NetPulse is a compact Windows network-health dashboard built with C# and WPF. It monitors HTTP endpoints and explicit DNS resolvers, presents real latency and accessible health states, and keeps a short local history without accounts, telemetry, or a cloud service.
- Checks HTTP and HTTPS endpoints with cancellation, hard timeouts, redirects, and status-aware health mapping.
- Sends A-record queries through the DNS resolver you specify; DNS caching and automatic retries are disabled.
- Shows ICMP reachability as a separate DNS-target signal without allowing it to override a successful DNS result.
- Runs one sequential loop per target and prevents a scheduled check from overlapping a manual test.
- Stores at most 100 results per target and graphs the latest 30 successful latencies with gaps for failures.
- Seeds three removable first-run examples: OpenReels, Google DNS, and Cloudflare DNS.
- Installs per machine through a WiX MSI while retaining user-owned settings after removal.
| State | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Healthy | HTTP 2xx/3xx, or a DNS A response containing at least one address |
| Degraded | HTTP 4xx/5xx, or a DNS resolver response such as NXDOMAIN |
| Offline | Timeout, name resolution, socket, connection, or TLS transport failure |
| Error | Invalid target configuration or an unexpected internal failure |
Every state uses text and an icon as well as colour.
NetPulse 1.0.0 targets Windows x64 and requires the Microsoft .NET Desktop Runtime 10 x64. Download NetPulseSetup.msi and NetPulseSetup.sha256 from the latest GitHub release, compare the checksum, then run the MSI as an administrator.
The installed application lives under %ProgramFiles%\NetPulse. Settings, history, and logs live under %LocalAppData%\NetPulse and remain after uninstallation. See the deployment checks and retention policy for the exact behavior.
- Start NetPulse from the Start menu.
- Select a target to inspect its latest result, latency history, min/average/max values, and optional ICMP signal.
- Choose Add target for an HTTP URL or a DNS domain/resolver pair.
- Use Test for an immediate check, Edit to change timing or endpoint details, and Disable to pause one target without deleting it.
- Use Pause to stop recurring sampling or Run all now for one immediate pass.
Target names are 1–60 characters. HTTP targets accept absolute http or https URLs. DNS targets accept an internationalized domain name and an IPv4 or IPv6 resolver address. Polling can be 5, 10, 30, or 60 seconds; timeout must be 1–30 seconds and shorter than the polling interval. The dashboard accepts at most 25 targets.
More detail is available in the usage guide and common-problems guide.
Prerequisites:
- Windows 10/11 x64
- .NET SDK 10.0.400 selected by
global.json - Visual Studio 2026 with the .NET desktop development workload, or the .NET CLI
- HeatWave Community Edition when working with the installer inside Visual Studio
dotnet tool restore
dotnet restore NetPulse.sln -p:Platform=x64
dotnet build NetPulse.sln -c Release --no-restore -p:Platform=x64
dotnet test NetPulse.sln -c Release --no-build --no-restore -p:Platform=x64The deterministic suite contains 104 tests across core, infrastructure, and WPF view-model behavior. Real-network checks are opt-in with NETPULSE_RUN_NETWORK_TESTS=1 and do not run in ordinary CI.
Build and inspect the MSI:
dotnet build installer\NetPulse.Setup\NetPulse.Setup.wixproj -c Release -p:Platform=x64
pwsh -NoProfile -File scripts\installer\Test-NetPulsePackage.ps1The Windows workflow builds, tests, publishes, packages, inspects, hashes, and uploads the release artifacts. Dependabot tracks NuGet and workflow dependencies.
The WPF application depends on one app-facing module, INetPulseSession. The core owns target rules, immutable state, scheduling, and metrics; infrastructure owns HTTP, DNS, ICMP, JSON, and logging adapters. This keeps the UI unaware of network libraries and storage details.
NetPulse makes only the network requests configured in the target list. It does not transmit analytics, create user accounts, or send settings/history/logs elsewhere. Logs exclude target names, URLs, resolver domains, query strings, credentials, and exception messages. See the complete privacy statement.
https://openreels.app is only a low-frequency public demonstration target. NetPulse does not import, modify, deploy, or require access to OpenReels source code, credentials, databases, APIs, DNS records, or infrastructure.
Version 1.0 deliberately omits tray mode, alerts, TLS certificate monitoring, authentication, a cloud backend, and other expansion features. The goal is a reliable, explainable desktop utility.