ReleaseRadar

A Node.js service that monitors tool/software versions and sends Telegram notifications when updates are detected.

Built for environments with limited internet access (e.g., intranet) where manual version checking is tedious.

Features

• Monitors 15+ tools from various sources:
  • GitHub Releases
  • npm Registry
  • VS Code Marketplace
  • Custom APIs (VSCode, Claude Code CLI, CMake)
• Sends Telegram notifications on version changes
• Batched notifications (multiple updates in one message)
• Periodic checks via cron (configurable interval)
• Manual check via Telegram /check command
• Persistent version storage (survives restarts)
• Auto-publishes companion CLI when updates are detected

Packages

| Package | Description | |---------|-------------| | @lvnt/release-radar | Main service - monitors versions, sends notifications | | @lvnt/release-radar-cli | Companion CLI - download tools through Nexus proxy |

Tracked Tools

| Tool | Source | |------|--------| | VSCode | VS Code Update API | | Claude Code CLI | Google Storage / GitHub | | Ninja | GitHub | | CMake | cmake.org | | Git | GitHub (git-for-windows) | | Clangd | GitHub | | Wezterm | GitHub | | Ralphy | npm | | vscode-cpptools | GitHub | | vscode-clangd | GitHub | | Claude Code VSCode | VS Code Marketplace | | CMake Tools | GitHub | | Roo Code | GitHub | | Atlascode | GitHub | | Zed | GitHub |

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+
• Telegram Bot Token (from @BotFather)
• Telegram Chat ID (your user ID or group ID)

Installation

From npm (recommended)

# Install globally
npm install -g @lvnt/release-radar

# Create a directory for config and data
mkdir ~/release-radar && cd ~/release-radar

# First run creates config files (.env and config/tools.json)
release-radar

# Edit .env with your Telegram credentials
nano .env

# Run again
release-radar

With pm2 (recommended for production)

cd ~/release-radar
pm2 start release-radar --name release-radar
pm2 save
pm2 startup  # Enable auto-start on boot

From source (for development)

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/lvntbkdmr/release-radar.git
cd release-radar

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Configure environment
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Telegram credentials

# Build and run
npm run build
npm start

Configuration

Environment Variables

Create a .env file:

TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=your_bot_token_here
TELEGRAM_CHAT_ID=your_chat_id_here

Tools Configuration

Edit config/tools.json to add/remove tools and configure scheduling:

{
  "scheduleMode": "daily",
  "dailyCheckTime": "06:00",
  "checkIntervalHours": 6,
  "tools": [
    {
      "name": "MyTool",
      "type": "github",
      "repo": "owner/repo"
    }
  ]
}

Schedule Options

| Field | Values | Description | |-------|--------|-------------| | scheduleMode | "daily" or "interval" | Check once per day or every N hours | | dailyCheckTime | "HH:MM" | Time for daily check (24-hour format, e.g., "06:00") | | checkIntervalHours | 1-24 | Hours between checks (interval mode) |

Tool Types

| Type | Required Fields | Description | |------|-----------------|-------------| | github | repo | GitHub releases (e.g., "owner/repo") | | npm | package | npm registry package | | vscode-marketplace | extensionId | VS Code extension (e.g., "publisher.extension") | | custom | customFetcher | Built-in fetchers: vscode, claude-cli, cmake |

Downloads Configuration

Edit config/downloads.json to configure CLI download URLs:

{
  "ninja": {
    "displayName": "Ninja",
    "downloadUrl": "https://github.com/ninja-build/ninja/releases/download/v{{VERSION}}/ninja-win.zip",
    "filename": "ninja-{{VERSION}}.zip"
  },
  "ralphy": {
    "type": "npm",
    "displayName": "Ralphy",
    "package": "ralphy"
  }
}

Placeholders:

• {{VERSION}} - Full version (e.g., 2.52.0.windows.1)
• {{VERSION_BASE}} - Base semver (e.g., 2.52.0)
• {{NEXUS_URL}} - Replaced by CLI with user's Nexus URL

Usage

Telegram Commands

| Command | Description | |---------|-------------| | /check | Manually trigger version check (auto-publishes CLI if updates found) | | /status | Show all tracked versions + last/next check times | | /schedule | Show current schedule mode and next check time | | /settime <HH:MM> | Set daily check time (e.g., /settime 06:00) and switch to daily mode | | /setmode <daily\|interval> | Switch between daily and interval modes | | /interval | Show current check interval (interval mode) | | /setinterval <hours> | Set check interval (1-24 hours) and switch to interval mode | | /generate | Generate versions.json file locally | | /clipreview | Preview tools/versions that will be included in CLI | | /publishcli | Manually publish CLI with current tracked versions |

Companion CLI

The companion CLI (@lvnt/release-radar-cli) allows users on intranet machines to download tracked tools through a Nexus proxy.

How It Works

1. ReleaseRadar monitors tool versions
2. When updates are detected, it auto-publishes the CLI with new versions
3. Users run release-radar-cli on their machines
4. CLI shows available tools and downloads through configured Nexus proxy

CLI Installation

npm install -g @lvnt/release-radar-cli
release-radar-cli

See @lvnt/release-radar-cli for full documentation.

Auto-Updater (Optional)

ReleaseRadar includes an optional auto-updater that receives GitHub webhooks and automatically updates itself when you publish a new version.

Setup

1. Add to your .env:

   GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET=your_secret_here
   UPDATER_PORT=9000

2. Configure GitHub webhook:

   • Go to your repo's Settings → Webhooks → Add webhook
   • Payload URL: https://your-domain.com/webhook
   • Content type: application/json
   • Secret: same as GITHUB_WEBHOOK_SECRET
   • Events: Select "Releases" only

3. Start the updater with pm2:

   pm2 start release-radar-updater --name release-radar-updater
   pm2 save

When you publish a new release, the updater will automatically run sudo npm update -g @lvnt/release-radar and restart the main service.

Note: If you installed npm with sudo, configure passwordless sudo for npm:

sudo visudo
# Add this line:
# yourusername ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/npm

Data Storage

| Location | Contents | |----------|----------| | Package directory (config/) | tools.json, downloads.json (read-only config) | | ~/.release-radar/ | versions.json (tracked versions), cli/ (CLI source for publishing) |

Project Structure

release-radar/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts          # Main entry point, Telegram bot
│   ├── checker.ts        # Version check orchestration
│   ├── storage.ts        # JSON persistence
│   ├── notifier.ts       # Telegram notifications
│   ├── cli-publisher.ts  # CLI auto-publishing
│   ├── versions-generator.ts  # Generate versions.json
│   ├── types.ts          # TypeScript interfaces
│   └── fetchers/
│       ├── index.ts      # Fetcher registry
│       ├── github-release.ts
│       ├── npm.ts
│       ├── vscode-marketplace.ts
│       └── custom.ts
├── cli/                  # Companion CLI source
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── index.ts      # CLI entry point
│   │   ├── downloader.ts # wget/npm execution
│   │   ├── ui.ts         # Interactive prompts
│   │   └── updater.ts    # Auto-update
│   └── versions.json     # Embedded version data
├── config/
│   ├── tools.json        # Tools to monitor
│   └── downloads.json    # Download URL templates
└── dist/                 # Compiled JavaScript

Testing

# Run all tests (59 tests)
npm test

# Watch mode
npm run test:watch

Notifications

Version Update

🔄 Ninja: 1.11.1 → 1.12.0
🔄 Git: 2.43.0 → 2.44.0

CLI Published

📦 CLI published: v0.2.8

Fetch Failure

⚠️ Failed to check CMake: Request timeout

License

ISC