ElBruno.ClockTray 1.0.0

🕐 ClockTray — Toggle Windows Taskbar Clock

A lightweight Windows system tray application that lets you show or hide the taskbar date/time with a single click or keyboard shortcut.

Features

• System tray icon with right-click context menu
• Show/Hide Date & Time in the Windows taskbar
• Global hotkey: Ctrl+Alt+T to toggle
• Windows 11 23H2+: Instant toggle via WM_SETTINGCHANGE (no Explorer restart)
• Older Windows: Falls back to policy registry key + Explorer restart
• Chinese Lunar Calendar Overlay: Optional floating overlay showing lunar calendar info
• Sexagenary Cycle (干支): Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches year display
• Chinese Zodiac (生肖): Current zodiac animal
• Lunar Date Display: Traditional Chinese month and day names
• 24 Solar Terms (节气): Shows current or upcoming solar term
• CJK Font Support: Auto-detects best available Chinese font
• CLI Commands: Use clocktray show, clocktray hide, and clocktray status to control the clock from scripts and automation

Installation

Install as a .NET Global Tool

dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.ClockTray

After installation, run clocktray from any command prompt to launch the system tray app.

CLI Commands

ClockTray includes command-line commands for automation and scripting:

clocktray show        # Show the taskbar clock
clocktray hide        # Hide the taskbar clock
clocktray status      # Check current visibility state
clocktray --help      # Display help and command list

These commands are useful for presentations, streaming, scripts, and automation. For detailed examples, options, and troubleshooting, see the CLI Reference Guide.

Examples:

# Check if clock is visible
clocktray status

# Hide clock before a presentation
clocktray hide

# Show clock when done
clocktray show

# Use in a script
if clocktray status | findstr "Visible" > nul (
    echo Clock is visible
)

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/elbruno/ElBruno.ClockTray.git
cd ElBruno.ClockTray
dotnet build
dotnet run

Publish as self-contained executable

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained

Chinese Calendar Overlay

ClockTray includes an optional floating overlay that displays Chinese lunar calendar information, inspired by the classic KClock tool. Toggle it from the system tray right-click menu → Show Chinese Calendar.

The overlay shows:

• Current time and Gregorian date
• Sexagenary cycle year (干支) with zodiac animal (生肖)
• Lunar month and day in traditional Chinese numerals
• Chinese day of the week
• Current or upcoming solar term (节气)

For detailed information about the calendar calculations, see Chinese Calendar Documentation.

Requirements

• Windows 10 or 11
• .NET 10 SDK

Usage

1. Run the app — it starts minimized to the system tray (clock icon near the Windows clock)
2. Right-click the tray icon to Show/Hide the taskbar date & time, or Exit
3. Double-click the tray icon to toggle
4. Ctrl+Alt+T anywhere to toggle via global hotkey

Architecture

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

This project could potentially evolve into a PowerToys module. If you're interested in helping make that happen, let's discuss it in the issues.

👋 About the Author

Hi! I'm ElBruno 🧡, a passionate developer and content creator exploring AI, .NET, and modern development practices.

Made with ❤️ by ElBruno

If you like this project, consider following my work across platforms:

• 📻 Podcast: No Tienen Nombre — Spanish-language episodes on AI, development, and tech culture
• 💻 Blog: ElBruno.com — Deep dives on embeddings, RAG, .NET, and local AI
• 📺 YouTube: youtube.com/elbruno — Demos, tutorials, and live coding
• 🔗 LinkedIn: @elbruno — Professional updates and insights
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License

MIT © Bruno Capuano