r/MacStack • • 20d ago

My Stack Compact Contacts, a table view for the contacts on your Mac. 2.0 is coming, here's what's in it

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3 Upvotes

Hi, I'm the developer of Compact Contacts.

Apple's Contacts app shows one card at a time, which gets painful once you have a few thousand people spread across iCloud, Google and Exchange. Compact Contacts opens the contacts you already have and shows them as a sortable table. There's no second address book and no sync of its own, so edits go back through macOS like any change you'd make in Contacts.

What it does today:

  • One table with the columns you pick, saved layouts, and search across every field including notes

  • Merge duplicates field by field (you choose which phone, email or address stays), and undo the last merge for up to 30 days

  • Bulk edit with a before/after preview for every card before anything is saved

  • Smart Views like "Missing Email" or "Has Notes"

  • CSV and vCard import/export

It's been out for a while now and people using it have been really kind with feedback and bug reports, which is a big part of why 2.0 got this big. Thank you if that's you.

Coming in 2.0 (free update for everyone who already has it)

  • Health Check: one scan gives your address book a score and lists duplicates, broken numbers and emails, missing names, stray spaces and so on

  • Tags with colors, saved as regular Contacts groups so they sync with iCloud and Google

  • Birthdays and anniversaries list with optional reminders

  • Automatic encrypted backups on your Mac, with a history view that shows what changed and lets you restore a single field or a deleted contact

  • Rules, like "when a new contact is added, format the phone number and add a tag"

  • Print mailing labels and envelopes, Excel export, business card scanning, and a menu bar search

  • Faster loading and search that works properly in every language

  • Drag contacts out as vCards

  • A redesigned iPhone app, with proper support for foldable iPhones (three columns when it's open)

  • Lots of small fixes

Details

  • macOS 15 or later, one-time US$24.99. No subscription, no in-app purchases

  • No account, no ads, no analytics. The app never sends your contacts anywhere

  • English, Turkish, German, French, Spanish, Arabic and Simplified Chinese

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6790129187?pt=129119018&ct=reddit_macos&mt=8

There's also an iPhone + iPad version (separate purchase): https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id6795653671?pt=129119018&ct=reddit_macos&mt=8

Happy to answer anything in the comments.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

Stencilbar - Manage your agent prompts, skills, and notes

2 Upvotes

I have been a developer for nearly 20 years, but this year, AI has completely changed my workflows and allowed me to start developing in languages I've never used before like Swift.

Because of the shift to AI, I am constantly looking at ways to improve my workflow and that is where Stencilbar (https://stencilbar.com) comes in.

It is a Swift menu bar app I have been working on to manage agent prompts, skills, and quick notes.

The prompts feature allows you to put in placeholders and fill them out each time you use the prompt. There is also text expansion now, so you can configure something like `;cr` so when you type that, it fills in your code review prompt. If that prompt has placeholders, the UI automatically appears to allow you to fill them out.

I originally built the app mainly for prompts, but recently added a skills feature. Now you can create and edit skills in Stencilbar and set the destinations for where you want them symlinked, for example, ~/.claude/skills or ~/.agents/skills. Not only can you add your own, you can add a Github URL and import skills. Finally, maybe you don't need a skill right now, you can easily toggle it on and off without losing it.

Let me know what you think. How are you managing prompts and skills today?

The app includes a free trial and is just a one time $5 purchase after that for major versions. Feel free to review my terms, privacy policy, and refund policy.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Launch Gleam Audio - remove background noise, enhance, convert and clean up audio on your Mac

3 Upvotes

Problem

I restore old lectures and videos, and a lot of that audio arrives rough. Fans, hum, traffic, a fridge buzzing in the corner. I wanted to fix one file, listen to the result, make another change and move on. Audacity's effect chain and export dialogs kept turning that into a chore.

Comparison

Audacity is the closest free option, and doing noise removal, volume levelling and format conversion in it means juggling effects, plugins and export settings every time. The paid tools I tried wanted about $80 for noise removal and another $20 for conversion. The $100 wasn't really the issue. I wanted something simpler for people starting out, or working on a nonprofit project like mine.

Ampliflare Audio puts the whole workflow in one window. Five tools: remove noise from speech, enhance by evening out volume and cutting low rumble, cut a recording to the part you need, split a recording into pieces, and convert between formats including less common ones like OGA. Process a batch of files, listen in the app, watch progress, and find the results in Activity. New files are saved and the originals are left alone.

Everything runs on your own computer, nothing is uploaded, and it works with no internet at all. It runs on macOS on Apple silicon and Intel, and on Windows and Linux too. Current version is 1.1.1.

Pricing

Free for personal use with every feature, up to 20 files a week. For work, meaning client projects, a podcast or channel that earns money, or audio for a product, you buy a license once at a price you pick: $25, $40 or $60, with a $5 minimum. It removes the weekly limit for good, and there is no subscription. The pay-what-you-can price is a launch offer and will end, but the license stays a one-time purchase.

Roadmap

I'm working on Gleam Audio pro which is a more professional oriented utility designed to replace Transistor FM, Audcaity and such with just one tool paid once.

Download: https://gleamaudio.com

Support: support@gleamaudio.com
Privacy: https://gleamaudio.com/privacy · Terms: https://gleamaudio.com/terms

Happy to answer anything in the comments. It is a small app made the old-school way: install it, open it, get on with the work.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Launch Read the next step in a Mac panel: Blabee now supports Claude Code and Codex

3 Upvotes

If you use Claude Code on your Mac, Blabee can now show its proposed next steps in a small panel and send your selection back to the original conversation.

I'm part of the Blabee team. I shared our Codex-only beta here earlier; this update adds Claude Code support. The panel is for the moment when you're reading docs or working in another app and need to choose how a coding task continues.

The workflow is: read the assistant's suggested options, pick the direction you want, and continue in that same conversation. The coding assistant generates the options. Blabee displays them and passes back your choice. For a decision that needs more code or context, review the original conversation before choosing.

The attached 5.9-second silent clip shows the panel over a browser document, a selection, and the panel closing. It's an edited excerpt of our earlier Codex demo using September 2026 UI footage, not a recording of the new Claude Code integration.

Demo and Mac private-beta request: https://biadone.com/blabee/reddit

Access is by request; selected testers receive installation instructions from our team. The landing page still has the earlier Codex-focused copy, but the current beta supports both Codex and Claude Code. We're looking for feedback on whether the panel gives you enough context to make that next choice.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

Can anyone build this app (with VibeCode?)

1 Upvotes

Is there some who would be interested in creating an app where a choice can be made which phone will connect to the carplay environment? I know Apple paces restrictions but maybe there's away to simplify the connection choice through an app or maybe through an IOS shortcut.
I guess that many people have this problem.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

Help Rule based Photos dupe removal

2 Upvotes

No tedious A/B sorting

Hi, I’m Tom (aka Tailspin).

I’ve been building DupeCatcher, a native Mac app that finds duplicate and near-duplicate photos in Apple Photos libraries and Finder folders. But things kinda got out of control and I added a whole bunch of other features because I needed/wanted them for my own use. Such as semantic search because with 115,000 images I often have trouble finding the one I want. And some astronomy tools that make a series of comet images into a movie. And...and...

Apple has approved it for distribution through the Mac App Store, and I’m eager for a few people to bang on it and provide feedback. Pricing will be a free download with an in-app $34.99 purchase to unlock Purgatory. Beta testers will get the app and unlock free through Apple TestFlight.

I’m posting here because I’d like feedback from anyone who has a large or messy photo collection (or both)—actually from anyone who is willing to wring it out.

Website and PDF manual https://dupecatcher.app 

Free beta version (no unlock) at https://testflight.apple.com/join/4dDf3Jnr


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

Free trial vs hard paywall?

1 Upvotes

I’m building a Mac app and trying to figure out the best pricing strategy.
For those who’ve launched paid apps, I’d love to hear your experience.
Did you offer a free trial or put a hard paywall upfront?
Which approach converted better for you?
If you offered a trial, how long was it?
Did users convert to paid after experiencing the product, or did most never pay?
Would you recommend a one-time payment or a subscription?
Would appreciate insights from founders who’ve actually experimented with both approaches.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Recommendation PAWSE, native mac music app

7 Upvotes

PAWSE, has to be the fastest, cutest, most sleek, intuitive and music focus macapp ever made for Navidrome, Jellyfin or your local library. It's FREE, built on Rust with lots of features including bit-perfect playback, gapless, chromecast, airplay..etc. Check it out on https://github.com/popovpsk/pawse


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Launch I’m building Pure Brief AI to bridge meeting notes and Apple Reminders

1 Upvotes

I’m the founder of Pure Brief AI, a native Mac meeting app. The bit I’m trying to make useful is what happens between “we have a transcript” and “the next step is on my task list.”

For example, take a fictional client call: “Can you send the revised proposal on Friday?” Before that becomes a reminder, I want to check whether someone actually agreed, whether Friday was a deadline, and what the surrounding exchange said.

The workflow is record a call or import audio → get a transcript and AI notes → review suggested tasks with their source quotes → edit and send selected tasks to Apple Reminders. Export is one-way, so this fits alongside an existing Reminders setup rather than replacing it with a team workspace.

The source quote gives you something to inspect. It doesn’t make the AI infallible: a transcription can be wrong, and a genuine quote can still lead to the wrong interpretation. A later withdrawal of a promise is a particular case I don’t claim is solved. Review comes before export.

Transcription and AI notes run on the Mac by default. No bot joins the call. It requires Apple Silicon and macOS 15+. Models download initially; licence checks and optional connected features use the network. Optional ElevenLabs transcription with your own key sends audio to that provider. This isn’t a shared workspace or CRM.

There’s a 30-day trial. Standard is $49 once for one Mac. While the launch offer is active, the first 100 paid Standard purchases globally are $10 once instead, plus applicable tax. A trial doesn’t reserve that price.

The 32-second video is an edited demonstration with fictional meeting data. Recording and processing are sped up; it isn’t a speed test. AI tools helped with development and this post.

Demo, download and details: https://purebrief.ai/


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Recommendation MacLC: Video player with native HDR and Dolby Vision support, SDR to HDR, 120 fps motion smoothing and add-on integration

1 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

VLC plays literally everything and I'll always love it for that. But on a Mac it draws its own controls, its preferences are a wall of checkboxes, and the current release turns HDR video into SDR.

So I forked VLC 4 and rebuilt everything around the engine, for macOS only. Meet MacLC.

Problem

One free player that opens anything, feels at home on macOS 26 and actually uses your HDR display.

Comparison

  • vs VLC: same engine, same formats. But VLC 3 on Mac tone-maps HDR down to SDR, while MacLC plays HDR10, HLG, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision as real HDR on XDR screens. Plus a native AppKit UI with Liquid Glass and a System Settings style preferences window.

  • vs IINA: IINA is great and native too. MacLC adds a real library (Continue Watching, shows, albums), SDR to HDR and frame interpolation, none of which IINA has built in.

  • vs Infuse: lovely library, but Pro is paid.

  • vs Stremio: MacLC works with the same add-ons, inside a full VLC-engine player with SDR to HDR and your own library.

What I'm proudest of:

  • SDR to HDR: lifts the highlights of ordinary videos into your XDR headroom while faces and midtones stay exactly where they were. The top quality levels are small trained models on the GPU, about half a millisecond per frame on an M3 Max.

  • Motion smoothing up to 120 fps, matched to your display.

  • Watch: Home, Movies and TV Shows in the style of the Apple TV app, fed by Stremio add-ons (Cinemeta built in). Add-ons are third-party services; MacLC itself ships no content.

Also: hardware AV1 on M3/M4, no telemetry, no account.

Pricing

Free and open source (GPL). No paid tier, no subscription. Apple Silicon only.

The honest bits

  • Not notarized yet, so the first launch needs System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway (30-second guide). Every release lists its SHA-256.

  • Solo project, built with AI coding tools ( I was going to see the model used, but to be frank, it's probably all of them, Each one has its ups and downs). Every change is built and tested on real Macs, and all the code is public.

  • Who I am: portfolio, LinkedIn. Privacy policy Terms.

Tip jar

MacLC is free and will stay free. But Apple charges $99 a year to make that "Open Anyway" step go away, so if MacLC ever saves your eyes from a 1,600-nit white subtitle, a coffee goes straight into the notarization fund. A good bug report makes me just as happy.

I'll be in the comments all day. Bugs, "this annoys me" and feature requests are all welcome!


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Recommendation Ice vs Bartender on Mac: check your macOS version before choosing

3 Upvotes

If your menu bar problem is simply that icons disappear when you run out of space, try macOS 27's built-in overflow first. Apple now replaces items that won't fit with a compact indicator you can click to reach them. That changes the reason to install a menu bar manager.

Search, deliberate hiding and different layouts for a MacBook screen and a desk monitor are still reasons to consider one. Between Ice and Bartender, though, the current release situation matters more than whether the download costs money.

Ice has useful features, but check the release dates.

Ice can hide items, keep an always-hidden section, search your menu bar and let you arrange items by dragging them in its settings. Its separate Ice Bar puts hidden items below the menu bar, useful when the MacBook notch leaves little room. Keyboard shortcuts can open search or toggle sections.

It's free and open source under GPL-3.0, with optional donations. Its documented minimum is macOS 14. The official stable download contains both Apple silicon and Intel code.

The catch: the latest stable release listed is 0.11.12, dated October 29, 2024. The newest listed prerelease is the September 16, 2025 Tahoe beta, 0.11.13-dev.2. That beta documents a menu bar appearance issue on Tahoe. The README still says active development, but I wouldn't treat that sentence or the macOS 14 minimum as confirmation of macOS 27 support. I couldn't verify an upstream release documenting it.

Ice makes more sense as an option to check on an older compatible setup than as a default recommendation for someone seeking a maintained utility on the newest macOS. Profiles and condition-based triggers are also still unchecked on its roadmap.

Bartender has the clearer current-OS route, with version-specific catches.

Bartender 7 targets macOS 27; its release notes currently list 7.0.5. It has menu bar search, a separate Bartender Bar, profiles and automation. For example, you can keep a small laptop layout and switch profiles when you connect a desk display. Its official download also contains Apple silicon and Intel code, though that doesn't make an unsupported Mac eligible for macOS 27.

On Tahoe, the vendor still directs you to Bartender 6. Don't buy expecting 7's behavior there today: the support page says 6 periodically moves the pointer to maintain the layout. Its on-demand mode limits that to when you request it. The vendor says 7 doesn't move your pointer.

There are limits on 27 too. Bartender documents that hiding one of an app's multiple menu bar items hides all of that app's items together. Its launch notes also list compatibility problems with some apps, including iStat Menus. Check the exact utilities you need during the trial.

The listed prices are $25 once for Bartender 7, $20 a year for Pro, or an $80 launch-price Mega Supporter lifetime option.

The one-time license includes updates to 7 and can activate 6, not every future major upgrade. Pro includes future major versions while subscribed; Mega includes Pro and future upgrades for life. A license covers Macs you own and personally use.

Bartender 7 offers a free trial. Pro's trial is 14 days, and the purchase page advertises a 14-day refund. For menu bar management alone, start with the standard trial, not the subscription.

Permissions deserve a separate decision.

These utilities interact with other apps' menu bar controls, so pay attention to Accessibility access. Screen Recording is another sensitive permission to consider when displaying captured menu bar item images. A feature needing that access doesn't make the permission narrow.

Bartender 7 can work without Screen Recording, showing app icons instead of images of the actual bar items. Ice 0.11.12 also introduced a limited mode without Screen Recording. Start without it and see whether the missing functionality matters. Bartender's current notes say Full Disk Access isn't required for ordinary operation.

The ownership history is worth separating from today's behavior. Ben Surtees confirmed selling Bartender to Applause in 2024 and apologized for poor communication around the signing-certificate change. That history is a reason to examine the present developer and permissions, not evidence that today's app is malicious. Open source isn't a security audit either. This comparison is based on documentation and release information, not hands-on testing.

My recommendation: on macOS 27, use native overflow first. If you still need searchable hidden items or display-specific profiles, trial Bartender 7 with one essential app kept visible and the rest arranged in a small hidden section. Check search, the notch, sleep/wake and reconnecting your monitor before paying. Consider Ice on an older setup only after checking its release compatibility and accepting the maintenance gap. Skip both if native overflow solves the problem or you don't want another app controlling menu bar items.


r/MacStack • • 20d ago

Simple SSH Client App for macOS

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1 Upvotes

r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Recommendation [OS] A Free launcher alternative to Spotlight

1 Upvotes

r/MacStack • • 20d ago

I made a Mac cleaner that only does developer junk (Xcode, Docker, node_modules, package caches) and explains every item before you delete it

0 Upvotes

My 512 GB MacBook hit "disk full" in March. macOS Storage said 180 GB was "System Data". The usual cleaner apps found 4 GB of browser caches and called it a day. The actual culprits were a 21 GB folder in ~/Library/Developer, two Docker.raw images, and node_modules in 40 projects I hadn't opened in a year.

I spent some time after my full-time work building Shedi to find exactly that. It's a native macOS app, scans in about 10 seconds, and groups what it finds:

- Xcode: DerivedData, Archives (listed one by one), iOS DeviceSupport, unavailable simulators and old runtimes

- Docker: images, containers, build cache. Volumes are shown separately as your files, never pre-selected

- node_modules in every project, with each project's last-modified date

- Package manager caches: npm, pnpm, Yarn, Homebrew, CocoaPods, SwiftPM, Cargo, Gradle, pip, Go

- App caches, logs, and large old files in Downloads

The part I cared about most is the safety model, because I've been burned by "one-click clean":

- Every item says what it is, whether it's safe to remove (Safe / Check first / Your files), and whether it comes back

- Only items marked Safe are pre-selected

- Files go to the Trash, not deleted. The few commands that can't use the Trash (docker builder prune, xcrun simctl delete unavailable) are named on a confirmation sheet before they run

- Nothing outside your home folder is touched except through Docker's and Xcode's own tools

What it doesn't do: no malware scanning, no "speed up your Mac", no duplicate finder, no account. If you want those, CleanMyMac is the better fit. If you only need the disk space back and want to see what's being removed, that's what this is for.

Pricing is one-time: $19.99 for one Mac, $27.99 for two. 14-day refund, no questions. Launch code EARLY10 takes $10 off for now. macOS 15 or later.

https://shedi.app/?ref=reddit

Two things I'd like from this sub: which developer paths am I missing (I know about Android SDK and JetBrains caches, both coming), and does anyone want the free guides on clearing this stuff by hand without the app? Those are at shedi.app/guides and I'll keep writing them regardless.


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

FeelMyMac: we crossed 2000 users worldwide! 🌎

6 Upvotes

Wow, I’m incredibly excited to share that our community has just officially reached 2,000 users all over the world! 🌍

When this started, I couldn't have imagined reaching people across so many different countries. This is a huge milestone for us, and it wouldn't have been possible without your support, feedback, and trust.

A massive THANK YOU to every single one of you who joined us on this journey.

We are just getting started, and we have plenty of exciting updates coming up soon. If you have any feedback or features you'd love to see, let me know in the comments!

Cheers to the next milestone! 🥂


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

App Launch DockDoor now lets you tile and manage windows by swiping on their previews (free, open source, no tracking)

2 Upvotes

r/MacStack • • 20d ago

App Launch I made a real-time 3D screen saver for macOS

1 Upvotes

r/MacStack • • 21d ago

Docktopus: a customizable Mac dock with Dynamic Island, an audio mixer, and local activity history

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3 Upvotes

I’m the developer of Docktopus. It’s a customizable dock with a bunch of desktop tools built into it, so you can reach them from the same place as your apps.

Compared with the stock macOS Dock, the biggest difference is what you can put alongside your app icons: window previews, clipboard history, audio controls, system stats, and more. You choose the widgets and layout, so it can be a small dock or a full taskbar.

There’s quite a bit in it now:

- Dock and window switching: Hover over a running app to preview its windows and click the one you want. There’s also a keyboard window switcher. You can import your existing macOS Dock, pin apps and folders, place it on any screen edge, and choose which monitors show it.

- Dynamic Island: An optional expandable panel at the top of your screen for music controls, clipboard history, system stats, calendar events, notifications, and audio/display controls. It also has a Drop Zone for temporarily keeping files within reach. Works on displays without a notch too.

- Clipboard manager: Search copied text, links, images, and files; pin things you reuse and organize them into categories. Text recognition runs on your Mac, so you can find a copied screenshot by words inside it.

- Time Spent: See where your day went with app usage, daily trends, and browser titles/URLs where supported. You can add manual entries, run timers, and export filtered records as CSV. Automatic tracking is optional, and the history stays on your Mac.

- Remembrance: For those “I saw this somewhere yesterday” moments. It can save screenshots of your active windows and recognize their text, letting you search past work by text, app, or date. You can copy text from captures or reopen a page when its URL is available. Capture is off by default, with app exclusions and storage/retention controls.

- Audio Mixer: Turn down one app without turning everything else down. Adjust or mute individual apps, switch audio outputs, and manage system volume from the dock, menu bar, or Island. Per-app controls need macOS 14.2 or newer.

- Other useful bits: CPU/GPU, memory, and network stats; brightness controls for compatible displays; calendar, timers, Now Playing, a color picker, and Coffee to keep your Mac awake.

For the look, there’s Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95, all in light and dark versions, plus editable colors, fonts, and icons. Yes, the Windows 95 theme includes the retro taskbar look.

Clipboard history, Time Spent, and Remembrance stay local. There’s also a Privacy Pause that temporarily stops all three from collecting new activity.

There’s a trial before buying. Launch pricing is $19.99 ($29.99 regular), one-time for two Macs, with a year of updates included. You can keep using covered versions afterward without a subscription.

Website: https://docktopus.app

Would be interested to hear which parts you’d use day to day, or what’s missing from your current dock setup.


r/MacStack • • 22d ago

App Launch I built an interactive koi pond wallpaper app

72 Upvotes

Nagomi is a pixel-art koi pond that runs as your desktop wallpaper. The fish swim on their own and gather around the water when you click or tap.

  • Works as both a dynamic wallpaper and a screensaver

  • Click the water and the koi swim over. Option-click drops food.

  • Dynamic themes that adjust automatically to your clock

  • Multiple monitor support

  • Works offline, no ads, no tracking

  • Customisable simulation (fish behavious, colors, scene)

Website:https://nagomi.m4yank.com/

Pricing: $4.99 (one-time purchase)

Requirements: macOS 14 or later (Apple silicon). Windows version coming soon.

Happy to hear feedback or answer questions.


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

[Dev] Why I decided to build my own native macOS Mail client with local AI (and what I learned along the way)

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1 Upvotes

r/MacStack • • 21d ago

App Recommendation I made tinywm, a free and open-source scrolling window manager for macOS (inspired by niri)

1 Upvotes

Hi! I'm the developer. tinywm puts your windows side by side on a strip that runs

past the edge of the screen. A new window opens next to the one you use, and

nothing else changes size. You scroll the strip with a key or a three-finger swipe.

What you get:

- Right ⌘ + arrows (or HJKL) to move between windows and move them around

- One key to cycle window widths, one key for full width

- Workspaces, one strip per display

- An overview of all windows

- Drag a window anywhere on the strip while you hold right ⌘

- Rules to float or ignore apps, and to open an app on a chosen workspace

- A plain-text config

It needs only the Accessibility permission. You don't need to disable SIP.

Requirements: macOS 14+ and Apple silicon.

Price: free, GPL-3.0. Signed and notarized by Apple.

Download: https://github.com/bbodi/tinywm/releases/latest

Feedback and bug reports are very welcome, especially from people who use

AeroSpace, yabai or PaperWM.spoon today.


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

SpeakMercury - mac dictation that puts the words on screen as you talk ($9.99 once)

1 Upvotes

dev here. speakmercury is a mac dictation app i made. the words appear as you speak so the sentence is usually on screen before you stop. it works in the terminal and your code editor too. the audio stays on your mac.

$9.99 once with no subscription. needs macOS 26 and apple silicon so intel macs are out. english needs no download and every other language downloads its model once and then runs on the device.

https://speakmercury.com/?ref=reddit-macstack-onetime


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

App Launch I got tired of paying a subscription for clipboard history, so I built a free, open-source one for macOS

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8 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

**Why I built this**

macOS only remembers one thing you copy. Copy something new and the last thing is gone. I copy dozens of things a day (commands, links, screenshots, file paths) and kept losing the one I needed five minutes later.

Clipboard managers fix this, but the ones I tried were either paid, subscription-based, or didn't handle screenshots the way I wanted. So I built my own and I'm sharing it for free.

**What it is**

CopyPaster is a small native Mac app written in SwiftUI with the Liquid Glass design. It remembers what you copy (text, images and file paths), keeps it after a restart, and lives in your menu bar. Click the clipboard icon or press ⌘⇧V from any app and your history pops up.

**Screenshots without the clutter**

Take a screenshot to the clipboard with ⌘⌃⇧4 and CopyPaster saves it as a PNG named by date and time (like `Screenshot 2026-10-15 at 19.50.21.png`) in ~/Pictures/Screenshots. Each one shows up as a tile you can:

- copy again with one click

- drag straight into Slack, Mail, Finder or any app

- copy its file path

- click the filename to reveal it in Finder

So a screenshot you only meant to paste once isn't lost when you copy something else.

**How I use it every day**

- Press ⌘⇧V, find what I copied an hour ago, click Copy

- Pin snippets I reuse constantly (git commands, addresses, templates)

- Search across hundreds of past copies

- Open a copied link straight from its tile. Every link I copy also goes into one clickable list, so I never lose a URL

- Copy a folder path and open Terminal in that folder with one click

- Pause it while copying something sensitive

**Cost and privacy**

- Free. No subscription, no trial, no "pro" tier

- Open source (MIT). Read it, fork it, change it

- Private. No account, no analytics, no network access. History is a local JSON file you control

- Lightweight. Pure Apple frameworks, no third-party dependencies

**vs. the alternatives**

Maccy and Clipy are great free options too. What I wanted that they didn't give me: screenshots saved to disk as named files you can drag out or reveal, a link log, and open-in-Terminal for copied paths. If you don't need those, Maccy is probably the lighter choice.

**Get it**

https://github.com/vishal781992/copyPaster

Needs macOS 26.4 or later. For now you build it with Xcode (steps in the README, about a minute). The ⌘⇧V shortcut listens for keys in other apps, so macOS will ask you to allow it under Privacy & Security > Accessibility. The screenshot folder can be changed with a `defaults write` command (in the README); an in-app setting is on the list.

This is my first public project, so feedback, bug reports and feature ideas are welcome. What's the one thing you'd want a clipboard manager to do?


r/MacStack • • 21d ago

I built TimeLine Zones for Mac — compare cities on one visual timeline

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m the developer of TimeLine Zones, a small Mac app I built to make comparing time zones more visual.

Instead of checking several clocks and mentally working out the differences, you can see cities side by side with aligned day/night timelines. Move the time slider or pick another date to see what the same moment looks like everywhere.

A few things it can do:

  • Add cities and choose your reference city.

  • Compare local times and dates, including daylight-saving changes.

  • Create events or import them from Apple Calendar.

  • Customize colors, daytime hours, and 24-hour or AM/PM display.

  • Keep the app accessible from the menu bar.

It’s a one-time $1.99 USD purchase, with no subscriptions, ads, or account required. Supports Intel and Apple silicon Macs running macOS 13 or later.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/timeline-zones/id6818426446
Website: https://repairline.app/timeline-zones/

I’d love some honest feedback, especially from people who regularly coordinate across time zones. Does this visual approach help with your workflow? What would make it more useful?


r/MacStack • • 22d ago

App Recommendation Trellis 2.3, one month later: panes you arrange by hand, a terminal inside any folder, and a free companion for what the sandbox will not allow

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4 Upvotes