How much time do you have?
SteamDial is a local, read-only Steam library browser that recommends what to play next based on how much time you have, using "time to beat" estimates (e.g. HowLongToBeat).
It can also show you only much your play time compares to the estimated play time of a game.
It runs a small Flask app served either in its own native window (via pywebview) or in
a regular browser tab, and never writes to your Steam installation.
Launch Steam Dial (either python steamdial.py from source, or SteamDial.exe if you're
using the packaged build). On first run it scans your local Steam library and opens in its
own window, no setup required — everything below is optional, on top of that default
experience.
Click the gear icon in the top-right corner to open Settings. Two keys are supported, both optional and both free:
- Steam Web API key — lets Steam Dial fetch your real owned-games list and actual playtime from Steam directly, instead of guessing from local files. Get one from steamcommunity.com/dev/apikey.
- SteamGridDB API key — fills in box art for games that Steam's own servers don't have artwork for. Get one from your SteamGridDB account preferences.
Paste the key(s) in, hit Save, then restart Steam Dial for them to take effect.
Steam Dial scans your library automatically on startup. If you've bought, installed, or uninstalled games since then, click Rescan in the top bar to refresh the list — this also re-checks for new playtime estimates and artwork in the background (shown by the progress bar under the search bar).
Hover over any game card and click the small pencil icon on its artwork to open the thumbnail editor. Pick an image from your computer, pan and zoom it to fit, then save — your image always takes priority over anything Steam Dial would have found on its own. Use the No thumbnail filter (see below) to quickly find every game still missing artwork.
- Search — filter the library by game name.
- Status dropdown — show all games, or narrow to Installed, Not installed, No playtime data, or No thumbnail.
- Sort dropdown — order by Name, Shortest/Longest first, Time left (shortest first), or Installed first.
- Playtime basis dropdown — switch between Main Story, Main + Extra, and Completionist hours; this changes both the hours shown on each card and what "shortest/longest first" sorting is based on.
- Include hidden games — also show games you've hidden in your Steam library.
- "How much time do you have?" — pick a preset (Quick Session, Weekend Game, Epic Long Haul) or type a time budget in plain language (e.g. "under 4 hours", "a weekend game") to get a shortlist of recommendations.
For install instructions, command-line flags, and a breakdown of the codebase, see docs/TECHnICAL_DETAILS.md.
Steam Dial was developed to fill a gap in the official Steam client (the absence of filters by average time to play or complete games).
It has been developed with Claude and GitHub Copilot to save time, and has been tested on Windows 11.
This has no affiliation to Steam or Valve, and is in no way an official product.
It is subject to break any time Valve makes a significant change to the Steam Desktop client.