CI · Dynotch

While GitHub Actions runs on your branch, the closed notch shows the workflow’s name on the left and how it’s going on the right. When it’s over, a notice says Passed or Failed, with a button that opens the run. The glance also counts the pull requests waiting for your review.

What it needs

GitHub’s gh command, signed in. Dynotch stores no token: it uses your own gh login, and only asks it to read.

brew install gh
gh auth login

Dynotch looks for gh in /opt/homebrew/bin, /usr/local/bin, /opt/local/bin, /usr/bin and /run/current-system/sw/bin. One installed anywhere else isn’t found, and neither is one another account on the Mac could change.

Following a push

In a repository on GitHub:

dynotch ci

It works out the repository, the branch and the head commit from the folder you’re in, and says what it’s watching. HTTPS and SSH remotes both work, and so do SSH host aliases from ~/.ssh/config.

Option	What it does
`--repo OWNER/NAME`	Another repository
`--branch NAME`	Another branch
`--sha SHA`	Another commit. For a branch that isn’t checked out here, it’s the newest run’s commit unless you say
`--stop`	Stops following, without a notice. `--repo` or `--branch` narrows it to those

Outside a repository, or with no remote on GitHub, it says so and exits with 1. So it does if Dynotch isn’t running.

dynotch status lists what’s being followed.

After every push

If you source notify-long-commands.zsh from ~/.zshrc, as in the recipe, each git push that works starts this for you, in the background and without a word, however quick the push was. It sees through wrappers like sudo, aliases, and a push at the end of a line like git commit -m wip && git push. It leaves out dry runs and deletes, and does nothing without gh on your PATH.

To leave it out, add this to ~/.zshrc:

export DYNOTCH_CI_AFTER_PUSH=0

What it shows

The right ear says Queued, Waiting or Running, then how long the run has been going. With several workflows on one push, it says how many are over instead, like 1 of 3. None of it ticks: it changes when Dynotch looks, every 15 seconds on power, 30 on battery and 60 in Low Power Mode. Nothing looks while nobody’s at the Mac, and it catches up when someone is.

The glance shows the workflow, the branch, how long it’s been going and how many runs there are, with Open for the run on GitHub.

How a push ends

A push can start several workflows, and every run for its head commit counts.

What came of the runs	What the notch says
One failed, timed out, couldn’t start or needs an approval	Failed, at once, without waiting for the rest
One was cancelled, and none failed	Cancelled, since it neither passed nor failed
All succeeded, leaving out any skipped or neutral	Passed
All skipped or neutral	Skipped

The notice has Open Run in the glance, and in Recent once it’s gone. During a call it waits, like other notices.

A run takes a few seconds to appear after a push. If none has after two minutes, Dynotch stops without a word, so a repository with no workflows costs nothing.

A new push to the same branch replaces the one being followed, and the older commit’s result goes unsaid. Another branch or repository is followed alongside it, up to four at once. Nothing is remembered if Dynotch quits.

When something’s in the way

What’s wrong	What happens
`gh` isn’t installed	One notice, Needs gh, and it stops
`gh` isn’t signed in	One notice, Signed out, and it stops
`gh` can’t see the repository	One notice, Not found, and it stops following that one
The network or GitHub is down	It keeps trying for a while, then says No answer
A run is still going after six hours	It says Still running, and lets go

Reviews waiting

Once you’ve used dynotch ci, Dynotch also counts the open pull requests waiting for your review, every 15 minutes, 30 on battery and 60 in Low Power Mode. The count is a chip in the glance, 3 reviews, which opens your review requests on GitHub. Dynotch calls gh by itself only once you’ve asked for CI.

Turning it off

Switch off CI runs in Settings›Live Activities. That stops whatever is being followed and the count of reviews, and dynotch ci then says it’s off.

What Dynotch runs

Dynotch may hold Full Disk Access, and a program it starts would hold it too. So all it ever runs for this is gh, from the places above, and never anything a command names. A request can only name a repository, a branch and a commit, and each is checked first. gh gets an environment of its own, with HOME and a fixed PATH, so a GH_TOKEN in your shell doesn’t reach it. Open Run only ever opens https links on github.com.