Server Start

A lightweight Windows system tray app for managing dev servers across multiple projects. Start, stop, and restart things like npm run dev, cargo tauri dev, or any command — all from your task tray.

Features

• Tray menu with per-server Start / Stop / Restart controls
• Output modes — terminal (PowerShell windows with logs), logfile (hidden + log file), or hidden (no output)
• Mode toggle — switch any server's output mode on the fly from the tray menu
• Server groups — group related servers (e.g., frontend + backend) and start/stop/restart them together
• Bulk actions — Start All, Stop All, Restart All
• Start with Windows — tray checkbox that registers the app to launch automatically at user logon
• Restart Terminals — kills all PowerShell/pwsh/Windows Terminal sessions and opens a fresh one (asks for confirmation first)
• Hot-reload config — edit your config and reload without restarting the app (running servers with unchanged config stay running)
• Open Config — jump straight to your config file from the tray menu
• Error dialogs — config errors and server failures show Windows message boxes (no silent failures)
• Crash detection — automatically detects when a server exits and updates the menu status
• Zero runtime dependencies — single .exe, no Node/Python/etc. required

Install

cargo install --path .

Or build manually:

cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/server-start.exe. Drop it wherever you like — once it's running, the tray menu has a Start with Windows checkbox that handles launching it at logon for you (see Start with Windows below).

Configuration

On first run, a sample config is created at:

%APPDATA%/server-start/config.toml

Add your dev servers:

# Global output mode (optional, defaults to "terminal")
# output = "terminal"

[[server]]
name = "Frontend"
dir = "C:/dev/my-app"
cmd = "npm run dev"

[[server]]
name = "Backend API"
dir = "C:/dev/my-api"
cmd = "cargo run"
output = "logfile"   # override: logs to %APPDATA%/server-start/logs/Backend_API.log

[[server]]
name = "Tauri Dev"
dir = "C:/dev/my-app"
cmd = "cargo tauri dev"
env = { RUST_LOG = "debug" }

Each [[server]] block defines one process:

Field	Required	Description
name	yes	Display name in the tray menu
dir	yes	Working directory for the command
cmd	yes	The command to run
env	no	Extra environment variables to set
output	no	"terminal", "logfile", or "hidden" (overrides global)

Groups

Group related servers to start/stop/restart them together without affecting all servers:

[[group]]
name = "Reader"
servers = ["Reader Frontend", "Reader Backend"]

[[group]]
name = "Auth Stack"
servers = ["Auth API", "Redis"]

Each [[group]] block defines a named collection:

Field	Required	Description
name	yes	Display name in the tray menu
servers	yes	List of server names (must match name in [[server]] blocks)

Groups appear in the tray menu between individual servers and the bulk actions. Each group shows a running count (e.g., Reader [1/2]) and has Start Group, Stop Group, and Restart Group actions.

Output Modes

Mode	Behavior
terminal	Opens a PowerShell window per server with the server name as the title. Logs are visible. This is the default.
logfile	Server runs hidden. Output is written to %APPDATA%/server-start/logs/<name>.log. A "View Log" option appears in the server's tray submenu.
hidden	Server runs hidden with no output captured. Use for servers where you don't need logs.

Set a global default with output = "terminal" at the top of your config, and override per-server with the output field inside a [[server]] block. You can also switch modes on the fly from each server's tray submenu — no config editing needed.

Usage

Right-click the tray icon to see your servers and controls:

• Each server has a submenu with Start, Stop, Restart, and Mode (Terminal/Logfile/Hidden)
• Logfile-mode servers also have a View Log option
• Status shows as [running] or [stopped] (auto-detects crashes)
• Groups show running count and have Start/Stop/Restart Group actions
• Start/Stop/Restart All Servers for bulk control
• Restart Terminals to kill and reopen all terminal windows (shows confirmation first — this kills all open terminals, not just ones managed by the app)
• Start with Windows checkbox toggles whether the app launches at user logon (see below)
• Open Config to edit your server list
• Reload Config to pick up changes without restarting
• Quit asks whether to stop running servers or leave them running

Start with Windows

Toggling the Start with Windows checkbox in the tray menu writes (or removes) a value at:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\ServerStart

When set, Windows launches server-start.exe automatically at user logon. The value points at the exe you're currently running, so if you move the binary, toggle it off and back on to update the path.

The registry is the single source of truth — there's no shadow state in config.toml. If you toggle the entry externally (Task Manager > Startup, or regedit), the tray menu reflects the current state the next time you open it.

Servers themselves do not auto-start on launch; the app comes up with everything stopped, same as a normal launch.

Note: Stopping/restarting a server kills its entire process tree. If you're running Claude or another tool inside a terminal that a configured server spawned, it will be killed when that server is stopped.

Built With

Rust, using tray-icon and winit.