Regncreative/Pulse

See what Windows is really doing.
A modern, read-only diagnostics platform for Windows — events you can understand, not logs you decode.

github.com/Regncreative/Pulse

Timeline — live Event Log events in plain language

Windows already knows everything about itself — crashes, service starts, explorer restarts, boot failures. The problem is how that knowledge is presented: Event Viewer IDs, opaque XML, and tools that feel like they were built for another decade.

Pulse observes. Pulse explains. Pulse visualizes. Pulse never changes Windows.

It turns raw system activity into a readable timeline:

Designed in Midnight, Pulse's dark-first visual identity: near-black panels, one lime accent for what is live, and plain language before technical detail.

Philosophy: Observation only. No injection. No hooks. No patches. No telemetry. No cloud.

• Plain-language summary — the last hour in one sentence, with a 24-hour activity strip
• Human-readable events — story feed with plain language first; Explained / Technical / Raw XML tabs in the inspector
• Live monitoring — Windows Event Log via EvtSubscribe, pushed over named-pipe IPC
• Historical snapshot — recent events on connect, then live prepend as Windows works
• Search & filters — severity, source, category, provider, process, and date presets (including last 15 minutes)
• Detail panel — metadata, process context, and expandable raw event payload
• Incidents & export — correlated groups plus JSON/CSV export of the session

• Overview bento — system pulse with health score, memory ring, CPU, GPU and network tiles
• CPU, Memory, GPU, Disk, Network — live cards and 60-second sparklines
• PDH Processor Utility — frequency-aware CPU % (not just classic Processor Time)
• Hardware summary — OS, CPU, GPU, memory, uptime at a glance
• Graceful offline mode — clear empty states when PulseService is not running

• System — motherboard, BIOS, CPU, memory, storage, network, battery (SMBIOS / SetupAPI where available)
• Devices — USB, PCI, displays, audio, Bluetooth, printers
• Software — installed programs, drivers, and Windows services
• Copy & export — field-level copy plus inventory reports

• Templates — System Health, Timeline, Diagnostics, and inventory catalogs
• Formats — JSON, CSV, HTML, PDF
• Local export — writes under Documents / Pulse / exports by default

• Service snapshot — SCM state, uptime, identity, binary path, connected clients
• IPC & pipeline — named-pipe health, collectors, performance budgets
• Copy diagnostics — support bundle without leaving the machine

• General, Appearance, System Health, Timeline, Diagnostics, Performance, Privacy
• Preferences persist locally (SharedPreferences) — no account, no sync

• Read-only — never modifies OS behavior
• Local-first — everything stays on this PC
• No telemetry / analytics / ads
• Fast & light — idle near-zero CPU, responsive scrolling
• Native Windows feel — custom title bar, icon rail, Ctrl+K command search, DPI-aware

Timeline — live humanized events  ·  System Health — CPU, memory, GPU, disk, network

Inventory — hardware & software catalog  ·  Reports — local JSON / CSV / HTML / PDF export

Diagnostics — service, IPC, pipeline  ·  Settings — local preferences

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                         Windows                          │
│   Event Log · PDH · DXGI · IP Helper · Process APIs      │
└────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                             │ read-only APIs
┌────────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────┐
│                      PulseService                        │
│  Collector · Humanizer · Health · Inventory · IPC server │
│              (native C++ Windows service)                │
└────────────────────────────┬─────────────────────────────┘
                             │ named pipe (framed binary)
┌────────────────────────────▼─────────────────────────────┐
│                       Pulse App                          │
│   Flutter · Timeline · Health · Inventory · Reports      │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

v1 pipeline

Windows Event Log → Collector → Humanizer → IPC → Timeline UI

PulseService is required (installer or elevated --install-start). A ZIP payload is not a true portable edition — see portable vs service.

ETW, WMI, and plugins are intentional future milestones — see docs/architecture.

1. Download Pulse-Setup-1.3.0-windows-x64.exe from GitHub Releases
2. Run the installer and accept the UAC prompt
3. PulseService is registered and started automatically
4. Skip or complete the short welcome — then open Timeline or System Health

Tip: for troubleshooting without the SCM service, run service\PulseService.exe --console from a payload folder.

Pulse-Setup-1.0.0-windows-x64.exe was scanned on VirusTotal — 0 / 68 security vendors flagged the installer. Clean result across the board.

SHA-256: 7311a4809e64f77b9c44dc8fd59d04db68e3f07288e2348b6470807be72c41d3

Developers can also build a local package:

.\tools\scripts\package_beta.ps1

Output: dist\Pulse-Setup-1.3.0-windows-x64.exe, dist\Pulse\, and dist\Pulse-1.3.0-windows-x64.zip

# 1) Build & run the service (console mode — preferred while developing)
.\tools\scripts\run_service_console.ps1

# 2) In another terminal — run the Flutter app
.\tools\scripts\run_app.ps1

Or step by step:

# Service
cmake -S service/pulse_service -B build/service -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
cmake --build build/service
.\build\service\PulseService.exe --console

# App
cd apps\pulse_app
flutter pub get
flutter run -d windows

Optional SCM install (elevated):

.\build\service\PulseService.exe --install
Start-Service PulseService

Full prerequisites and flags: BUILD.md · DEVELOPMENT.md

Ask about this PC in plain language. The Assistant talks to a local model you run yourself — Ollama or LM Studio — and answers from Pulse's read-only diagnostics.

• Localhost only: Pulse refuses non-local AI endpoints, so diagnostics never leave the PC
• Read-only tools: the Assistant cannot run commands, change settings or modify Windows
• Pulse never downloads models or installs AI software for you

AI Integration for external MCP clients (PulseMCP) was removed in 1.3 — see ADR-013.

Guides: Installation · Troubleshooting · Security

Pulse/
├── apps/pulse_app/          Flutter Desktop UI (Timeline, Health, Inventory, Reports, …)
├── service/pulse_service/   Native Windows service (collector, humanizer, health, IPC)
├── shared/
│   ├── pulse_common/        Version, errors, constants
│   └── pulse_protocol/      Wire codec (C++ + Dart) + proto
├── tools/
│   ├── ipc_ping/            Smoke clients (IPC / health / diagnostics)
│   └── scripts/             Dev launch + packaging helpers
├── docs/architecture/       ADRs + system design (source of truth)
├── docs/readme/             README screenshots
├── branding/                Logo source (Telemetry Peak)
├── tests/                   Fixtures / integration (expanding)
├── AGENTS.md                Product constitution
└── BUILD.md                 Build & install instructions

• Named-pipe IPC + framed wire protocol
• Event Log collector → humanized Timeline
• Live monitoring with page-visibility pause
• System Health (Task Manager–aligned metrics)
• Inventory (system, devices, software)
• Reports (JSON / CSV / HTML / PDF)
• Diagnostics page + local export
• Settings persistence
• Fluent dark-first UI polish
• Official screenshots in README
• First-launch welcome (skippable)
• Timeline search, filters, date presets, session export
• Stable installer (package_beta.ps1 → Inno Setup)
• v1.0.0 stable release
• v1.1.0 feature release (Assistant, Store MSIX)
• v1.2.0 Midnight redesign (icon rail, story Timeline, Overview bento)
• v1.3.0 Stability release (service-restart crash, pipe leaks, ~140 MB smaller install; AI Integration removed)
• GitHub Releases auto-update
• Crash / WER timeline
• ETW engine (future milestone)
• Plugin system (future milestone)
• Session recording / timeline replay

Every feature should answer one question: "What is Windows doing right now?"

• No cloud, no login, no account
• No telemetry, analytics, or tracking
• Data never leaves the machine unless you export a report or diagnostics zip
• Uses official Windows APIs only
• Never injects into processes, never hooks, never bypasses security
• Elevation only when you explicitly install the service

VirusTotal — Pulse-Setup-1.0.0-windows-x64.exe · 0/68

Windows releases of Pulse are being moved to signing through the SignPath Foundation's free program for open-source projects (application in review):

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.

• Committers and reviewers: Regncreative (maintainer)
• Approvers: Regncreative
• Only release builds produced by this repository's GitHub Actions workflow are signed. Every signing request is approved manually.
• The Microsoft Store edition is signed by Microsoft.

Privacy: This program will not transfer any information to other networked systems unless specifically requested by the user or the person installing or operating it. The optional Assistant only talks to an AI runtime on localhost. See the privacy policy.

Issues and pull requests are welcome.

1. Read AGENTS.md and the architecture docs first
2. Fork and create a feature branch
3. Keep changes observation-only — no cleaner / optimizer / antivirus features
4. Run pulse_wire_tests and flutter analyze / flutter test before opening a PR
5. Architectural changes need an ADR under docs/architecture/decisions/

MIT © Regncreative