DDL Tracker

🎵 This tool was entirely built through pure vibe coding — no manual coding, just vibes and AI.

A lightweight always-on-top desktop app for tracking conference and journal submission deadlines. Built with Python + PyQt5. Data is stored in a plain Markdown file — no database, no cloud.

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Features

• Color-coded urgency — cards change color automatically based on days remaining
  • 🔴 ≤ 7 days · 🟠 ≤ 14 days · 🟡 ≤ 30 days · 🟢 ≤ 60 days · 🔵 > 60 days · ⚫ past
• Always-on-top toggle — keep it visible over other windows, or disable when not needed
• Auto-resizing window — height adjusts to fit all entries, no scrollbar
• Add / Edit / Delete entries directly from the UI
• Live file watching — edit deadlines.md in any text editor and the app updates instantly
• System tray — minimise to tray, double-click to restore
• Adjustable font size — A+ / A− via the ⚙ settings menu
• No installation required — single .exe for Windows

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Screenshot

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Quick Start (Windows, no Python needed)

1. Download DDLTracker.zip from Releases
2. Extract to any folder — keep DDLTracker.exe and deadlines.md in the same folder
3. Edit deadlines.md to add your deadlines (see format below)
4. Double-click DDLTracker.exe

⚠️ deadlines.md must be in the same directory as DDLTracker.exe. The app creates a blank one automatically if it doesn't exist.

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Data Format (deadlines.md)

Each deadline is one line:

- **Conference / Journal Name** | YYYY-MM-DD | optional notes

Example:

- **CVPR 2027** | 2026-11-14 | Abstract due 1 week earlier
- **NeurIPS 2026** | 2026-05-21 |
- **ICLR 2027** | 2026-10-02 | Full paper, no abstract deadline

Rules:

• Lines not matching the format are silently skipped
• Notes are optional (leave blank after the last |)
• Date must be YYYY-MM-DD

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UI Guide

Button	Action
＋	Add a new deadline
⚙	Settings menu — font size, always-on-top toggle, refresh, open file
─	Minimise to system tray
✕	Quit
✎ (on card)	Edit notes for that entry
✕ (on card)	Delete that entry

Drag the title bar to move the window anywhere on screen.

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Run from Source

Requirements: Python 3.9+

git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/ddlapp.git
cd ddlapp
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py

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Development Environment

Full list of packages in the tested virtual environment (Python 3.14, Windows 11):

Package	Version
PyQt5	5.15.11
PyQt5-Qt5	5.15.2
PyQt5_sip	12.18.0
watchdog	6.0.0
pillow	12.1.1
pyinstaller	6.19.0
pyinstaller-hooks-contrib	2026.1
altgraph	0.17.5
pefile	2024.8.26
pywin32-ctypes	0.2.3
packaging	26.0
setuptools	82.0.0

For running the app, only PyQt5 and watchdog are required (see requirements.txt). pillow and pyinstaller are only needed to build the exe.

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Build Executable

pip install pyinstaller pillow
# Generate logo.ico from logo.png first (only needed once)
python -c "from PIL import Image; img=Image.open('logo.png').convert('RGBA'); img.save('logo.ico',format='ICO',sizes=[(16,16),(32,32),(48,48),(256,256)])"
# Build
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name DDLTracker --icon logo.ico --add-data "logo.png;." main.py

Output: dist/DDLTracker.exe

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License

MIT