Have you ever fallen asleep watching a movie on your PC, only to wake up 8 hours later to your computer sounding like a jet engine? Fear no more! Meet the PC Power Timer.

Built with the mystical powers of Wails (which sounds like crying, but is actually an awesome Go + React framework), this neat little app does exactly what you'd expect: it puts your PC to sleep, restarts it, or shuts it down completely when the time is up.

Need your computer to shut down in exactly 45 minutes because you know you'll be passed out by then? Done! Want to force a restart because Windows is acting up and you need a dramatic pause? You got it! It uses highly sophisticated, definitely-not-Googled Windows commands (okay, it's literally `shutdown /s` and `rundll32.exe`) to execute its will upon your helpless machine.

So grab a snack, set the timer, and let PC Power Timer do the clicking while you take a hard-earned nap. Your electric bill will thank you!

Features

Schedule Power Actions — Set timers for shutdown, restart, or sleep
Flexible Time Units — Choose between seconds, minutes, or hours
Easy Cancellation — Cancel any running timer with a single click
Simple Interface — Clean and intuitive user interface
Windows Native — Built specifically for Windows systems

The Tech Stack: Wails + Go + React

Why Wails?

Wails is a framework for building desktop applications using Go as the backend and web technologies for the frontend. It's similar to Electron but with some key advantages:

Smaller bundle size — Go binaries are tiny compared to Electron's Chromium
Better performance — Native Go code is faster than JavaScript for system operations
Lower memory usage — No embedded browser engine overhead
Cross-platform — Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Project Structure

The app follows Wails' standard architecture:

PC Power Timer/
├── app.go           # Main application logic and timer functions
├── main.go          # Wails application entry point
├── wails.json       # Wails project configuration
├── frontend/        # React frontend application
│   ├── src/         # Source files
│   └── dist/        # Built frontend files
└── build/           # Compiled executables

How It Works

The Go Backend

The Go backend handles the actual system commands. It uses Windows' built-in power management commands:

// Shutdown command
exec.Command("shutdown", "/s", "/t", "0").Run()

// Restart command
exec.Command("shutdown", "/r", "/t", "0").Run()

// Sleep command
exec.Command("rundll32.exe", "powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState", "0,1,0").Run()

The React Frontend

The React frontend provides a clean interface for setting timers and selecting actions:

Timer input with flexible time units (seconds, minutes, hours)
Action selector (Sleep, Restart, Shutdown)
Start/Cancel buttons
Countdown display
Visual feedback for active timers

Communication Between Frontend and Backend

Wails automatically generates JavaScript bindings for Go functions, making communication seamless:

// Go function
func Shutdown() error {
    return exec.Command("shutdown", "/s", "/t", "0").Run()
}

// React usage
import { Shutdown } from '../wailsjs/go/main'

const handleShutdown = async () => {
    await Shutdown()
}

Development & Building

Prerequisites

Go — Version 1.18 or higher
Node.js — Version 16 or higher
npm — Comes with Node.js
Wails CLI — Install with `go install github.com/wailsapp/wails/v2/cmd/wails@latest`

Running in Development

To run the application in development mode with hot-reload:

wails dev

This will:

Start a Vite development server for the frontend
Compile and run the Go backend
Enable hot-reload for both frontend and backend changes
Provide a dev server at http://localhost:34115 for browser testing

Building for Production

To build a redistributable production package:

wails build

The built executable will be in the `build` directory.

Usage

Launch the application
Select the desired power action (Shutdown, Restart, or Sleep)
Set the duration and time unit (seconds, minutes, or hours)
Click "Start Timer" to begin
Cancel the timer anytime if needed

Technical Details

Backend — Go with Wails v2
Frontend — React with Vite
Platform — Windows
Power Commands:
- Shutdown: `shutdown /s /t 0`
- Restart: `shutdown /r /t 0`
- Sleep: `rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,SetSuspendState 0,1,0`

Why This Matters

This project demonstrates several important concepts:

Desktop development — Building native apps with web technologies
System integration — Interacting with OS-level commands
Go for backend — Using Go's strengths in system programming
React for UI — Leveraging React's component model for desktop apps
Cross-platform development — Writing code that works everywhere

Lessons Learned

Wails is powerful — Great alternative to Electron for desktop apps
Go excels at system tasks — Perfect for OS-level operations
Simple problems deserve simple solutions — Sometimes a timer is all you need
Hot-reload in desktop apps — Wails dev mode makes development fast and pleasant

Conclusion

The PC Power Timer is a simple but practical application that solves a real problem. It demonstrates how modern desktop development frameworks like Wails make it easy to build cross-platform applications that integrate deeply with the operating system.

Sometimes the best projects are the ones that solve your own problems. This app started because I kept waking up to my computer running all night after falling asleep watching movies. Now, I set the timer, grab a snack, and let PC Power Timer do the clicking while I take a hard-earned nap.

Your electric bill will thank you!

Resources:

GitHub Repository: https://github.com/YosriMlik/pc-power-timer
Download: GitHub Releases v1.0