aw-notify on Debian 13: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

[cweiske]

• I am on the latest ActivityWatch version.

• I have searched the issues of this repo and believe that this is not a duplicate.

• OS name and version: Debian 13

• ActivityWatch version: v0.13.2

Describe the bug

I installed the activitywatch-v0.13.2-linux-x86_64.deb with dpkg and then started activitywatch in my Gnome Shell invironment via the application list.
Nothing seemed to happen, but then I saw two processes running: aw-server and aw-watcher-window. I remember from earlier installations that there should be a systray icon and tried to start /opt/activitywatch/aw-notify/aw-notify on my own.

When doing that I get an error:

cweiske@frm:~$ /opt/activitywatch/aw-notify/aw-notify 
2025-10-23 21:20:07 [INFO ]: Starting...  (__main__:268)
2025-10-23 21:20:07 [ERROR]: Unhandled exception  (root:50)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 458, in <module>
  File "click/core.py", line 1157, in __call__
  File "click/core.py", line 1078, in main
  File "click/core.py", line 1666, in invoke
  File "click/core.py", line 1434, in invoke
  File "click/core.py", line 783, in invoke
  File "click/decorators.py", line 33, in new_func
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 274, in main
  File "click/core.py", line 783, in invoke
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 284, in start
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 338, in send_checkin
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 75, in _cache_ttl
  File "aw_notify/main.py", line 101, in get_time
  File "aw_client/queries.py", line 88, in canonicalEvents
  File "aw_client/classes.py", line 84, in get_classes
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable
[147703] Failed to execute script 'main' due to unhandled exception!

To Reproduce

1. Install deb on Debian 13
2. Run aw-notify from terminal

Expected behavior

aw-notify does not crash

[github-actions]

Hi there!
As you're new to this repo, please make sure you've used an appropriate issue template and searched for duplicates (it helps us focus on actual development!). We'd also like to suggest that you read our contribution guidelines and our code of conduct.
Thanks a bunch for opening your first issue! 🙏

[0xbrayo]

Try https://github.com/0xbrayo/aw-notify-rs, meant to replace aw-notify

[TimeToBuildBob]

The root cause is in aw-client, not aw-notify: get_classes() in aw_client/classes.py doesn't handle the case where get_setting("classes") returns None (instead of raising an exception). The subsequent list comprehension then crashes with TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable.

Submitted a fix in ActivityWatch/aw-client#102 — adds a None/empty guard that falls back to default classes.