How to build a SystemTray app for Windows?

You do this using the pywin32 (Python for Windows Extensions) module.

Example Code for Python 2

Similar Question

To make it run at startup you could mess around with services but it's actually much easier to install a link to the exe in the users "Startup Folder".

Windows 7 and Vista

c:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

Windows XP

c:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Start Menu\Programs\Startup

There are (at least) a couple of libraries openly available for this now:

• pystray
• infi.systray

I just started using infi.systray in a project, and it's worked well for me. Here's how little code you need to do something very basic (taken from their docs):

from infi.systray import SysTrayIcondef say_hello(systray):    print("Hello, World!")menu_options = (("Say Hello", None, say_hello),)systray = SysTrayIcon("icon.ico", "Example tray icon", menu_options)systray.start()

I modified the SysTrayIcon.py Python 2 script to work in Python 3

• You need to install pip install pywin32.
• After that you need to run python Scripts/pywin32_postinstall.py -install from your Python directory to register the dlls.
• For the test script to run, you need to have some *.ico files in your working directory - you can find lots of them in your c:\windows* folders (search for file:.ico).
• To hide the program, you can run it via pythonw.exe.
• If you need balloon notifications, have a look at this post: https://stackoverflow.com/a/42085439/2441026 (Plyer package).
• To have a menu with only the Quit button you need to pass menu_options = ((None, None, None),) - (or change the class to not always append menu_options).

#!/usr/bin/env python# Module     : SysTrayIcon.py# Synopsis   : Windows System tray icon.# Programmer : Simon Brunning - simon@brunningonline.net - modified for Python 3# Date       : 13 February 2018# Notes      : Based on (i.e. ripped off from) Mark Hammond's#              win32gui_taskbar.py and win32gui_menu.py demos from PyWin32'''TODOFor now, the demo at the bottom shows how to use it...'''import osimport sysimport win32api         # package pywin32import win32conimport win32gui_structtry:    import winxpgui as win32guiexcept ImportError:    import win32guiclass SysTrayIcon(object):    '''TODO'''    QUIT = 'QUIT'    SPECIAL_ACTIONS = [QUIT]    FIRST_ID = 1023    def __init__(self,                 icon,                 hover_text,                 menu_options,                 on_quit=None,                 default_menu_index=None,                 window_class_name=None,):        self.icon = icon        self.hover_text = hover_text        self.on_quit = on_quit        menu_options = menu_options + (('Quit', None, self.QUIT),)        self._next_action_id = self.FIRST_ID        self.menu_actions_by_id = set()        self.menu_options = self._add_ids_to_menu_options(list(menu_options))        self.menu_actions_by_id = dict(self.menu_actions_by_id)        del self._next_action_id        self.default_menu_index = (default_menu_index or 0)        self.window_class_name = window_class_name or "SysTrayIconPy"        message_map = {win32gui.RegisterWindowMessage("TaskbarCreated"): self.restart,                       win32con.WM_DESTROY: self.destroy,                       win32con.WM_COMMAND: self.command,                       win32con.WM_USER+20 : self.notify,}        # Register the Window class.        window_class = win32gui.WNDCLASS()        hinst = window_class.hInstance = win32gui.GetModuleHandle(None)        window_class.lpszClassName = self.window_class_name        window_class.style = win32con.CS_VREDRAW | win32con.CS_HREDRAW;        window_class.hCursor = win32gui.LoadCursor(0, win32con.IDC_ARROW)        window_class.hbrBackground = win32con.COLOR_WINDOW        window_class.lpfnWndProc = message_map # could also specify a wndproc.        classAtom = win32gui.RegisterClass(window_class)        # Create the Window.        style = win32con.WS_OVERLAPPED | win32con.WS_SYSMENU        self.hwnd = win32gui.CreateWindow(classAtom,                                          self.window_class_name,                                          style,                                          0,                                          0,                                          win32con.CW_USEDEFAULT,                                          win32con.CW_USEDEFAULT,                                          0,                                          0,                                          hinst,                                          None)        win32gui.UpdateWindow(self.hwnd)        self.notify_id = None        self.refresh_icon()        win32gui.PumpMessages()    def _add_ids_to_menu_options(self, menu_options):        result = []        for menu_option in menu_options:            option_text, option_icon, option_action = menu_option            if callable(option_action) or option_action in self.SPECIAL_ACTIONS:                self.menu_actions_by_id.add((self._next_action_id, option_action))                result.append(menu_option + (self._next_action_id,))            elif non_string_iterable(option_action):                result.append((option_text,                               option_icon,                               self._add_ids_to_menu_options(option_action),                               self._next_action_id))            else:                print('Unknown item', option_text, option_icon, option_action)            self._next_action_id += 1        return result    def refresh_icon(self):        # Try and find a custom icon        hinst = win32gui.GetModuleHandle(None)        if os.path.isfile(self.icon):            icon_flags = win32con.LR_LOADFROMFILE | win32con.LR_DEFAULTSIZE            hicon = win32gui.LoadImage(hinst,                                       self.icon,                                       win32con.IMAGE_ICON,                                       0,                                       0,                                       icon_flags)        else:            print("Can't find icon file - using default.")            hicon = win32gui.LoadIcon(0, win32con.IDI_APPLICATION)        if self.notify_id: message = win32gui.NIM_MODIFY        else: message = win32gui.NIM_ADD        self.notify_id = (self.hwnd,                          0,                          win32gui.NIF_ICON | win32gui.NIF_MESSAGE | win32gui.NIF_TIP,                          win32con.WM_USER+20,                          hicon,                          self.hover_text)        win32gui.Shell_NotifyIcon(message, self.notify_id)    def restart(self, hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam):        self.refresh_icon()    def destroy(self, hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam):        if self.on_quit: self.on_quit(self)        nid = (self.hwnd, 0)        win32gui.Shell_NotifyIcon(win32gui.NIM_DELETE, nid)        win32gui.PostQuitMessage(0) # Terminate the app.    def notify(self, hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam):        if lparam==win32con.WM_LBUTTONDBLCLK:            self.execute_menu_option(self.default_menu_index + self.FIRST_ID)        elif lparam==win32con.WM_RBUTTONUP:            self.show_menu()        elif lparam==win32con.WM_LBUTTONUP:            pass        return True    def show_menu(self):        menu = win32gui.CreatePopupMenu()        self.create_menu(menu, self.menu_options)        #win32gui.SetMenuDefaultItem(menu, 1000, 0)        pos = win32gui.GetCursorPos()        # See http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/winui/menus_0hdi.asp        win32gui.SetForegroundWindow(self.hwnd)        win32gui.TrackPopupMenu(menu,                                win32con.TPM_LEFTALIGN,                                pos[0],                                pos[1],                                0,                                self.hwnd,                                None)        win32gui.PostMessage(self.hwnd, win32con.WM_NULL, 0, 0)    def create_menu(self, menu, menu_options):        for option_text, option_icon, option_action, option_id in menu_options[::-1]:            if option_icon:                option_icon = self.prep_menu_icon(option_icon)            if option_id in self.menu_actions_by_id:                                item, extras = win32gui_struct.PackMENUITEMINFO(text=option_text,                                                                hbmpItem=option_icon,                                                                wID=option_id)                win32gui.InsertMenuItem(menu, 0, 1, item)            else:                submenu = win32gui.CreatePopupMenu()                self.create_menu(submenu, option_action)                item, extras = win32gui_struct.PackMENUITEMINFO(text=option_text,                                                                hbmpItem=option_icon,                                                                hSubMenu=submenu)                win32gui.InsertMenuItem(menu, 0, 1, item)    def prep_menu_icon(self, icon):        # First load the icon.        ico_x = win32api.GetSystemMetrics(win32con.SM_CXSMICON)        ico_y = win32api.GetSystemMetrics(win32con.SM_CYSMICON)        hicon = win32gui.LoadImage(0, icon, win32con.IMAGE_ICON, ico_x, ico_y, win32con.LR_LOADFROMFILE)        hdcBitmap = win32gui.CreateCompatibleDC(0)        hdcScreen = win32gui.GetDC(0)        hbm = win32gui.CreateCompatibleBitmap(hdcScreen, ico_x, ico_y)        hbmOld = win32gui.SelectObject(hdcBitmap, hbm)        # Fill the background.        brush = win32gui.GetSysColorBrush(win32con.COLOR_MENU)        win32gui.FillRect(hdcBitmap, (0, 0, 16, 16), brush)        # unclear if brush needs to be feed.  Best clue I can find is:        # "GetSysColorBrush returns a cached brush instead of allocating a new        # one." - implies no DeleteObject        # draw the icon        win32gui.DrawIconEx(hdcBitmap, 0, 0, hicon, ico_x, ico_y, 0, 0, win32con.DI_NORMAL)        win32gui.SelectObject(hdcBitmap, hbmOld)        win32gui.DeleteDC(hdcBitmap)        return hbm    def command(self, hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam):        id = win32gui.LOWORD(wparam)        self.execute_menu_option(id)    def execute_menu_option(self, id):        menu_action = self.menu_actions_by_id[id]              if menu_action == self.QUIT:            win32gui.DestroyWindow(self.hwnd)        else:            menu_action(self)def non_string_iterable(obj):    try:        iter(obj)    except TypeError:        return False    else:        return not isinstance(obj, str)# Minimal self test. You'll need a bunch of ICO files in the current working# directory in order for this to work...if __name__ == '__main__':    import itertools, glob    icons = itertools.cycle(glob.glob('*.ico'))    hover_text = "SysTrayIcon.py Demo"    def hello(sysTrayIcon): print("Hello World.")    def simon(sysTrayIcon): print("Hello Simon.")    def switch_icon(sysTrayIcon):        sysTrayIcon.icon = next(icons)        sysTrayIcon.refresh_icon()    menu_options = (('Say Hello', next(icons), hello),                    ('Switch Icon', None, switch_icon),                    ('A sub-menu', next(icons), (('Say Hello to Simon', next(icons), simon),                                                  ('Switch Icon', next(icons), switch_icon),                                                 ))                   )    def bye(sysTrayIcon): print('Bye, then.')    SysTrayIcon(next(icons), hover_text, menu_options, on_quit=bye, default_menu_index=1)