ElBruno.AspireMonitor

ElBruno.AspireMonitor

A Windows system tray monitor that discovers and displays Aspire running instances and their deployed resources.

Set a working folder → monitor discovers an active Aspire instance → instantly see all deployed services, containers, and databases with clickable URLs. Zero configuration beyond pointing to your Aspire project directory.

What It Does

ElBruno.AspireMonitor is a lightweight Windows system tray tool that works in two steps:

1. Set a working folder — Point the app to your Aspire AppHost project directory
2. Auto-discover & monitor — When aspire run is active in that directory, the tray icon turns green and displays:
   • All deployed services, containers, and databases
   • Real-time status and health checks
   • Clickable URLs for each resource
   • CPU/memory metrics for your resources

The workflow: Working Folder → Running Instance Detection → Live Resource Display

Perfect for developers who want instant visibility into what Aspire deployed, without switching to a browser dashboard.

🎯 Features

Feature	Description
🖼️ Tray Status Indicator	Green (running), Yellow (warning), Red (error), Gray (not running)
🔍 Automatic Discovery	Finds running Aspire instances in your working folder
🖥️ Resource Visibility	Lists services, containers, databases with endpoints
🔗 Clickable URLs	Open any resource directly from the app
⚡ Real-Time Updates	Automatic polling every 2 seconds (configurable)
📊 Status Metrics	CPU, memory, health status for each resource
🪟 System Tray Integration	Minimal footprint, always accessible in taskbar
⚙️ Single Tray Icon	One icon for unified monitoring—no clutter
💼 Working Folder Display	Shows your chosen directory (humanized paths)

⚡ Quick Start

1. Install as a .NET global tool: dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor
2. Launch with aspiremon from any terminal
3. Set working folder when prompted (point to your Aspire AppHost directory)
4. Start monitoring — Run aspire run from that directory; the tray icon will turn green with resources listed

Install as a .NET Global Tool (recommended):

dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor

Then launch anytime from any terminal:

aspiremon

The tool is Windows-only (the underlying app is WPF). Requires the .NET 10 Runtime.

Or download the executable from GitHub Releases.

For detailed setup instructions, see Quick Start Guide.

🖼️ System Tray Status

The tray icon tells you at a glance:

Icon	Status	Meaning
	Running	Aspire instance found; all resources healthy
	Warning	Aspire running; one or more resources in warning state
	Error	Lost connection to Aspire or polling failed; auto-reconnect in progress
	Not Running	No Aspire instance found in the configured working folder

📋 Requirements

• Windows 10 or later (WPF is Windows-only)
• .NET 10 Runtime (download)
• .NET Aspire running locally on your machine

🚀 Usage

First Run

Install the global tool and launch it:

dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor
aspiremon

On first run, you'll be prompted for your working folder:

Enter working folder (path to your Aspire AppHost project):
C:\Projects\MyAspireApp

System Tray

• Click icon — Show/hide resource details window
• Double-click — Expand/collapse the main window
• Right-click — Context menu (Settings, Refresh, Exit)
• Icon status — Reflects instance status (green=running, yellow=warning, red=error, gray=not running)

The app automatically watches your working folder for Aspire instances. When aspire run is active, resources appear instantly.

Configuration

Edit your settings at:

%APPDATA%\Local\ElBruno\AspireMonitor\config.json

Example (working folder, polling interval, thresholds):

{
  "workingFolder": "C:\\Projects\\MyAspireApp",
  "pollingIntervalMs": 2000,
  "cpuThresholdWarning": 70,
  "cpuThresholdCritical": 90,
  "memoryThresholdWarning": 70,
  "memoryThresholdCritical": 90
}

See Configuration Guide for all options.

📚 Documentation

• Quick Start Guide — Get up and running in 5 minutes
• Architecture Guide — System design, components, data flow
• API Contract & Services — Service layer, data contracts, retry logic
• Configuration Guide — Setup, CLI, advanced options
• Development Guide — Building from source, debugging
• Publishing Guide — NuGet publishing, versioning, releases
• Troubleshooting Guide — Common issues and solutions

💡 Use Cases

• Local Development — Keep tabs on your microservices while coding
• Resource Debugging — Quickly spot which service is consuming CPU/memory
• Status At-a-Glance — One tray icon shows everything (no browser switching)
• Demo Mode — Impress colleagues with instant visibility into deployed resources
• Integration Testing — Monitor health during automated test runs

🏗️ Architecture Highlights

• Service-Oriented: Clean separation between Aspire API client, discovery, polling, and UI
• Polling Model: Configurable background thread with exponential backoff on failures
• MVVM Pattern: Fully testable business logic, UI-agnostic services
• State Machine: Discrete states (Idle → Discovering → Connected → Polling → Error → Reconnecting)
• Threshold-Based Alerts: Configurable CPU/memory thresholds determine status colors
• Single Tray Icon: Unified monitoring interface—no confusion from multiple icons

See Architecture Guide for detailed design decisions and data flows.

📦 Installation & Updates

Install

dotnet tool install --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor

Then run aspiremon from any terminal.

Update

dotnet tool update --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor

Uninstall

dotnet tool uninstall --global ElBruno.AspireMonitor

Verify Version

dotnet tool list --global

🐛 Troubleshooting

Aspire instance not found?

1. Verify Aspire is running: aspire run in your working folder
2. Check the working folder setting in config: %APPDATA%\Local\ElBruno\AspireMonitor\config.json
3. See Troubleshooting Guide for more solutions

Tray icon not visible?

• Check Windows notification area (click ▲ in system tray)
• Verify AspireMonitor is running: tasklist | findstr aspire
• Restart the application and check tray icon placement
• See Troubleshooting Guide

🤝 Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/my-feature)
3. Make changes and write/update tests
4. Run full test suite: dotnet test
5. Commit with clear messages
6. Open a Pull Request

See Development Guide for setup and workflow.

📄 License

MIT License — See LICENSE file for details.

👋 About the Author

Bruno Capuano @elbruno
Microsoft AI MVP | GitHub Star

• Blog: elbruno.com
• GitHub: @elbruno
• LinkedIn: /in/elbruno
• Twitter: @elbruno
• YouTube: @elbruno

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Built with ❤️ for the .NET Aspire community

Questions? Open an issue or reach out on GitHub Discussions.