Port Tracker
A self-updating dashboard for decompilation, recompilation, native-port and VR-port projects:
latest releases with direct download buttons, grouped by game and platform, plus news from the
outlets that cover the scene.
- Updates itself every 4 hours on GitHub Actions and publishes to GitHub Pages (free for public repos).
- Finds new projects automatically from four curated catalogs (PortsDR
and Quiver Launcher for decomps/recomps/native ports,
QuestPorts for Quest VR ports, and the
PCVR Mods Installer Hub for PC VR mods of flat
games), from GitHub links in news articles and YouTube video descriptions, and from GitHub searches.
- FPGA cores for MiSTer (from the official core list
and the databases update_all installs from) and for the
Analogue Pocket (from the openFPGA cores inventory).
Every MiSTer core is labelled update_all (installed by default), update_all: opt-in (in a database
you can switch on in update_all's settings) or Manual install (found elsewhere, e.g. in news or GitHub
searches). In the MiSTer FPGA category you can filter by that, or sort with In update_all first.
- Groups every project for the same game. The most active/popular one is shown first, other
active ones underneath, and the rest are folded away. Pin the one you prefer, hide the ones you don't want.
- Categories by original platform (Nintendo 64, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, …) plus VR Ports and
Tools & Recompilers. VR ports appear both under VR Ports and under their game's platform.
- News from ReadOnlyMemo, Time Extension, UploadVR, Road to VR, GamingOnLinux, Nintendo Life,
Push Square, Pure Xbox, PC Gamer, VGC, Retro Dodo, Google News and more, plus YouTube channels
that cover flat-to-VR mods (Beardo Benjo, FastLawyer, NotAGameAddict, Gamertag VR, Flat2VR…),
filtered for decomp/recomp/port/VR-mod stories and linked to the games they mention.
- Download buttons are labelled by platform (Windows, Linux, macOS, Quest APK…). The one matching
the device you're browsing on is highlighted.
- On a Quest headset the page opens on VR Ports with Runs on Quest ticked: ports built for
Quest hardware or shipping an APK, without PC-only VR mods. That's only the first visit; after that
the headset remembers whatever filters you pick.
Turn it on (one time, ~2 minutes)
- Merge this into
main. Scheduled workflows only run on the default branch.
- Enable Pages: repo Settings → Pages → Build and deployment → Source: GitHub Actions.
- Run it once: Actions → Update dashboard → Run workflow.
Your dashboard is then at https://<your-username>.github.io/<repo>/
(for this repo: https://jza103.github.io/port-tracker-dashboard/). Bookmark it, or use "Add to Home Screen" on your phone.
Adding, hiding and following projects
From the dashboard (works from your phone):
- The eye button hides (unfollows) a project. The pin button keeps it first for its game.
- Add project lets you paste any GitHub/GitLab repo or link.
- Discovered lists what's new, plus suggestions you can Follow or Dismiss.
- These changes take effect in your browser immediately. Press Save to GitHub to make them permanent:
it opens a pre-filled issue; submit it, and a workflow commits the change to
config/projects.yml and rebuilds the site (about 2 minutes).
Only issues opened by you, the repo owner, are applied.
By editing files (on github.com with the pencil icon, or locally):
config/projects.yml holds your hidden/pinned/followed lists, projects
you add by hand, and overrides (e.g. fix a game name or category).config/sources.yml holds the catalogs, news feeds, news keywords and
GitHub searches. Add an RSS feed there to follow another outlet, or a YouTube channel with
https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id=UC… and video: true.
Every project's id is owner/repo for GitHub, gitlab:owner/repo for GitLab, or
<catalog>:<slug> for catalog entries without a repo.
Running it at home instead
Needs Node.js 20 or newer.
npm install
npm start # fetch everything, then serve at http://localhost:8080
npm run update refreshes the data; npm run serve just serves it.HOST=0.0.0.0 npm run serve makes it reachable from other devices on your network.- Without a token the updater uses the public ungh.cc GitHub mirror (slower). For faster, more
complete updates set
GITHUB_TOKEN to a personal access token
(no scopes needed). The token also turns on the GitHub-search discovery.
- To keep it fresh, schedule
npm run update with cron or Task Scheduler, e.g. every 4 hours.
How it works
config/ what to track (you edit these)
scripts/update.mjs builds site/data.json from catalogs, GitHub/GitLab and news feeds
scripts/apply-changes.mjs applies "[dashboard]" issues to config/projects.yml
site/ the static dashboard (plain HTML/CSS/JS, no build step)
data/ state kept between runs: discovered projects, news archive, catalog backup
If a catalog or feed is down, the last good copy is used and a warning shows at the bottom of the page.
npm test runs the unit tests.
