NW.js 0.46 notification changes: keeping silent alerts useful without losing tray feedback on Linux

Answer

The missing tray tooltip update after a silent notification on Linux is a known limitation in NW.js ≥ 0.46. The tray tooltip is refreshed only when a visible (non‑silent) notification is shown, so silent notifications leave the tooltip unchanged.

Confirmed facts

• Starting with NW.js 0.46.0 the {silent:true} flag suppresses sound and banner while still delivering the message to the OS notification center on Windows/macOS and to libnotify on Linux.
• On Linux the silent flag is forwarded to libnotify, which does not create a popup but also does not trigger the NW.js tray‑tooltip update code.
• Calling the Tray object’s setTooltip (or setTitle/setIcon) after issuing a silent notification updates the tray state immediately.

Steps to keep tray feedback

1. Create the silent notification as usual: new Notification({title:'Event', body:'', silent:true}).
2. Immediately after, update the tray: tray.setTooltip('Latest event') (replace with your desired text).
3. If you prefer not to expose a dummy notification, you can also call tray.setIcon with the same icon to force a redraw.

Throttling / grouping silent notifications

• Use the Notification tag attribute: notifications with the same tag replace each other in the Action Center/Notification Center, keeping only the latest entry.
• Alternatively, maintain an in‑memory queue and dispatch a single silent notification after a short window (e.g., 5 seconds) that aggregates identical events.
• Both approaches prevent the notification center from filling with low‑value entries while still delivering the aggregated information.

Supporting pre‑0.46 runtimes

Feature‑detecting the silent flag is possible but adds complexity. The simplest, reliable approach is to enforce a minimum NW.js version (≥ 0.46) when silent‑notification behavior is required. If you must support older builds, detect by sending a test notification with {silent:true} and checking whether a sound or banner appears; on failure fall back to the pre‑0.46 behavior (non‑silent notifications) or disable silent mode.

Missing diagnostic detail

To confirm that the silent flag truly suppresses any visual popup on your Linux setup, please specify which notification daemon or desktop environment you are using (e.g., libnotify, KDE Plasma notifications, dunst). This detail affects whether a subtle popup might still appear and whether the tray‑tooltip workaround is sufficient.