A lightweight Windows application that automatically sets your desktop wallpaper to NASA's stunning Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). Wake up to breathtaking space imagery every single day!

• 🚀 Automatic Daily Updates: Your wallpaper changes to the latest APOD every day at 9 AM
• 🖼️ Smart Fallback: If today's APOD is a video, automatically uses yesterday's image
• 🔄 Manual Updates: Right-click the system tray icon to update instantly
• ⚙️ Background Operation: Runs silently in your system tray
• 🎛️ Auto-Update Toggle: Enable/disable automatic updates as needed
• 💾 Local Storage: Images saved to your %LOCALAPPDATA%\apodpaper folder
• 🔐 Secure API: Uses your personal NASA API key (free to obtain)

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page
2. Run APODPaper.exe
3. Follow the setup instructions below

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/yourusername/APODPaper.git
   
   cd APODPaper

2. Install required dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

3. Run the application:

   python main.py

1. Visit NASA API Portal
2. Click "Generate API Key"
3. Fill out the simple form (no verification required)
4. Copy your API key

1. Launch APODPaper
2. Enter your NASA API key when prompted
3. The app will minimize to your system tray
4. Your wallpaper will update automatically!

Right-click the APODPaper icon in your system tray to access:

• Update Wallpaper: Manually fetch and set today's APOD
• Toggle Auto-Update: Enable/disable automatic daily updates
• Quit: Exit the application

• Config & Imagesages: %LOCALAPPDATA%\apodpaper\
• Configuration: config.json (stores API key and settings)
• Images: apod_YYYYMMDD.jpg/png (daily APOD images)

The app automatically creates a configuration file at %LOCALAPPDATA%\apodpaper\config.json:

{
   "NASA_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here",
   "last_update": "2025-07-18",
   "auto_update": true
}}

App doesn't start/API key prompt doesn't appear:

• Ensure you have an active internet connection
• Check Windows Defender hasn't quarantined the executable
• Try running as administrator

Wallpaper doesn't update:

• Verify your NASA API key is valid
• Check the system tray - the app should be running
• Try manually updating via the system tray menu

"APOD is a video" issue:

• The app automatically falls back to yesterday's image
• Some days NASA features videos instead of images
• This is normal behavior and handled automatically

To reset the application:

1. Close APODPaper completely
2. Delete the folder: %LOCALAPPDATA%\apodpaper\
3. Restart the application

To create your own executable, you have several options:

# Run the automated build script
build.bat



# Or for PowerShell users
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File build.ps11

# Use the alternative build method
build-simple.batt

# Install PyInstaller
pip install pyinstaller



# Build using spec file
pyinstaller main.spec



# Or build with basic options
pyinstaller --onefile --windowed --name  "APODPaper" --noupx main.py

The executable will be created in the dist/ folder.

• OS: Windows 7/8/10/11
• Python: 3.7+ (if running from source)
• Internet: Required for downloading APOD images
• NASA API Key: Free from api.nasa.gov

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

• NASA for providing the amazing APOD API and imagery
• Astronomy community for inspiring this project
• Contributors who help improve this application

If you encounter any issues or have questions:

• Open an Issue on GitHub
• Check the troubleshooting section above
• Ensure you're using the latest version

Made with ❤️ for space enthusiasts everywhere