System tray + MCP server

The desktop app installs a system-tray (macOS menu-bar / Windows / Linux tray) entry with the brand # template image. The tray is a real surface for the bundled Model Context Protocol (MCP) server — start / stop, see status, and one-click install for AI clients.

Tray menu

Row	Behavior
● MCP server: running / ○ MCP server: stopped / ● MCP server: error — <msg>	Disabled status row at the top. Color dot reflects state.
Start MCP	Forks out/mcp/server.js as a child process with MID_TRAY_MANAGED=1. Disabled while running.
Stop MCP	Kills the child process. Disabled while stopped.
Install MCP for Claude Code…	Writes the mark-it-down server entry into ~/.claude.json#mcpServers.
Install MCP for Cursor…	Writes the same entry into ~/.cursor/mcp.json#mcpServers.
Show window / Hide window	Toggles mainWindow visibility.
Quit Mark It Down	app.quit().

Lifecycle

startMCP() runs automatically once the app is ready (so the tray reflects "running" the moment the user opens it). stopMCP() runs on before-quit to keep the process tree clean. Crashes or non-zero exits flip the status to error and surface the message in the tray label.

Install — what it actually writes

For both clients the format is the standard MCP-server stanza. Example written into ~/.claude.json:

The script path resolves at install time via resolveMCPServerScript() so the recorded path is absolute and survives the working directory. Restart the AI client (Claude Code / Cursor) for the new server to be picked up.

If ~/.claude.json already has other mcpServers, the install is non-destructive — it merges the new entry and rewrites the file with two-space indentation.

Tray icon

media/brand/iconTemplate.png (and the @2x / @3x densities) generated in #80 by scripts/build-icons.mjs. On macOS the icon is marked as a template image (setTemplateImage(true)), so the OS recolors it to match the active menu bar (white in dark mode, black in light, blue-tinted when the menu is open).

If the template PNGs aren't found (e.g. fresh checkout without npm run build:icons), the tray falls back to the colored 16-px brand asset.

Files

• apps/electron/main.ts — buildTray, rebuildTrayMenu, startMCP, stopMCP, installMCPFor, resolveMCPServerScript, setMCPStatus. Tray + MCP wired in app.whenReady() and app.on('before-quit', …).

Verifying

1. npm run dev:electron — tray icon shows in menu bar / tray.
2. Open the menu — status row shows ● MCP server: running immediately.
3. Click Stop MCP — status flips to ○ stopped; Start MCP is enabled.
4. Click Install MCP for Claude Code… — confirmation dialog cites the path written; open the file and confirm mcpServers.mark-it-down is there with absolute args path.
5. Quit the app — out/mcp/server.js process is gone (pgrep -f mcp/server.js should return empty).