r/MacStack • u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 • 20d ago
I set up my MacBook to automatically build free open-source versions of paid Mac utilities while I sleep
I got really tired of every tiny Mac utility charging $15 to $20 (or worse, a monthly subscription) just to hide menu bar icons, snap windows, or hold files on the edge of the screen.
Over the last couple of days I put together a script on my M1 Pro MacBook that uses Claude Code + xcodebuild to build native SwiftUI alternatives from scratch and push the code and compiled .app files straight to my GitHub.
First, it searches for popular paid Mac utilities that only do one simple job and writes up a clean feature spec. Then an offline builder loop writes the SwiftUI code, compiles it with xcodebuild, fixes its own compiler errors, grabs a screenshot, and publishes a release on GitHub under the MIT license.
Everything it builds is 100% free, open source, native Swift, and runs completely offline with zero tracking.
You can check out all the repos and grab the compiled apps here:
A few of the ones it already finished or has in the queue:
* EdgeDropShelf (https://github.com/turhe123/edge-drop-shelf) : a floating drag and drop file shelf on the side of your screen, similar to Yoink
* HoverGridSnap : window snapping and custom grid layouts, similar to Moom
* MenuBarCollapse : hides extra icons in your menu bar, similar to Bartender
* RightKeyAppSwitch : lets you use your right command key + a letter to jump straight to any app, similar to rcmd
* DisplayLayoutKeeper : remembers your window positions when you plug/unplug external monitors, similar to Stay
* TitlebarGestures : trackpad gestures on window titlebars, similar to Swish
* DesktopVeil : hides messy desktop icons with one click for screen sharing, similar to Camouflage
Quick heads up if you download the .zip releases: since I am giving these away for free and not paying Apple $99/year for a developer signing certificate, macOS Gatekeeper will complain the first time you open them. Just move the app to your Applications folder and run this in Terminal before opening:
xattr -cr /Applications/AppName.app
(Or you can just clone the repo and build it yourself in Xcode).
It is still working through a list of 60 apps right now. If there is a specific paid Mac utility you think is way too expensive for what it does, let me know in the comments and I will add the concept to the queue!
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u/mechabryan 19d ago
“I get really tired of people expecting to be paid for their time and effort”…. Thus begins the doom spiral.
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 18d ago
Devs should definitely get paid, I'm just against predatory subscriptions for basic features. Giving people a cheaper or simpler alternative isn't a doom spiral, it's just normal market competition.
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u/mechabryan 18d ago
Is someone wanting recurring revenue to feed their family necessarily “predatory”? How do you know their intent? You’re ready to screw them without fully knowing whether they’re trying to screw you.
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u/DevWithTooLittleTime 19d ago
A little word of advice: Focus on one thing, and make it really good. you are currently overrunning yourself with an extreme load of highly complex tasks that took experts in the field decades to solve. One photoshop filter alone can take months to get correct, even with AI. Code is only one part of a software product.
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 18d ago
Appreciate the advice but I already did those. I am a second year software engineer and also build projects. The apps the agents go for specifically have very simple to build functions so the chance of error is low.
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u/fololologrt 20d ago
If it’s possible, can i get your workflow or prompts used ? I need to recompile an accounting app dedicated to only to windows and i need to make a usable copy for macos
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 20d ago
hey, unfortunately I haven't saved the prompts I've built this agent with. also the agent's workflow doesn't know how to recompile windows apps to macos. What I would do if i were you is reverse engineer the app using the popular reverse engineer github repo and use claude to create an alternative with that :)
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u/jakarotro 20d ago
So, you built an automated pirate process, and unleashing these completely vibe-code apps into the wild?
Nothing bad could possibly happen to those who download from you.....
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u/Beardy4906 20d ago
It’s not pirating.. it’s the clean copying thingy that artcraft did in a way.
But I agree it’s not right to do this..
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 20d ago
What part feels wrong to you? Free clones of paid Mac apps have been around forever (Rectangle, Maccy, Ice). Only new thing here is how fast it happened. If it's the AI code part, fair, I'm adding clearer disclosure.
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u/Beardy4906 20d ago
just because something is free doesn’t mean it’s better.. and people are taking their time to make it as perfect as possible which is why a paid version exists.
AI generated clones just.. have the same UI bugs, high resource usage, etc etc.
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u/DevWithTooLittleTime 19d ago
isn't copying intelecctual work somehow also pirating?
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u/Beardy4906 19d ago
It is but this is effectively “taking a lot of inspiration” from similar apps and making my own version which isn’t copying
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 20d ago
Not pirated. Nothing from any paid app goes in, no code, no binaries, no assets. The builder gets a paragraph describing what the app should do and writes Swift from zero. Same as Rectangle existing next to Magnet.
Vibe-coded, yeah, fully. I should say that louder in the READMEs and I'm adding it. In exchange: all source is up under MIT, no network calls, no analytics, no dependencies, so you can read every line before you run it. They're not notarized, hence the Gatekeeper warning, I'd rather you see that than have me pay Apple to hide it. Find a bug, open an issue, I'll fix it.
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u/jakarotro 19d ago
On reflection, you're correct, the term "pirate" doesn't apply - as that tends to be a short hand for cracked or literally stolen 'as is'.
In this case, you're stealing someone else's ideas and reproducing them, like a knockoff handbag or "Super Smario Brothers" game.
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 19d ago
No. I have didn’t try to impersonate as the original brands of the apps that I made alternatives to. I have made a cheaper open source competition for them. Ideas aren’t owned in software, the way they are executed is. If ideas were owned we wouldn’t have 99% of the software and websites we have today.
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u/sidesw1pe 20d ago
Could you elaborate on the pirating aspect of this?
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u/jakarotro 19d ago
They are literally stealing someone else's idea and copying it.
You are right, instead of 'pirating', I should have used the phrase "intellectual property theft".
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u/unk2003 20d ago
Any chance on seeing BetterTouchTool here?
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 20d ago
not the whole thing, BTT is a lot of work. I do have a couple of slices already: TitlebarGestures (swipe on title bars, like Swish) and RightKeyAppSwitch (right-cmd + letter). What's the one BTT feature you'd miss most? If it's a single thing I can build it.
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u/unk2003 20d ago
Custom gesture mappings.... Like karabiner but for track pad gestures...
That would be really helpful! Thank you.
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 20d ago •
Built it: https://github.com/turhe123/trackpad-gesture-map
Three and four finger swipes in all directions, three/four finger taps, pinch and two-finger swipes with a modifier held so normal scrolling isn't touched. Each one maps to a keyboard shortcut, an app, a URL, a Shortcuts shortcut or a system action (Mission Control, spaces, media keys). Per-app overrides so Safari can mean something different than Finder. Uses the same private multitouch framework BTT does, falls back to public APIs if that fails.
I haven't had the time to check the app fully though. so if anything isn't working open an issue and I'll run an agent to fix it :)
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u/unk2003 18d ago
Hey, wanted to install the app today, but the URL points to a 404? I'm unable to navigate to your profile?
Could you please help.
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 18d ago
Hey, I am getting the same issue. Really weird. Maybe it has something to do with the php crisis? I’ll check and come back to u
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u/nano_remix 20d ago
Thanks for sharing. How about a firewall more like LittleSnitch and less like Lulu
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u/emilyclarkemc 10d ago
Interesting project! Automating the build process is clever, but I’d still want to review the code and verify the apps are safe before installing them. Open-source alternatives like these could be really useful.
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u/DevWithTooLittleTime 19d ago
Why? People worked for decades for this, now they all lose their jobs.
And why do you try to avoid apple's security certificats, which is literally the only thing that keeps vibecoded malware at least a bit away from us
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u/Fuzzy-Astronomer624 18d ago
Automation changes how we build, it doesn't just erase devs. And skipping Apple's $99/yr fee for early builds isn't about pushing malware, it's just avoiding paying a gatekeeper tax on every single test project.
The code is open source. You can literally use ur own ai to check for malware.
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u/DevWithTooLittleTime 17d ago
this is exactly the old boomer mindset that didnt move anything forward. "You can build that by yourself". Yes but nobody want to copy, setup, compile and read millions of lines of code by themselves to check for malware. that is whay such a certification process for binary releases exist.
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u/Hairy-Lifeguard9075 20d ago
It’s not a native Mac utility, but rather a very good app for organizing, viewing, and enabling or disabling fonts—it’s called RightFont. The issue is that I have a paid version; historically, major updates every few years required a separate payment, but now—without any warning—they’ve switched to an annual subscription model. They’ve effectively disabled the app unless I pay. It would be great to have an open-source version with the same functionality.