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+
+# BuildNotify
+
+BuildNotify is a cross-platform system tray application for monitoring build statuses on continuous integration (CI) servers. Designed as a modern equivalent to CCMenu/CCTray, it resides in your system tray and provides real-time notifications for project build changes, making it easy to keep track of your development pipelines.
+
+## Features
+- **Multi-Server Support**: Monitor projects across multiple CruiseControl and CCTray-compatible CI servers.
+- **System Tray Integration**: Quick access to overall CI status and individual project dashboards from the system tray.
+- **Smart Notifications**: Receive desktop alerts for broken, fixed, and still-failing builds.
+- **Customizable UI**: Configure polling intervals, notification preferences, build sort order, and display prefixes via a built-in preferences dialog.
+- **Cross-Platform**: Built with PyQt5, ensuring compatibility across Linux, Windows, and macOS environments.
+- **Authentication Support**: Securely fetch build statuses from servers requiring credentials using the system keyring.
+
+## Installation
+
+### Ubuntu / Debian
+**For Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) and newer:**
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install buildnotify
+```
+
+**For older Ubuntu versions (via PPA):**
+```bash
+sudo add-apt-repository ppa:anay/ppa
+sudo apt-get update
+sudo apt-get install python-buildnotify
+```
+
+### PyPI
+You can install the latest stable release directly via `pip`:
+```bash
+pip install buildnotify
+```
+
+### Prerequisites
+Ensure the following system dependencies are installed before running manually:
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install python3-pyqt5 python3-tz python3-dateutil python3-keyring
+```
+
+## Usage
+
+Once installed, launch the application:
+```bash
+python buildnotifyapplet.py
+```
+*(Or simply run `buildnotify` if installed via package managers.)*
+
+### Configuration
+1. Right-click the BuildNotify icon in your system tray.
+2. Select **Preferences** to open the configuration dialog.
+3. Under the **Servers** tab, add the URL of your CI server's CCTray feed (e.g., `http://ci-server:8080/cc.xml`).
+4. Optionally configure authentication, project filters, and custom display prefixes for your projects.
+5. Adjust **Notifications** and **Misc** settings to control polling intervals, build sorting, and alert triggers.
+
+### Tray Menu
+- **Left-Click**: Opens the full project list menu.
+- **Project Items**: Click any project name to open its CI dashboard page in your default web browser.
+- **Tooltips**: Hover over the tray icon to see the last check time. Right-click for options including **About** and **Exit**.
+
+## Development
+
+To set up a local development environment:
+
+1. Clone the repository and create a virtual environment:
+   ```bash
+   git clone https://github.com/anaynayak/buildnotify.git
+   cd buildnotify
+   python3 -m venv venv
+   source venv/bin/activate
+   ```
+2. Install development and test dependencies:
+   ```bash
+   pip install -r test-requirements.txt
+   pip install -e .
+   ```
+3. Run the test suite:
+   ```bash
+   tox
+   ```
+4. Regenerate UI and icon resources (if modifying `.ui` or `.qrc` files):
+   ```bash
+   pip install paver
+   paver mk_resources
+   ```
+5. Launch the app locally:
+   ```bash
+   python buildnotifyapplet.py
+   ```
+
+## Contributing
+We welcome contributions! Please review the [Code of Conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) and feel free to open issues or pull requests for bugs, features, or improvements.
+
+## License
+BuildNotify is open-source software. See the repository license file for details.