researchdriver

A native macOS timeline for research conference deadlines.

English | 简体中文

Download for macOS · Support development · MIT license

Screenshots

Conference timeline and local-time countdowns

Multiple research fields and batch venue selection

Captured from an isolated copy of the maintainer’s synced CCFDDL catalog and followed venues on September 8, 2026. Conference names and deadlines are real source data; the clock is frozen for capture and displayed in UTC. These are snapshots, not a live deadline feed.

What it does

• Syncs CCFDDL once on each launch and keeps an offline cache.
• Filters conferences by multiple research fields, CCF rank and name. Select and follow several venues at once.
• Shows only followed rounds with valid upcoming dates. Missing or conflicting dates are never invented.
• Displays Abstract → Full paper → Rebuttal → Author notification, with source times converted to your Mac's time zone.
• Keeps ICLR · abs 11d3h · full 18d3h in the menu bar, updated every 30 seconds, even when the main window is closed.
• Supports English and Simplified Chinese. Choose a language or follow the system in Settings.
• Supports custom venues and local JSON import/export. No account, analytics or cloud upload of your follows or notes.

Install

Download a ZIP from Releases, extract it, and move researchdriver.app to Applications.

Prebuilt downloads currently require Apple Silicon and macOS 14+. Builds are ad-hoc signed, not Apple-notarized or Developer ID signed. macOS may block a downloaded app; you can also build from source below. A SHA-256 file accompanies each ZIP.

Use

Open All venues, select research fields and a CCF rank, then follow the venues you want. Clicking a conference card adds it to the batch selection; the bottom bar saves all selected follows. Following a conference series includes future editions when CCFDDL adds them.

The menu bar chooses the followed round with the nearest abstract or full-paper deadline and shows both countdowns. Unknown dates show TBD, past dates show Closed. CCFDDL does not currently supply structured rebuttal or notification dates; these remain empty. Always check the official call for papers.

Settings changes language immediately. Support development offers WeChat, Alipay and PayPal; unconfigured channels are explicitly marked and cannot initiate payment. Donations never unlock features.

Data and privacy

Data stays in ~/Library/Application Support/ResearchGuide/ (the legacy directory is retained for compatibility):

• venues.json: custom venues and followed conference IDs.
• ccfddl-cache.json: source catalog, raw deadlines, retrieval time and source SHA-256.

The app only downloads public CCFDDL data. Your time zone comes from macOS settings, without location permission. Payment links open externally, and QR payments are confirmed in the payment app. No payment API keys are bundled.

Backups merge by ID and preserve other follows. Failed reads block overwriting; failed syncs retain the prior cache. There are no background system notifications or automatic launch-at-login changes.

Build

Install Xcode Command Line Tools, then:

bash scripts/test.sh
bash scripts/build.sh
open build/researchdriver.app

The only Swift package dependency is Yams 6.2.2, pinned in Package.resolved. A first build needs network access; the app does not need Python or Ruby at runtime. Python 3 is used for localization validation during development.

To package a release ZIP and checksum:

bash scripts/package-release.sh

GitHub Actions tests and builds each change. Pushing a tag matching v$(cat VERSION) publishes the validated ZIP and checksum as a GitHub Release.

Tests cover AoE, UTC offsets, DST, countdown boundaries, multi-round submissions, invalid dates, follow IDs, localization, donation configuration and packaged resources. The selection benchmark in Tests/SelectionBenchmark.swift measures data work, not end-to-end UI latency.

Contribute and support

For future updates and feature requests, please open an issue.

Free and open source forever. If you like it, buy the author a coffee.

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See CONTRIBUTING.md for development and translation guidance, and SUPPORT.md for optional donations.

Source code and the generated app icon are MIT licensed. See asset provenance and third-party notices.