Pull requests, one click away

GHWatcher keeps your GitHub pull requests in the Mac menu bar or the Windows notification area: the ones you wrote, the ones waiting for your review, their CI down to the step that is running, and a notification the moment something needs you. No browser tab to keep open.

Mac App Store — coming soonMicrosoft Store — coming soonHow it works

MacmacOS 15 or later · Apple silicon and Intel · in the menu bar

WindowsWindows 10 or 11, 64-bit · in the notification area

On the Mac

The menu bar panel: pull requests grouped by repository, each with a check progress bar and review state — Every open pull request you wrote, grouped by repository, with its checks, review state and conflicts. The icon's dot turns red when something of yours fails.

A pull request opened: its summary, then GitHub Actions runs expanded into jobs and steps with durations — Open a pull request to see what it is about and how big it is, and its Actions runs unfold into jobs and steps with live durations.

The overview dashboard: counts of open, failing, running and passing PRs, what needs attention, and reviews waiting — One dashboard for what needs you: failing checks, requested changes, running CI and the reviews waiting on you.

Notifications for CI passing, a review request and requested changes beside the menu panel in light mode — Told when it matters: CI finished, approved, changes requested, or a new review request. Each kind can be switched off.

On Windows

The Windows panel above the notification area: failing and passing pills, My PRs and Review tabs, cards with check progress — Click the icon in the notification area: your pull requests with their checks at a glance. The icon's dot follows your CI, in light or dark taskbars.

The Windows overview: counts of open, failing, running and passing pull requests, what needs attention, repositories and reviews waiting — The same dashboard on Windows, in the window style of Windows 11.

How it works

Lives in the corner of the screen. In the Mac menu bar (no Dock icon) or the Windows notification area. Click the icon for the panel; open the dashboard when you want more room.
Two lists. My PRs — open pull requests you authored — and Review — open pull requests that request your review.
Checks, all the way down. GitHub Actions runs unfold into jobs and steps; other check runs and commit statuses are listed beside them.
A summary of each pull request. Its description and the size of the change — files, lines added and removed, commits, and how long it has been open.
Notifications. When CI finishes on your pull request, when it is approved or changes are requested, and when someone asks for your review.
Refreshes on its own every 30 seconds to 5 minutes, respecting GitHub's rate limits. It can start when you sign in.

Connecting your GitHub account

GHWatcher reads your pull requests with a personal access token that you create on GitHub and paste into its Settings. The token is stored in your Mac's Keychain or in Windows Credential Manager, and sent only to GitHub's API.

On GitHub, open Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained tokens → Generate new token.
Choose the resource owner whose repositories you want to watch, and under Repository access pick all repositories or the ones you care about.
Under Repository permissions, set Pull requests, Actions, Commit statuses and Contents to Read-only. (Metadata is added automatically.) Contents is what lets GitHub show a private repository’s commits and their checks; nothing needs write access.
Generate the token, copy it, and paste it into GHWatcher → Settings → GitHub token, then save it.

Fine-grained tokens and private repositories. GitHub does not let fine-grained tokens read a private repository’s check runs, so GHWatcher reads its GitHub Actions runs instead (that is what Actions: Read-only is for) and shows their jobs and steps in full. Checks from outside GitHub Actions — a third-party check app, for instance — stay hidden, and GHWatcher names the pull requests where that happens. A fine-grained token also sees the repositories of one owner only — you, or one organization. A classic token with the repo scope has neither limit.

What it does not do

No account with us, no server of ours, no analytics. GHWatcher talks only to GitHub
It never writes to GitHub — it reads, and opens pull requests in your browser when you want to act
It does not keep a copy of your code or pull request data; it holds what it shows in memory
github.com only for now — not GitHub Enterprise Server — and one account at a time

On the Mac: one payment, no subscription. GHWatcher is an independent app and is not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub, Inc.