Setup guide

External connections

External connections lets other programs on your PC set your meter, through the Busy Meter app. An AI assistant (Claude Desktop, Claude Code), a focus timer, your stream software or a script you wrote can each ask to become one more source, next to your camera, microphone, Teams and calendar.

It's off until you turn it on. If you only want the meter to follow your camera, mic, Teams and calendar, leave it off: you don't need it.

What it is, in plain words #

 AI assistant ─┐
 focus timer ──┼─▶  Busy Meter app  ─▶  your meter
 your script ──┘    (asks you first,     (USB or Wi-Fi)
                     then mixes them in
                     with your other sources)

• "External" means outside the Busy Meter app, but still on this PC. Nothing on the internet, your phone or another computer can use it. The app only listens on your own PC (address 127.0.0.1), and web pages in your browser are refused too.
• Nothing gets in without you. Each program has to ask once. The app shows a prompt, and you choose Allow or Deny. A program can ask, but it can never click Allow for you.
• The app stays in charge. A program reports a level ("4 stars for 30 minutes") or a signal ("live on stream"). The app treats it like any other source: it goes through your Settings › Levels map, the busiest source still wins, and the camera still flashes. Every level a program sets runs out after at most 10 minutes unless it keeps renewing it, so a program that crashes can't leave your meter stuck.
• Programs see very little. At most: the level showing, whether syncing is paused, and what kind of source set it (for example "calendar" or "camera"). Never your meeting titles, accounts, settings or other programs.

Turn it on #

1. Open the Busy Meter app (click the tray icon next to the clock), then Settings › Sources.
2. Scroll to External connections at the bottom and turn the switch on.
3. The tray menu now says External: on, so you can always tell.

Turning it off again stops everything at once: nothing can connect, and any level set by a program is dropped.

When a program asks #

The first time a program connects, a small window opens: "A program on this PC is asking to connect". It shows:

• the name the program gave itself and its ID,
• the program file on your PC that asked (for example python.exe or claude.exe) and who signed it,
• the signals it will report and the level each one suggests, in your own level names,
• what it wants to do (set levels, see the level, hear taps on the touch pad, play a short light effect).

Click Allow if you started it and recognise it. The button works after a second, so a stray click can't allow it. Click Deny if you don't know what it is. An unanswered prompt is denied after 2 minutes.

Manage what's allowed #

Under Settings › Sources › External connections, every allowed program has its own row:

• its switch pauses that one program (it stays allowed);
• Revoke removes it. It has to ask again next time.

Each allowed program also gets its own group on Settings › Levels, so you can send its signals to a different level or ignore them.

Ways to use it #

Install the tools #

The command, the recipes and the AI assistant tools come in one free package, busymeter, which needs Python.

1. Install Python 3.10 or newer if you don't have it. Either:

   • open Command Prompt or Terminal and run winget install Python.Python.3.12, or
   • download it from python.org and, in the first installer screen, tick Add python.exe to PATH.

   Then close the terminal and open a new one.

2. Install the Busy Meter tools:

   pip install --user "busymeter[mcp]"

   ([mcp] adds the AI assistant tools. Leave it out if you only want the command and recipes.)

3. Check it works (External connections must be on):

   busymeter status

   The first time, the Allow prompt opens in the tray; click Allow. You should then see what the meter shows.

If busymeter isn't found, Python's script folder isn't on your PATH: run python -m busymeter.cli status instead, or reinstall Python with Add python.exe to PATH ticked.

To remove the tools: pip uninstall busymeter, then Revoke the programs under External connections.

If something doesn't work #