Device connect/disconnect notifications
• File conflict (pull error) detection
• Network auto-pause on public networks (WMI-based)
• Auto-update check for Syncthing (daily, rate-limited)
• Dark-themed Settings GUI with discovery toggles
• Config check utility (validates exe, process, API, discovery)
• Help window with usage guide
• Graceful shutdown via Syncthing REST API with process kill fallback
• Crash detection with audible alert when Syncthing exits unexpectedly
• Run at Windows startup (shortcut in Startup folder)
• Portable mode — auto-detected on removable drives (disables startup shortcut)
• First-run wizard — auto-opens Settings when no config exists
• Overclick safeguard — cooldown on rapid Start/Stop/Restart/Pause actions
• Single-instance enforcement — kills previous instances on launch
• Tray icon recovery after Explorer restarts

Download

Grab the latest from the Releases page:

• SyncthingTray.exe — self-contained, no .NET runtime needed (~147 MB)

Alternative install methods (coming soon)

# Scoop
scoop bucket add extras
scoop install syncthingtray

# WinGet
winget install itsnateai.SyncthingTray

Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Syncthing — download syncthing-windows-amd64-*.zip and extract syncthing.exe

Note: This is a lightweight alternative to Syncthing Tray (Qt-based, ~80 MB). SyncthingTray focuses on simplicity — just tray management, no built-in file browser or embedded web view.

Setup

1. Download SyncthingTray.exe from Releases
2. Download Syncthing and extract syncthing.exe to the same folder
3. Run SyncthingTray.exe — Syncthing starts automatically in the background
4. Right-click the tray icon > Settings to enter your API key

Configuration

Right-click the tray icon and select Settings to configure:

• Double-click action — configurable: Open Web UI, Force Rescan, Pause/Resume, or Do Nothing
• Middle-click action — configurable: same options as double-click
• Run on startup — creates/removes a Windows Startup shortcut
• Start browser — open the Web UI when Syncthing launches
• Sound notifications — play sounds on device connect/disconnect, file errors, unexpected stop
• Auto-pause on public networks — pause syncing on public Wi-Fi
• Startup delay — wait N seconds before launching Syncthing
• Syncthing path — custom path to syncthing.exe
• Web UI URL — custom Syncthing Web UI address
• API Key — required for pause/resume, status polling, and graceful shutdown. Find it in the Syncthing Web UI under Actions > Settings > API Key.
• Discovery — toggle Global Discovery, Local Discovery, and NAT Traversal
• Auto-update — check for Syncthing updates daily

Settings are saved to SyncthingTray.ini in the application directory.

Building from Source

Requires .NET 8 SDK.

dotnet build -c Release
dotnet test

Publish as single-file .exe

dotnet publish SyncthingTray/SyncthingTray.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true

Output: SyncthingTray/bin/Release/net8.0-windows/win-x64/publish/SyncthingTray.exe

License

MIT