DevNotify vs. GitHub Desktop: do you need both?
GitHub Desktop is the official GitHub client for Mac and Windows. It's good at what it does: cloning repos, staging commits, opening pull requests. But if you installed it hoping it would tell you when something needs your attention, you've probably noticed something odd.
GitHub Desktop has no notification system at all.
What GitHub Desktop does (and doesn't) show you
Open GitHub Desktop and it fetches changes for the repo you have selected. If new commits arrived, they appear in the history view. That's it. There is:
- No unread-notification list
- No mention or review-request feed
- No badge on the dock icon or menu bar
- No way to see activity in repos you haven't opened locally
That's not a bug — GitHub Desktop is a Git client, not a notification tool. But many developers assume "the official app" covers notifications, and end up relying on email and the website bell icon instead.
Side-by-side
| GitHub Desktop | DevNotify | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Git client (clone, commit, push) | Notification center for GitHub |
| Unread notifications | — | Menu bar badge with count |
| Review requests | — | Listed with reason tags |
| Mentions & CI results | — | Shown in popup list |
| Multiple repos / orgs | One repo window at a time | All repos from your account |
| Data leaves your machine | GitHub only | None — token stays local |
| Price | Free | $19 lifetime license |
The honest answer: they're complements, not competitors
If you commit code through GitHub Desktop, keep using it. DevNotify doesn't clone repos or make commits. What it does is watch your GitHub notifications API every minute and surface what matters in the menu bar: review requests, mentions, assigned issues, failing CI runs on your PRs.
The typical setup we see: GitHub Desktop (or the terminal) for writing code, DevNotify for knowing when to look up. Click a notification and the right page opens in your browser — PR, issue, or discussion.
When DevNotify is worth $19
- You've missed review requests because email buries them
- You work across many repos and can't watch them all
- You keep a browser tab open on github.com/notifications just in case
- You want notifications without handing data to another cloud service — your personal access token never leaves your Mac
Try DevNotify free
Menu bar notifications for GitHub. Download and be set up in two minutes with your own personal access token.
Download DevNotify for macOS Buy license — $19