[Idea]: Add temperature logging and historical display feature

[Ranteck]

Overview of the requested feature

Add the capability to register temperature readings and display a historical log within the application. The feature should record temperature over time and allow users to view past temperature data through a history interface.

Reason for the request

Tracking temperature over time provides valuable insights for users and can help monitor device or environment conditions. Displaying a history allows users to analyze trends or detect anomalies more effectively.

Related Issues

No response

Check List

• The proposed feature is beneficial to a wide range of users and not just a personal preference.
• Checked that no similar requests already exist.

[Kyome22]

@Ranteck
If it's feasible and the maintenance costs aren't too high, I think it's a good idea.

[gogosal]

I was thinking about contributing to the app and adding that feature.
I thought about adding GPU usage as well, if it exists.

[tasty007]

It's a good idea

[bukanspot]

I also need this feature. I was previously looking for a tool that could monitor CPU temperature and display it on the taskbar. But seeing a cat running across the taskbar is so cute. My suggestion might be to add temperature monitoring and use the cat's color change as a display.

[Kyome22]

Frequently changing the cat's body color is not a recommended approach, as it degrades the performance of RunCat itself.

[Anandb71]

I would like to help implement this feature. Keeping in mind the strict performance requirements and the need to avoid heavy UI maintenance, here is a lightweight proposal for temperature logging:

• Low-Overhead Fetching: Retrieve CPU/GPU temperatures at a fixed, slower interval (e.g., every 3-5 seconds) completely independent of the animation loop to prevent any CPU spikes.

• Simple Logging: Write the historical data to a local .csv or .txt file. This avoids the overhead of a database or complex data structures while still allowing users to analyze trends externally.

• Minimal UI Integration: Instead of building a heavy charting interface inside RunCat, we can simply add the current temperature to the existing taskbar hover tooltip. For the history, we can add a right-click menu option that says "Open Temperature Log" to open the file in the user's default text editor.

This approach provides the requested tracking capabilities without degrading the core animation performance or adding heavy UI elements to maintain.

if this direction aligns with your goals for the project, I’d be happy to start putting a PR together.

[Ranteck]

if you want to, i could help too

[Anandb71]

if you want to, i could help too

We could submit a PR , and let's see what happens . I'm gonna start working on it.

[Kyome22]

@Anandb71

Simple Logging: Write the historical data to a local .csv or .txt file. This avoids the overhead of a database or complex data structures while still allowing users to analyze trends externally.

Is it necessary to save this data to a local file?

In the macOS version, when visualizing logs in a graph, the last 60 data points are kept in the app's in-memory storage. Wouldn't it be acceptable for the data to be lost once the app is closed?

[Anandb71]

@Kyome22

That makes perfect sense. Storing it in-memory instead of writing to a local file is a much better approach to guarantee we don't introduce any disk I/O overhead.

Using the same 60-data-point in-memory buffer approach that you currently use for the other system graphs on the macOS version sounds like the ideal way to maintain consistency across the apps. I agree that it's completely acceptable for this history to be lost when the app closes,most users only need to see recent trends to check for thermal throttling anyway.

If we go with this 60-point in-memory array, how would you like to handle the UI for Windows? Should we start by just adding the current temperature to the taskbar tooltip, or would you like me to look into adding a simple graph UI similar to what macOS has for its system stats?

Let me know and I'll start building the PR around the in-memory approach!

[Kyome22]

I think we should separate the task of adding the temperature retrieval function to the existing information acquisition infrastructure from the task of improving data visualization to be richer, such as with graphs.

[Anandb71]

@Kyome22
Understood! For this first PR, I will focus strictly on the data acquisition side:

1.Implementing the low-overhead fetching of the temperature data.
2.Setting up the 60-point in-memory buffer to store the history.
3.Adding the current temperature to the existing taskbar hover tooltip as the only UI change for now.

Once that infrastructure is merged and stable, we can look at a separate PR for the richer graph visualization later.
I'll get started on this initial PR!