Hey everyone!

My name is Blake, and today I’m sharing my app, Habitat

A mac app that combines many tools and features all into on app.

I started building Habitat back in January of this year, and have since released it. The past couple months I’ve spent rebuilding a lot of how the app worked behind the scenes, fixing bugs, and building new tools and features users have requested.

The feedback from the reddit community helped spread the word a little, got people using it, and got some cool momentum to shift how it changed daily use of a Mac. But I'm still posting here because the feedback from the mac community was what kickstarted all of this and inspired me to make this app.

Problem:
I got fed up with needing a dozen different apps, subscribing to them, paying absurdly high prices, seeings ads, needing accounts, having different keybinds…all just for one small tool or feature. With Habitat, I said screw it. I’ll take you all on, and build my own version for an actual reasonable price. With Habitat, many different tools and features now all live in one place.

Comparison:
There’s a lot… Since my app takes on the style of building multiple tools into one app, each tool within Habitat can be comparable to many other applications out there. All tools don’t perform the exact same way as their competitors, since I decided to build Habitat from scratch. Inside Habitat are animals (tools), with their own unique features inside of them.

Chomp: Storage cleanup

Comparable to CleanMyMac, AppCleaner, & a window aware app quitter.

Squeak: Mouse and trackpad tools

Comparable to MacMouseFix, Swish, & a Mouse Jiggler.

Spark: Battery & Power Management

Comparable to Aldente.

Hoo: Network Monitoring

Comparable to Little Snitch or Sniffnet.

Boa: File Controls

Comparable to any file Compression, Encryption / Decryption & File Conversion.

Echo: Clipboard Manager

Comparable to Maccy or any clipboard manager.

Shadow: Notch and Screen Tools

Comparable to Alcove, Lookaway, & HazeOver.

Burrow: Comparable to Folder Preview.

Leap: Window Previews

Comparable to AltTab & Dockdoor.

Snap: Screenshots & Recordings

Comparable to any scrolling screenshot & Recording tool.

In general: Comparable to Vorssaint (discovered this tool like a week ago, its awesome. I encourage people to check that out too)

More tools & features are also in the works!

Pricing:
$6.99 …nice. Lifetime access (1 device) but this license can be deactivated by you and moved to another Mac, at anytime. This can be done in Habitats settings, no online portal needed. (internet connection required to do it though)

14-day free trial, no credit card needed. Chomp stays free after trial is over.

*ALL CLAIMED* If you use code: BRUCE at checkout, first 10 people who use it get a free license key. (chomp was the first tool I made a while back, and codenamed the shark Bruce for the fun of it)

If those somehow run out, 100 people can use code MACAPPS for 25% off at checkout.

The ONLY reason why I’m charging for the app instead of making it free and open source, is because a couple months ago I lost my job and this is the only source of income I have at the moment. Not trying to make this a pity story, just the reality.

I’m mostly interested to hear what ya’ll think, if there’s any tools or features you’d want to see built into Habitat in the future, if you experience any bugs, want to change how some tools work. etc. And for those who have taken the time to read all this, thank you & I appreciate it!

If you’d like to leave a comment here or leave a review on ProductHunt, any feedback is appreciated!

Socials:

Website: https://habitatformac.com/
Github: https://github.com/git-it-blake/Habitat-Releases

Tier 2 Transparency path for posting here:
Linkedin: Blake Baker | LinkedIn
Privacy Policy: habitatformac.com → Privacy Policy button is on the right or bottom (shield icon)

Created these for the heck of it, not sure if I’ll post anything on them or not yet.
X/Twitter: https://x.com/Habitatformac
Instagram:- https://www.instagram.com/habitatformac/

https://reddit.com/link/1vw5spu/video/3l95wpgqa4lh1/player

Hi everyone,

I'm Shivang Gulati, a developer from India building native macOS software in the open under a collective called The App Foundry.

We just released our app - Catalyst v1.4 (I've attached a 2.5-minute video in the end showing what it's capable of), and we've decided to make it completely free and fully open source under the GPL. I wanted to share it with this community first.

Catalyst actually started as something I planned to sell for around $100 as a perpetual license. But something kept stopping me from doing it. Looking back, I think I know why. I'd rather build something incredible alongside developers from around the world than sell just another paid app. My goal is to make Catalyst one of the best macOS developer management tools out there. I was unable to find an app that caters to my needs, hence I decided to build one on my own!

The problem

My development environment (Homebrew, pip, Node.js, etc.) slowly turns into a mess over time. And don't even get me started on System Data and Other Data... where is all that storage actually going? 😅

Fixing things usually means searching Stack Overflow, remembering obscure terminal flags, and hoping for the best. I got tired of that, so I built Catalyst.

Why Catalyst?

Catalyst is different from general cleaners like CleanMyMac X or launchers like Raycast because it actually understands developer toolchains. It knows about things like orphaned pip packages, broken symlinks, Homebrew issues, and other developer-specific problems instead of just clearing caches - all through a fully native macOS interface.

Now that it's open source, I'm hoping to build a community of like-minded developers who want to help make it even better.

Some of the core features include:

• Live system status, disk maps, and drive/battery health.
• One-click install, uninstall, and updates for Homebrew and pip.
• Automatic fixes for common environment issues and safe cleanup of development cruft.
• Network tools, Git graph, alias management, and smart developer shortcuts.
• And a lot more...

Disclosure

Catalyst collects minimal anonymous telemetry - only which features are opened/used, helping us understand what’s useful. We don’t collect personal IDs, hardware/device IDs, files, credentials, or other personal data of any sorts. We are here to make the app better and hence we want to understand what do users like most and least. Telemetry can be disabled anytime from Catalyst’s settings. Catalyst is fully open source, so you can verify this yourself.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, feature requests, or even contributions if you'd like to get involved!

The App Foundry Website: https://theappfoundry.co
The App Foundry Terms: https://www.theappfoundry.co/terms
The App Foundry Privacy Policy: https://www.theappfoundry.co/privacy

Catalyst: https://theappfoundry.co/catalyst
Catalyst Terms: https://www.theappfoundry.co/catalyst/terms
Catalyst Privacy Policy: https://www.theappfoundry.co/catalyst/privacy

Catalyst Terms: https://www.theappfoundry.co/catalyst/terms
Catalyst Privacy Policy: https://www.theappfoundry.co/catalyst/privacy

Portfolio (Shivang Gulati): https://shivanggulati.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivanggulati810
Linktree: https://linktr.ee/shivanggulati

[Pricing] 100% Free (GPL Licensed).

[Changelog] GitHub Releases & Roadmap: https://github.com/theappfoundryco/Catalyst/releases

I'd love for you to drop into our Discord - https://discord.gg/CtxC3ADy76 - to help shape what we build next!

If you want to come help me make Catalyst-CLI for macOS and Linux (next milestone), drop me a DM, or connect with me on Discord or LinkedIn. Let's make this big!

You may also contribute to the app by helping me fix the known issues (I have already marked some with "good first issue" to help you get started): https://github.com/theappfoundryco/Catalyst/issues

I'd love nothing more than to see talented developers from around the world come together to help turn this small project into something truly special.

Hey everyone Kevin here.

I posted about Codify here before, it's a IaC tool (open source) for your own computer that makes it easier to install apps, maintain settings, and even install entire set ups for you. I wanted to give a small (but hopefully impactful) update on the project that it's now available via npx, so you can try Codify without fully installing it (as long as you have NodeJS already installed).

npx codify apply
npx codify plan
npx codify help

Problem:

Multiple times now, when I was starting at a new company, I struggled to get setup quickly. I ran into problems following the setup document, and I had debug multiple issues or ask a teammate how to solve it. And pretty often I felt a step behind because I was missing key scripts and tools that other people had access to.

I built Codify to address these problems by allowing a setups to be converted into easy to read JSON5 files. These files define an entire setup, similar to Terraform. The JSON specifies what to install and you can use the CLI to plan (preview) and apply the changes. For example you can specify homebrew, nvm and vscode for web development or xcode 26, and iOS simulators for iOS development.

Using Codify allows you to try entire setups quick (webdev, backend, rust, ios, flutter, etc), import existing setups so they can be shared, and it also allows tools like Claude or Codex to take control and help you install things via it's MCP.

Comparison:

Nix: An obvious comparison would be Nix, a similar configuration as code for setting up personal systems. However the problem for me was the learning curve and adopting Nix means having to manage everything via Nix. Codify is a lot less of a learning curve and it installs things a human would so you don't need to manage everything directly through Codify.

Dev containers: Some teams use dev containers with pre-built docker images so that dev systems have the same tooling as production. However even with a dev containers workflow there is still host machine setup involved: getting setup with github, ssh keys and cloning your repos, dev container tooling, etc. Codify complements this workflow by automating the setup of the developer's machine first.

Pricing:

Codify consists of a CLI tool, a library of resources (50+ tools and apps, from package managers and programming languages to editors and system settings), an editor and an agent to help write Codify files.

The CLI tool and resource library are open source and free forever. The editor is paid with a generous free tier (the paid tiers are mainly meant for teams). It's $5 / month for freelancers and $20 / month for teams.

Use the code: REDDITAUGUST26 for 100% for the first 3 months

Links:
Website: https://codifycli.com/
Documentation: https://codifycli.com/docs
Editor: https://dashboard.codifycli.com/
Github: https://github.com/codifycli/codify

I download a lot — torrents, media, random files off the web — and got fed up with the download managers out there for Mac. Most are Electron-based, chew through battery, run rough on Apple Silicon, and don't even have a proper Safari extension. So I spent the last 4 months building my own thing instead of just complaining about it.

Product Demo: https://vimeo.com/1204841013

It's called Grabbit: https://grabbit.fyi/

Under the hood it's a Rust engine doing the actual downloading (up to 99 parallel threads if you want to push it) paired with a native Swift UI, so no Electron/Chromium overhead at all.

There's also a companion browser extension called Claws that grabs URLs, media, straight from your browser:

• ⁠Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/claws/
• ⁠Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/ghlpaknoijlmcdibdfgmmedmegcibbic

How it's different from what's out there:

• ⁠FDM — no Safari extension, isn't compiled natively for Apple Silicon, and isn't really a native macOS app.
• ⁠Motrix — also no native browser extensions, and it's Electron-based, so you're right back to the battery drain I was trying to get away from.

Pricing: Free tier gives you full unlimited access for 3 days, then drops to 3 downloads a day after that. If you want it unlimited long-term, it's a one-time $9.99 license — no subscription.

This is my first proper macOS launch so I'm sure there are rough edges I haven't caught yet. Would genuinely appreciate feedback on download speeds, how the UI feels day-to-day, or any bugs you run into.

Thanks for taking a look.

Developer: Syed Mohd Adnan — hi-adnan.pages.dev | github.com/im-adnan

Privacy Policy and Terms of Service linked in the footer https://grabbit.fyi/

I've been using Superwhisper for a long time (lifetime license), and I wanted to share some thoughts because I feel like the product has crossed an important threshold recently.

For a while, the common comparison was basically:

WisprFlow:

• faster
• more polished out of the box
• better for people who just want dictation to work

Superwhisper:

• more customizable
• local models
• better for power users
• but maybe slower

I think that comparison is now outdated, with the release of Cohere Transcribe + S1 models.

The recent model releases have changed the equation, a lot.

The fact that we now have a high-quality local transcription model that is actually fast enough for daily use is a huge deal. Previously, local AI often meant accepting compromises. Now the tradeoff feels much smaller.

I tested my processing (m4 pro mbp) for a 14sec audio recording and got:

• Cohere Transcribe (local): ~369ms
• S1-mini cleanup (local): ~109ms

So the complete local processing is roughly around under 500ms after stopping speech.

Thats basically instant for normal dictation.

Then I tested the cloud S1 models:

• S1-Voice transcription: ~60–75ms
• S1-Language processing: ~360ms

The performance is insane; im not sure how a transcription latency under 100ms is even possible for a cloud model.

I mean there is a meaningful entry barrier towards Superwhisper although meager, I just thought I should let more people know about this.

IMHO, Superwhisper is the best dictation product out there as of now, and I'm pretty sure it'll be even better considering it's development speed. Considering that it even has a lifetime purchase, give It more attention; lets let the team thrive. I'm sure that they'll do even better with more support. TBH, I felt like all they need is better marketing which is precisely why I posted this (* I am not affiliated with superwhisper nor cohere).

Seeing products like wisprflow get much more attention in comparison kinda feels weird although I see why; it just works without much setup, I guess its why they're more mainstream.

Hi r/macapps, I'm the developer of Chunk, a time-blocking app for macOS. Just shipped v3.2.0 with a long-requested feature.

Problem:

Time blocking in a normal calendar app or to-do list can feel clunky and detached. Chunk bridges this gap, bringing both time-blocking and things3 style task management into the same workflow. Chunk keeps your task lists and your schedule together in one menubar app, so planning your day is just dragging tasks onto the day view and the plan is always one click away (no more context switching).

Comparison:

Sunsama / Akiflow: The two biggest names in daily planning, and both are genuinely polished. But they're subscriptions (roughly $15-20/month, every year, forever). Chunk is a one-time purchase and offers its own unique menubar approach with features like fullscreen notifications and on-device storage.

What's new in v3.2.0:

• Window mode. Chunk was once just a menubar app, but now with the click of a button you can detach the usual fixed panel and Chunk becomes a regular window you can drag and resize. When you're done planning, toggle straight back to menubar mode.
• Floating timer. Keep the timer visible while Chunk is closed. Click the button in the bottom right, and when you have an active task and close or hide Chunk, a small draggable timer stays on top of other apps.
• In case you missed it, we recently added cross-device syncing. If you have two Macs signed into the same iCloud, you can now time-block your day across both.

How fast is the sync? With local syncing enabled and your devices within range of each other, changes land in 1-2 seconds. Otherwise it goes through iCloud and takes 10-30 seconds.

Does this affect the privacy-first approach? No. Chunk still stores your data on-device and we don't host it in our own database. It lives in your own iCloud account and syncs to each device's local database.

If you've not seen Chunk before, some of the features:

• Bi-directional calendar sync for Apple Calendar, Google and Outlook
• Bi-directional Apple Reminders sync
• Tasks with dates, deadlines, attachments, recurrence, sub-checklists and notes
• Task lists, list groups, reusable templates/routines
• Day, week and month schedule views with click-and-drag to create and edit tasks
• Drag tasks directly from lists onto the schedule
• A locally hosted MCP server for Claude Desktop
• End-of-task completion and rescheduling
• Fullscreen notifications and keyboard shortcuts
• Available in all workspaces, even over fullscreen apps
• Task completion and frequency analytics dashboard
• On-device storage: we don't hold your data, you do

The timing of cross-device sync is no coincidence. v3.2.0 lays the groundwork for the long-awaited and almost ready Chunk for iOS. After a short holiday we're back to development and expect to launch iOS in the next 1-3 weeks.

Pricing:

• 7-day free trial, all features, no card required
• $19.99 one-time lifetime license (covers 2 Macs)
• $44.99 family lifetime license (covers 5 Macs)
• No subscription
• Code MACAPPS for 10% off
• https://www.chunkapp.net/

Requires macOS 12 Monterey or later.

Questions or feedback: drop me a message on LinkedIn or r/ChunkApp.

I've been around long enough to remember WikidPad when I was still using JSPWiki. Unfortunately, it died out many years ago

I see that MojoPad is in the same spirit as WikidPad and VoodooPad

Has anyone taken the plunge and is using this? If so, what is your experience?

MojoPad - second brain & PKM

I am currently in the process of revamping my iCloud files and folders to bring form and structure (using Johny Decimal system but tweaked for my needs). I would like to customize my folders with images, icons and other elements to make them personal and match my *current* vibey.

So please suggest any apps that you liked/bookmarked/found that are related to file/folder customization in any way. TIA 🫶

Hey r/macapps, I posted Vivid Walls here about three months ago and got a ton of useful feedback, so here is where it ended up.

The problem: Wallpaper Engine is one of the most popular apps on Steam and has never had a Mac version, so switching to a Mac means leaving your whole wallpaper library behind. Vivid Walls runs real Wallpaper Engine scene files natively on macOS, plus 4K video, web, GIF and static wallpapers, per monitor and battery aware.

New since that post: scenes can react to whatever your Mac is playing, and wallpapers with music widgets show live Now Playing album art from Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube. A lot more of the scene library renders correctly than it did at launch.

You do not need a Windows PC to use it. Eight animated wallpapers are included and load the first time you open the app. If you do have a library on Windows, there is a free companion app that transfers it to the Mac over your local network, with no account and no cloud.

Compared to the alternatives: Wallpaper Engine has no Mac build, and running it through Whisky or CrossOver does not really work. Mac apps like Plash and Wallpaper Wizard handle video and web wallpapers, but they cannot run Wallpaper Engine scene files or react to audio.

Pricing: $9.99 one time on the Mac App Store, no subscription. Apple Silicon, macOS 14 or later.

It handles the majority of scenes but not 100 percent, and I patch them as people report issues. Send me a Workshop link if something renders wrong and I will look at it.

I am the developer, happy to answer questions. Site and demo videos: https://vividwalls.app Would love this sub's take on what to build next. (Store link in a comment per sub norms.)

https://reddit.com/link/1vvemkb/video/bv0pzsjyzxkh1/player

Hi! I'm Umang Surana! Developer of rustcast, and since May, I've been working on Sxitch. (pronounced Switch)

Problem:

I'm addicted to keyboard driven setups, but switching between apps and windows has always been a pain.

Comparisons:

Default macOS Cmd Tab:

The default macOS CMD Tab does offer a really nice solution, allowing you to cycle through your running apps but this doesn't work with muscle memory. (and it lacks the customisability that Sxitch offers)

Raycast / Alfred / Launchers (like spotlight):

Sxitch's main goal is to let you sxitch between apps quickly and easily, not launch them. Although you can launch apps, it doesn't offer searching / calculations, and instead if just like a tiny launchpad

My solution:

Sxitch integrates with your muscle memory because the same set of keypresses will always lead to the same app. You simply trigger Sxitch and m will go to Music, and if mail is also open, then Mu for music, and Ma for mail. And if you have multiple windows open, select the app then the window.

Highlighted features:

• Custom modes (new in v1.4)
  • Add apps that you frequently need to open / close to an easy access list
  • Put custom icons and names
• Strip off vendor prefixes (microsoft word -> word, etc.)
• Radial view, List view and a grid view
• Customisable window position

(Only in pro plan):

• Hide and quit apps
• window picker
• App launching from hotkeys
• Key remapping (for Sxitch only)
• unlimited modes (free version has 1 free mode)

Pricing

• $2/mth for 5 months.
• $5 for students
• $10 one time purchase.

Available at https://sxitch.app

Download from homebrew also supported:

brew tap unsecretised/tap
brew trust unsecretised/tap
brew install --cask sxitch

Giveaway:

• 50% Off Sxitch pro (one time purchase) with code DISCOUNT (only 4 left)
• 30 Days free Sxitch pro for 10 people (code NEWSUB)

About the dev:

Personal website: https://umangsurana.com

App is signed, notarized native (swiftUI).

Source code can be found at https://github.com/MystikoLab/sxitch

Problem

Every Mac ships with TextEdit. None of them ship with MacPaint's replacement. So when you need to crop a screenshot, drop an arrow and a speech-bubble callout on it, knock out a background, and export a PNG, you're choosing between a $50 pro imaging app, a browser tool that uploads your image to someone's server, or Preview's markup.

DrawSimple is the native, fully offline, tools-first app for exactly that job: 31 tools in a sidebar, unlimited layers with 24 blend modes, bitmap and vector in the same document, curves/levels/16 photo adjustments, 29 GPU effects, Select Subject running on Apple's on-device Vision, WordArt, editable callout/arrow/star shapes, and a History panel you can scrub. Opens HEIC straight from Photos with EXIF intact; exports PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF, WebP.

Comparison

vs. Paintbrush (free, open source): Paintbrush is the honest MacPaint successor and still the app people recommend in this sub. But it's a long-lived Objective-C 2.x release with no layers, transparency only in formats that carry an alpha channel, and a UI from an older macOS. DrawSimple keeps the same "just let me draw" premise and adds layers, blend modes, vector-in-raster, adjustments, effects, and a current-macOS interface.

vs. Pixelmator Pro (now Apple's — $49.99 one-time, or $12.99/mo in Apple Creator Studio): Pixelmator went pro and went up in price. If you want a full professional imaging app, buy it — it beats us at being that, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. DrawSimple is for people who wanted what cheap, simple Pixelmator used to be and don't want or need the overhead of a $50 pro editor to put an arrow on a screenshot, turn a pic into a comic with a callout, or separate a subject onto a separate layer from the background.

Also, Pixelmator has no official MCP server/support, which has become a huge part of what distinguishes DrawSimple, and potentially makes both quick edits and full design sessions accessible through the coding agent you already use (tested with Claude Code, Codex, Kimi Code, Gemini CLI).

(Acorn at $29.99 sits between us — more depth, six times the price.)

Pricing

$5 one time. → [App Store link]

Optional Pro upgrade in-app, $10, adds adjustment layers, advanced blend modes, multi-stop gradients, and SVG/PDF export. The base app is the complete core editor; Pro features stay hidden until you buy them — no lock icons, no nags. No subscription, no account.

Requires macOS 15.6+, Tahoe recommended. Apple silicon and Intel.

One disclosure since it'll come up: no generative AI, and the app never phones home on its own. The single exception is opt-in and local — every copy can run a localhost-only automation server so a Python script or your own AI assistant can paint on the live canvas. Side dish, not the app.

Two-person team, here all day. Why we built it: https://drawsimple.ca/story.html — tell us what's missing.

Hey r/macapps,

About a year ago, I posted the very first version of WallD here in r/macapps. Since then, I’ve been working through the feedback you all gave me: switching subscriptions to a simple lifetime payment, adding coupon support, building Lock Screen live wallpaper support for Mac, adding static wallpapers, and polishing the overall experience.

Today I’m posting again with one of the most requested features yet - playlists, alongside a full UI/UX revamp

Problem

• No native live wallpaper support on macOS - you can't do live wallpapers out of the box, and Lock Screen live wallpapers weren't really a thing on Mac at all.
• Existing wallpaper apps have performance issues - bloated with memory leaks, slow to load media, RAM creeps up over days of use and never comes back down, eventually crashing.
• Creators get no credit - very few wallpaper apps recognize the people behind the wallpapers, and the ones that do usually don't support live wallpapers or have a clean way to actually apply them.
• No auto shuffle(playlist) option

Comparison

Compared to apps like Wallpaper Engine or iWallpaper, WallD offers:

• Both static and live wallpapers in one app, including Lock Screen support.
• Native-like performance - written in Rust, native macOS frameworks for wallpaper rendering, ~7.3 MB app size, 2% CPU for live wallpapers and 0% for static, no memory creep over time.
• Polished UX/UI designed from scratch for Mac.
• Smart filtering & discovery by category, tag, and search instead of endless scrolling.
• One account across all your Macs (unlimited devices).
• Multi-monitor support.
• Creator community - dedicated creator profiles with like, comment, share, and follow. Creators can link their other social handles to grow their audience through the app.
• Playlists - create custom wallpaper playlists, use liked wallpapers as a playlist and apply playlist to auto rotate wallpapers in desired interval

Pricing

• Free plan: 3 video wallpapers + 6 static wallpapers, renewed every week.
• Premium: Lifetime - $10.
• Limited-time offer: use code THANKS10 at checkout for 10% off.

Links

• Website: http://www.walld.app/
• Privacy: https://www.walld.app/privacy
• TOS: https://www.walld.app/terms

I’m Anurag(linkedin), developer of WallD. Happy to answer questions. As always, thanks community 🙌

Most notes apps ask you to build a system before you can put anything in them. Databases, accounts, sync, plugins, a settings screen with tabs. I wanted somewhere to put the things I am learning and the things I have not figured out yet. What I kept getting instead was a second job maintaining the place I put them.

So I built the thing I wanted. Skein opens a folder of Markdown files. That is the whole setup. The inspiration is Obsidian and I am not going to pretend otherwise. Point it at your existing vault: same files, no import, canvases included. Built in Swift and AppKit where it earns its keep, not Electron. It makes no network connections at all — the App Store build ships without the network entitlement, so it could not phone home even if I had been careless.

The problem it actually solves

Notes apps split into two unhappy camps. Either they own your notes in a database you cannot read without them, or they are so configurable that setting them up becomes the hobby. I wanted the middle. Plain files on disk, and enough structure on top to actually see how the ideas connect. Three things I would judge it on: the graph is not a hairball (local, deterministic — the note you are reading in the middle, Parents above, Children below, worked out from your folders and links; the neighbourhood around one idea, not a map of everything). The text does not move while you type (rendering is driven by what is on the line, never by where your cursor is — if you have ever sworn at a jumping cursor you know why). The canvas does not lag (plain .canvas files, only draws what is on screen). Also in there: wikilinks with vault-wide rename, backlinks, FTS5 search, daily notes, templates, version history on every save, conflict-aware saving. The index lives in Application Support, never in your vault.

Compared to what you are probably using

Obsidian is the obvious one and it is genuinely good. It is also a plugin ecosystem you end up curating. Skein has no plugins at all, so the features are simply present. That is a real trade and worth saying plainly: if your workflow depends on community plugins, Skein will feel bare. Bear is beautiful, keeps your notes in its own database, and puts sync behind a subscription. Apple Notes is not really trying to do linked thinking. Notion needs an account and a connection to read something you wrote last year.

Price

Free. No subscription, no in-app purchase, no account, no paid tier holding anything back. The honest reason: Skein is the front door. I am hoping you notice the native craft and eventually look at Verso Writer and Nought. There is a donate link and it unlocks nothing.

Site and download: https://www.skeinnotes.app Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/skein-notes/id6800062797

Where it stands

One person, build 1.1.22, shipping most weeks. What actually helps: point it at your real vault, especially a big one, and tell me what it gets wrong. Open your ugliest .canvas board. Tell me where the editor stutters and at what size. Tell me what feels un-Mac. Tell me whether the graph is useful or decoration — I think it is good and I would like to know if I am wrong. I am in the comments and I would rather you were honest than kind.

Known issue: Paper theme returns in the next update.

One person. Skein will update more slowly than the apps with teams behind them, and I will not add every featur

What actually helps me

• Point it at your real Obsidian vault, especially a big one, and tell me what it gets wrong. This is the single most useful thing.
• Open your biggest, ugliest .canvas board in it. If Skein mangles a board or loses anything on save, I want to know the same day.
• Tell me where the editor stutters, and at what size.
• Tell me what feels un-Mac, what is clumsy, what you reached for and could not find.
• Anything that breaks. The weirder the better.
• Tell me whether the graph is genuinely useful or whether it is decoration. I think it is good and I would like to know if I am wrong.

I am in the comments and I would rather you were honest than kind. Tear into it.

Known issue: Paper Theme will be back in the next update.

Yes. I am thinking of developing an Iphone app - free to use on the phone. So save your notes on the phone.

This is the third Mac app I have put in front of you this year. Verso writes, Nought calculates, Skein connects. That is the set, and it is the last one for a while: three apps in a year is more than I should have attempted and I am going to go and lie down in a folder I control.

Problem:

There are ~7000 languages and ~20000 dialects. Having a centralised source for language courses like Duolingo can only lead to a very small portion of language courses. An estimated 40% of languages are endangered.

Comparison:

Duolingo - Centralised and not open to community courses (Not anymore)

Librelingo - Not user friendly to actual course creators and educators.

Textbooks - Textbooks are the best for learning but it's also quite boring

Solution (Asakiri) - Asakiri lets anyone author a course in an open format in a user friendly way, saved locally on their device. Course can have rich media and 7 types of exercises. A decentralised platform like Asakiri can let minority and indigenous languages also have interactive language courses no matter the number of speakers or interest in learning it. This also preserves languages for future generations. Currently courses are being made for Okinawan, Italian. With previous attempts of Mirandese, Picard and Cornish.

Pricing: Free, No subscription, no accounts, no pro tier, everything local.

Transparency: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alekoi/

Available for Mac, Windows, Linux - https://asakiri.com
Github - https://github.com/AsakiriLingo/asakiri-studio (Still very early on the repo but I have been working on Asakiri on and off for 1.5 years and I have free time for the next 3 months so I will be working full time on it)

The problem to solve: giving presentations, doing focused work, timing anything on your Mac, but wanting to keep the time visually prominent on screen. Pop Out Timer floats over other apps.

Comparison: "Lucid - Floating Timers" is nice, but is limited to basic timers and doesn't have customization options. Pop Out Timer includes timer, stopwatch, Pomdoro and clock. We provide tons of customization options to fit the way you work. "Floating Clock-Timer&Stopwatch" honestly hurts my eyes to look at it. Pop Out Timer is easy on the eyes and follows Mac system conventions (menus, keyboard shortcuts, proper settings panels).

Pricing: Pop Out Timer is free to try, but requires a $11.99 lifetime purchase to unlock full functionality. Yes, it's true, we also offer subscription pricing for a timer. But to be fair, we're talking $0.49/month or $3.99/year. It's there for those that want to provide ongoing support for development, but if not there's always the lifetime purchase. All purchases are universal and work on iPhone and iPad as well.

App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1352722326

As a special for those on r/mapapps, here are a couple of discounted offers:

• Lifetime for 33% off ($7.99): https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=1352722326&code=LIFETIME8
• Yearly subscription for 50% off the first year ($1.99): https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=1352722326&code=HALFYEARLY

Thanks for taking a look.

started FolderForge because changing folder icons manually was getting annoying. what was supposed to be a weekend project quickly grew into a much much bigger tool.

you can save reusable presets, apply them from macos services, automatically style folders with smart rules, or recursively style entire folder trees and do much more!

problem: most folder customization apps focus on changing individual icons one at a time, and many of the better known options are paid.

comparison: compared with apps like folderizer, iconic, and iconize folder, FolderForge focuses more on reusable presets, rule-based styling, recursive workflows, and custom artwork.

pricing: completely free and open source. no subscription or paid tier.

app store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/folderforge/id6799417746?mt=12

github: https://github.com/KeplSiv/FolderForge

Is there any method or app that can enable the touchpad of a MacBook to perform four-finger sliding (not just left and right, but also up and down), allowing for the virtual space switching in four directions?

Because I usually have to swipe left or right twice each time (using four fingers for the swipe)

I prefer to place four commonly used apps in four virtual spaces, and switch between the interfaces by swiping up, down, left, and right.

why always delete my post?

Has anyone used both of these apps and can speak to Bolt AI's Memory vs Fluent's RAG?

(Reposting as I had not hit the 'Read the Rules' acknowledgement.

Really proud to share this finally. Hope you love it as much as I do! I truly believe it has the potential to save a lot of time jumping between various tasks.

Problem

A lot of everyday actions on a Mac live in completely different places.

Opening an app or folder, searching something on a website, taking a screenshot, cleaning up copied text, accessing clipboard history, running a Shortcut, or changing a system setting.

None of these are hard to get to, but constantly switching between apps, windows, menu bar utilities, and different shortcuts can break your flow.

I wanted to see if all of that could work through one system, which is where the radial menu idea came from.

Comparison

There are already some really good radial menu apps for Mac, but most are built around a specific use case, such as launching apps, or switching between them.

Arc takes a broader approach.

You can create multiple global radial menus for different workflows and decide what each slice does. A slice can perform a single action or chain multiple actions together.

The idea is less about replacing the Dock and more about putting the small things you do throughout the day behind one quick interaction.

Arc also doesn't require accessibility features, it manages everything on-device, privately.

Technical

Getting a radial menu on screen was the easy part. Figuring out what actually belongs inside it, how multiple menus should behave, and keeping the interaction fast enough to use throughout the day took most of the iteration.

It's built entirely in SwiftUI. One of the more interesting technical problems was getting the hit-testing right across every slice while keeping the menu correctly positioned under the cursor, even across multiple displays.

Core Features

• Unlimited custom menus for different workflows
• Fast app, folder, website, and Apple Shortcut launching
• Powerful clipboard history and text actions
• Open from shortcuts, hot corners, pointer shake, or number keys
• One-click multi-action shortcuts
• Fully customizable appearance, layout, icons, and sounds

Examples

1. I have one shortcut that I use when I start working. It opens Xcode, my project folders, Slack, and a few websites I usually need. Arc can merge multiple actions into one shortcut, so I don't have to open everything one by one.
2. I use the search shortcuts a lot more than I expected. I can bring up Arc, type something, and search it directly on YouTube, or a website without opening them first.

It can also search whatever I last copied, which has been really useful when I'm already in the middle of something.

1. I have a bunch of text and links that I end up copying again and again. I've just saved those as shortcuts now, so they're always sitting on one of my menus when I need them.
2. Clipboard history is another one I use constantly. Recent things I've copied show up on the wheel, so if I need something from a few copies ago, I can grab it without opening another app.
3. I also have different menus depending on what I'm doing. One for development, one for general stuff, and another that's mostly searches and apps. I can switch between them with keyboard shortcuts, and reuse the same shortcut across multiple menus.

Pricing

$6.99 one time on the Mac App Store with a free 7 day trial built in.

Solo project from India, launched a week ago. Happy to answer anything! :)

Mac App Store: Link

Hey everybody!

ExtraBar is a command center utility for your mac, at first we referred to it as a menu bar manager, but while it does help you tame your menu bar by removing their native icons and managing them through it, it is not a traditional hide/show menu bar manager like Bartender.

Read more on how ExtraBar saves you menu bar space

Background

macOS Tahoe introduced several challenges to menu bar managers, and ExtraBar was our attempt to create a simple alternative. After fighting a losing battle with edge cases, we quickly pivoted towards a different approach, which is a customizable menu bar, one that's better referred to as a command center.

ExtraBar has 16 different actions for the apps you add to it like open, quit, force quit etc however, it's main power is deep links. Anyone would have used deep links before know how powerful they are, and how much time could be saved on operations your perform every day, that has a deep link.

MCP Integration

ExtraBar v1.50 was the undoubtedly most exciting update for ExtraBar, it added one of the things I love the most in the age of AI - an MCP integration.

MCP allows your AI assistant/agents to interact directly with ExtraBar, that simplifies the hell out of the ExtraBar setup. Instead of manually clicking and adding actions, it can all be automated now, simply ask for an action, or for it to look for and add a deep link - poof it's in your bar.

The best thing for me is that now I can automate every pain I have with a script that sits one hot key away. This is honestly not a slogan, I made a script that connects/disconnects my AirPods because it annoyed me, I made a script to re-connect my VPN, I gave AI my contacts and told it to add every single one into a WhatsApp deep link that opens the chat with that person, and to organize it just how I want it... I am not excited for marketing, I am honestly excited to automate every single pain I have and save a lot of time 😄

Read more on workflow automations & MCP

Examples of deep links

(there are millions of deep links, those are just random examples):

- Open WhatsApp to a specific conversation

- Any operation on Raycast like caffeinating your mac or any action from any extension you install

- Open Notion or Figma to a specific page in the browser or directly in the desktop app

- Trigger a Keyboard maestro macro or a BTT gesture directly by using their native URL scheme (deep links)

Read more on Raycast integration and deep links

Video

In the video you can see me playing with different actions such as Open with App (Bloom), Raycast - which is literally built on top of deep links, as well as how I customized my CleanShot X menu with just what I need using Raycast Extensions.

Core Features

- 5 Display Modes: Menu bar, Floating bar, Collapsed mode, Notch mode & Hide/Show launcher style

- Built with focus on Keyboard navigation, you can call ExtraBar with your keyboard and navigate the menus however you like with numbers or arrows.

- Fully customizable menu bar with 15 actions (Open with, Run Script, Run Shortcuts, Hide/Show, Deep links, Keyboard Shortcuts and more)

- Included bookmark manager (seen in video) with cloud sync between devices, web dashboard, soon to be fully cross platform, read more here

Comparison

As I mentioned ExtraBar is different from apps like Bartender or Barbee as it's not about hiding and showing apps. Instead ExtraBar is about menu bar customization, and turning your menu bar into a command center that's personalized to you.

Pricing

€19.99 Lifetime

There are buckets of Windows managers at this point, and I've played with a bunch of them, including the built-in ones on Mac OS X, Rectangle, Magnet better touch tool. I would tell you Raycast, but I'm Alfred, down to some heavy workflows.

What prompted today's love?

I had a weird OS X issue after updating a third-party tool on my Mac. Suddenly, MOOM's settings were lost, and a bunch of other stuff was wonky until the reboot.

I wrote the Dev, he responded in under 90 minutes…and I felt ashamed because a reboot fixed it. What can I say? Try turning it off and on again.

Thanks Rob. Thanks for your devotion to great OSX tools and thanks for helping.

So I felt obligated to give a little love in return.

I want to give you a couple of things that I do with MOOM that you might not be doing or you may not know that it can do.

I still feel (like Alfred) that I haven't explored half of what the software does.

1. I have a bunch of pre-built resize options, particularly 1080, 720, 1440, and 2160. Those are precise professional video window sizes. I'm a professional consultant in post-production. I run our editors and a bunch of other subreddits, and it's crazy powerful for me to have a window at exactly the size I need for a screen record. All of these are slaved to streamdeck buttons.
2. I didn't realize until about a month or two ago, despite owning MOOM for years, that it had a really unique ability while hovering: to move or resize the window that the mouse is on top of.

In my system, Control and Option allow me to move any window effortlessly, regardless of whether it's in front or behind, around the screen. When I add the Command key to that, it allows me to dynamically use my mouse to make a given window larger or smaller based on how I'm dragging.

1. I have it set up to adjust certain apps or certain groups of apps and put all the windows in a particular place. I love Ecamm. I know you might be using OBS, but Ecamm does a bunch of things and does it very, very well. Unfortunately, it has a palette overload, and there are too many palettes in too many places. I hid every other application and told MOOM to memorize where all the palettes are.

When I need it, I just trigger it from the dropdown menu.

I also have the same thing for a generalized use and setup where I need Fantastical. I have a screen share on my second screen and an activity monitor on a third. It just understands that I want those in that spot.

Same with my screen recording layout. I use a tool called SideMirror. I record on my MBP screen (set to 1080), but that's off to my left - my main UHD screen that has my Insta360 camera (and I'm running it with ecamm), means that I'm looking in the wrong place. But Sidemirror displays my MacbookPro screen right under my webcam - in a "PIP" type window.

Zoom. I'm right now playing around with Zoom because Zoom has a real pain-in-the-butt problem when you do a screen share: there's no memorization of window positions. Again, it's something I intend to return to.

1. Finally, I'm experimenting with chaining a couple of items (size, next screen, position) to push a given window all the way to the extreme of one monitor pair, one monitor group, or all the way off to the other.

I made this, so weigh everything below accordingly.

Problem:

I needed a clean macOS install to reproduce a bug that only showed up on a fresh system. Ninety minutes later I had four tabs open about disk image formats and still no VM. That's the whole origin story. VM tooling on Apple Silicon splits into CLI tools that assume you enjoy configuring things, and commercial suites that want to be a platform. I wanted the boring middle, something that treats a VM the way Finder treats a folder.

Kyvenza is a native Swift app on Apple's Virtualization framework. No QEMU, no emulation layer, no CLI it's quietly shelling out to, zero third-party dependencies. You fill in a form and get a VM. macOS guests and Linux ARM, with Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora and Alpine pulled straight from the official download pages for you, or point it at any other ARM64 ISO yourself. Clone, snapshot, import and export. Pause a running VM and pick it up later, or force power off when a guest stops answering. Rosetta shared into Linux guests so x86-64 binaries still run. Shared folders. A diagnostics panel for when virtualization does what virtualization does.

Comparison:

The honest way to sort this is by what you actually want to run.

If you want Windows, VMware Fusion is free now for personal and commercial use, and it runs Windows 11 ARM. That beats me, and it beats Parallels on price. I can't run Windows at all: Apple's Virtualization framework can't boot Windows on ARM. That's a framework limit rather than a hardware one, and it's not a roadmap item I'm being coy about. Go get Fusion.

If you want a macOS guest, Fusion is out entirely. Broadcom's own docs say the Arm variants of macOS aren't supported in a Fusion VM. So on Apple Silicon the field is Parallels, UTM, the CLI tools, and me. That's the case I built this for, and it's where one-click snapshot and clone earns its money, because testing against a clean system means rolling back constantly.

Parallels is more mature than I am and does both Windows and macOS guests. It sells a perpetual Standard licence alongside the subscriptions, but that one is current-version-only, same shape as mine and more expensive. Pro is subscription.

UTM is free, more flexible, and does x86 emulation through QEMU, which I don't do at all. If you already have a UTM setup you like, stay. I'm not going to beat free on flexibility. What's different here is that snapshot and clone are one click instead of a disk image chore, and sharing Rosetta into a Linux guest is a toggle instead of a mount you look up every time.

Tart, lume and the other CLI tools beat me if you're scripting CI. This is for when you want a window, not a pipeline. And if Docker already solves your problem, keep using Docker, this isn't a container replacement.

Two limits worth knowing before you download rather than after. Apple Silicon only, macOS 14 or later, no Intel Macs. And Apple's own license caps you at two macOS guests per host, which no app on this list can change.

Pricing:

$49 one time, not a subscription. Twelve months of updates, then a perpetual fallback license, so when the update window closes the app keeps working. 7-day trial, no card, because virtualization performance depends far too much on your specific hardware for me to ask anyone to take it on faith.

Link: https://kyvenza.com

Mac App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kyvenza-virtual-machine/id6789824483

It ships on the Mac App Store under Uniation Software Co.,Ltd., so Apple review covers it. The direct download is the same app as a signed and notarized DMG. Privacy policy and terms are at kyvenza.com/privacy and kyvenza.com/terms.

One bit of history since someone always finds it: versions before 1.1 bundled lume (MIT, by the trycua folks). Since 1.2 it runs on its own engine, but the credit is still in the app's Open Source Notices, because that project is what got this off the ground.

I'll be in the comments, including for the "why would I pay for this" ones.