ShutdownSteam

A lightweight portable Windows app that runs an action after a selected Steam game finishes downloading.

Created by MhDTam. Source code is licensed under MIT.

Screenshot

Actual application screenshot with a real Steam game and its locally cached icon. The machine-specific folder path is hidden.

Download and Run

Download ShutdownSteam-<version>-Windows-Portable.zip from this repository's Releases page, extract it, and run ShutdownSteam.exe. The EXE works on its own; no installer is required.

Requirements: Windows 10/11 with .NET Framework 4.x. The app is unsigned.

Features

• Glass dashboard with Main, Settings, Logs, and About views.
• Steam library discovery, including additional library folders.
• Game thumbnails from Steam's local cache in both the selection field and dropdown.
• Test notification, shutdown, restart, hibernate, and lock actions.
• Adjustable polling interval and session logs.
• Single executable with embedded artwork; no network requests or telemetry.

Use

1. Choose the Steam installation folder if it was not detected.
2. Select the game and the action to run when its download finishes.
3. Press Start Monitoring. Keep Steam and ShutdownSteam running.
4. Press Stop to stop monitoring.

The app waits until it sees the selected game incomplete and then complete. Choosing an already-installed game does not trigger an immediate action. The target and action cannot change while monitoring is active.

Try it safely: Settings > Test notification displays a harmless message immediately. Choosing Test message in the action dropdown displays that message after a download completes.

Shutdown and restart use a 60-second Windows countdown. Settings > Cancel scheduled shutdown requests cancellation. You can also run:

shutdown.exe /a

Stopping monitoring does not cancel a shutdown already scheduled with Windows.

Game Pictures

Artwork is read from appcache/librarycache inside the selected Steam installation. Both legacy <appid>_... filenames and newer per-app folders are supported. Square game icons are preferred, with cached banners or capsules used as fallbacks. Missing or corrupt pictures show a gamepad icon.

Images are cached as small thumbnails in memory and do not lock Steam's files. Press Refresh after Steam adds new artwork. No game artwork is bundled with releases.

Build and Test

Use Windows PowerShell 5.1. The scripts use the C# compiler shipped with .NET Framework; a .NET SDK and NuGet packages are not required.

.\build.ps1
.\test.ps1
.\package.ps1 -Version 1.0.0

Output:

• portable/ShutdownSteam.exe: standalone executable.
• release/ShutdownSteam-1.0.0-Windows-Portable.zip: distribution archive.
• release/SHA256SUMS.txt: SHA-256 hashes for the ZIP and EXE.

Build scripts regenerate the embedded icon from assets/Emblem-Public.png. The sanitized assets/Dashboard.png screenshot doubles as the embedded visual skin, with working controls and live values drawn over its example content.

Generate UI previews and verify Start/Stop control states without executing a power action:

.\portable\ShutdownSteam.exe --preview .\verification

An optional third argument selects a Steam root for the preview. Preview files can contain local library names and paths; they are ignored by Git.

For a shareable screenshot that does not read a local Steam library, use:

.\portable\ShutdownSteam.exe --public-preview .\verification\public

Automation and Publishing

GitHub Actions builds, tests, and uploads portable artifacts on main-branch pushes and pull requests. Pushing a version tag such as v1.0.0 also publishes a GitHub Release with the ZIP, EXE, and checksums.

See publishing instructions, changelog, and contributing guide.

Limitations

• Completion is inferred from Steam manifest state and the app's downloading folder. Pause, verification, and unpacking can delay the transition.
• Progress and size are shown only when Steam provides usable manifest byte counts. Speed and remaining time are shown as -.
• Hibernate requires hibernation support in Windows.
• Session settings/logs are held in memory and reset when the application closes.
• The design artwork includes descriptive mockup copy. The supported actions are exactly those listed in this README; custom commands and non-Steam download clients are not supported.

License and Branding

Copyright (c) 2026 MhDTam. Source code, build scripts, and original documentation use the MIT license, which requires preservation of the copyright and license notice. Supplied artwork and third-party marks are excluded. See artwork and branding notices.

This independent project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Valve Corporation.