Flash your blink(1) device whenever someone comments on or approves your GitHub pull requests.

Uses the GitHub CLI (gh) for authentication - no tokens required.

• Blue flash: New comments on your PRs
• Green flash: PR approvals
• Red flash: Change requests
• Yellow flash: Review comments (including Copilot reviews)
• Monitors all your open PRs across all repositories
• Avoids duplicate notifications
• Configurable polling interval
• Automatic lookback to catch recent activity when starting

This script uses PEP 723 inline metadata - dependencies are embedded directly in the script!

Recommended approach (with uv):

cd ~/dev/gh2blink
# Dependencies are automatically installed when you run:
uv run github_pr_notifier.py --test

Traditional approach (manual installation):

pip install requests>=2.32.5 blink1>=0.4.0

What is PEP 723? The script now contains this metadata block:

# /// script
# requires-python = ">=3.13"
# dependencies = [
#     "requests>=2.32.5",
#     "blink1>=0.4.0",
# ]
# ///

Modern tools like uv can read this and automatically manage dependencies!

Install the GitHub CLI if you haven't already:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install gh

# macOS
brew install gh

# Or download from https://cli.github.com/

Authenticate with GitHub:

gh auth login

Follow the prompts to log in via web browser or with a token.

First, make sure your blink(1) device is connected and test it:

With uv (recommended):

uv run github_pr_notifier.py --test

Traditional:

python3 github_pr_notifier.py --test

This will:

• Check if blink(1) is connected
• Check if gh CLI is authenticated
• Flash red, green, blue, and yellow patterns
• Report any connection issues

Start monitoring your PRs:

With uv (recommended):

uv run github_pr_notifier.py

Traditional:

python3 github_pr_notifier.py

Options:

• --interval 30 - Check every 30 seconds (default: 60)
• --username yourname - Override auto-detected username
• --test-mode - Include your own comments/reviews for testing (normally filtered out)

Normal Mode (default):

• Only flashes for comments/reviews from other people
• Filters out your own comments to avoid self-notifications
• Recommended for daily use

Test Mode (--test-mode):

• Includes your own comments/reviews for testing
• Useful when you want to test the device by commenting on your own PRs
• Shows "TEST MODE" message in logs

2024-09-07 14:30:15 - INFO - Connected to blink(1) device: 12345
2024-09-07 14:30:15 - INFO - TEST MODE: Will flash for your own comments/reviews
2024-09-07 14:30:15 - INFO - Starting GitHub PR monitor for user: frica
2024-09-07 14:30:15 - INFO - Poll interval: 60 seconds
2024-09-07 14:30:16 - INFO - Checking for PR updates...
2024-09-07 14:30:17 - INFO - Monitoring 3 open PRs
2024-09-07 14:30:18 - INFO - New comment on PR #1000 by reviewer-name
2024-09-07 14:30:18 - INFO - Content: Looks good, just a minor suggestion...
2024-09-07 14:30:18 - INFO - Flashing BLUE for comment from reviewer-name

To run the script in the background and test it immediately:

With uv (recommended):

# Normal mode (filters out your own comments)
nohup uv run github_pr_notifier.py --interval 30 > github_monitor.log 2>&1 &

# Test mode (includes your own comments for testing)
nohup uv run github_pr_notifier.py --interval 30 --test-mode > github_monitor.log 2>&1 &

Traditional:

# Normal mode
nohup python3 github_pr_notifier.py --interval 30 > github_monitor.log 2>&1 &

# Test mode
nohup python3 github_pr_notifier.py --interval 30 --test-mode > github_monitor.log 2>&1 &

This will:

• Run the script in the background with 30-second intervals
• Log all output to github_monitor.log
• Continue running even after you close the terminal

To check if it's running:

ps aux | grep github_pr_notifier

To view the logs:

tail -f github_monitor.log

To stop the background process:

# Method 1: Kill by script name (recommended)
pkill -f github_pr_notifier.py

# Method 2: Find process ID and kill it
ps aux | grep github_pr_notifier
# Note the PID (process ID) from the output, then:
kill <PID>

To verify it's stopped:

ps aux | grep github_pr_notifier
# Should show no results (except the grep command itself)

# Start a new tmux session
tmux new-session -d -s github-blink1 'cd ~/dev/gh2blink && python3 github_pr_notifier.py'

# Attach to see output
tmux attach -t github-blink1

# Detach: Ctrl+B, then D

Create a systemd service file:

sudo tee /etc/systemd/system/github-blink1.service > /dev/null << EOF
[Unit]
Description=GitHub PR blink(1) Notifier
After=network.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=$USER
WorkingDirectory=/home/$USER/dev/gh2blink
Environment=GITHUB_TOKEN=$GITHUB_TOKEN
Environment=GITHUB_USERNAME=$GITHUB_USERNAME
ExecStart=/usr/bin/python3 /home/$USER/<my_folder>/github_pr_notifier.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
EOF

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable github-blink1.service
sudo systemctl start github-blink1.service

Check status:

sudo systemctl status github-blink1.service
sudo journalctl -u github-blink1.service -f

• Make sure device is plugged in
• Check USB permissions (see blink1-python README)
• Try running with sudo temporarily

• Make sure you're logged in: gh auth status
• Re-authenticate if needed: gh auth login
• The script uses the gh CLI's authenticated sessions

• Check that you have open PRs: gh search prs --author your-username --state open
• Verify gh CLI has proper permissions: gh auth status
• Check the log file: github_pr_notifier.log
• For testing: Use --test-mode to include your own comments (normally filtered out)
• The script looks back 1 hour when starting to catch recent activity

Edit the flash_for_event() method in the script to customize patterns:

# Example: Longer green flash for approvals
elif event.event_type == 'approved':
    self.blink1.play_pattern('10, #00FF00,0.3,0, #000000,0.1,0')

The script currently monitors:

• Issue comments on PRs
• PR reviews (approved/changes requested/commented)
• Review comments (including automated reviews from tools like Copilot)

You can extend it to monitor:

• New PRs assigned to you
• PR merges
• Specific keywords in comments

This script now uses PEP 723, a Python standard that allows embedding dependency information directly in script files. Here's what this means:

• Self-contained: Script includes its own dependency information
• No separate files: No need for requirements.txt or pyproject.toml
• Tool integration: Modern tools like uv automatically install dependencies
• Portable: Share the script file and dependencies come with it!

• With uv: uv run github_pr_notifier.py (automatically installs dependencies in isolated environment)
• Traditional: Install dependencies manually, then python3 github_pr_notifier.py

If you don't have uv installed:

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh