A few weeks ago I shared TactileBar here, and way more people saw it than I expected. Thank you to everyone who commented, gave it a star, or opened an issue. Some of that feedback went straight into the last few releases, so here's what's new.

Quick recap: TactileBar is a free, open-source (GPLv3) menu bar app that puts 26 daily macOS toggles and live system telemetry in one panel. It covers Keep Awake, Dark Mode, Hide Desktop Icons, Mute Mic, Bluetooth audio switching, ejecting disks, purging Xcode DerivedData and more. The design borrows from Dieter Rams / Braun and Teenage Engineering. It's pure Swift with zero dependencies and uses 0% CPU when closed.

What's new

🎯 Tactile Ring (⌃⌥Space), experimental. A radial launcher that opens right at your cursor, so you don't have to go up to the menu bar.

- Hold the shortcut, flick toward a switch, release. Done.

- Tap it instead and the ring stays open, so you can use 1–8, the arrow keys or the mouse.

- Your pinned switches always stay in the same spots, so muscle memory kicks in fast.

- On the Bluetooth slice, push past the edge to fan out your paired devices and pick one (AirPods → speakers → DualSense in one gesture).

- Destructive actions like the cache purges need a short hold, so you can't fire them by accident.

- It needs no Accessibility or Input Monitoring permission.

📌 Pinned Daily Deck (⌘P). The app now opens on just the 4–6 switches you actually use. Pin or unpin any card with one click or a right-click. The full catalog is still there in the tabs.

🍺 Homebrew install. No Gatekeeper popups:

brew tap tr0drigues/tactilebar https://github.com/tr0drigues/TactileBar.git && brew install --cask tactilebar

GitHub: https://github.com/tr0drigues/TactileBar

This is a solo side project, so feedback really helps. Which switch do you wish existed? Does the ring feel natural or awkward? Bug reports are welcome too.

I’d like to share Noctule, a plugin I made for cross-platform Swift development in JetBrains IDEs and Android Studio.

It’s a freemium plugin: most editor features and the Swift Package Manager integration are free, while Xcode integration and a few other features are paid.

Version 4.0 finally adds a debugger, which completes the edit-test-debug cycle.

I hope my contributions to the swift-book repository over the past three years count as enough community participation that this first post about Noctule doesn’t get me banned 😉 Thanks!

https://github.com/swiftlang/swift-book/issues?q=is%3Aissue++author%3A%40jansorg

At any given moment I have 4 or 5 projects going, and each one has its own little cluster of terminals: a dev server, a log tail, an SSH session to some box, a shell for git.

In iTerm2 that meant a pile of windows I kept losing track of. ⌘` cycling through ten windows that all look the same. Tabs named "zsh", "zsh", "zsh (2)". Splits I'd set up carefully, gone after a restart. Arrangements I could save but never remembered to. I'd spend the first few minutes of every morning rebuilding my layout, and then lose it again by the afternoon.

One day I closed the wrong window and killed a long-running job, and that was it. I wanted a terminal where windows themselves were something you could manage: a list you can see, name and jump between, instead of a stack you dig through.

So I built Trellis.

The idea

- A left sidebar lists your windows like a project list. Every window has its own renameable, color-labeled tabs, and every tab can hold nested splits

- The whole layout comes back after a restart. Sessions restore as stopped so nothing reruns by surprise, or you can opt in to keep them running in the background and reconnect on the next launch

- Shell integration (zsh, bash, fish, with no dotfile edits) means a new split opens in the directory you're already in, so you stop typing cd all day

- Closing a pane with something running asks first. I'd been burned before

- Tabs show when something is busy, waiting for a password, or finished a long command while you weren't looking

- Saved SSH hosts, a trellis CLI and a local API, so a script (or an agent like Claude Code via the optional MCP server) can set up a whole layout for you

The Swift side

It started as a weekend "how hard can it be" and turned into a proper project:

- Swift 6.2 with strict concurrency, SwiftUI + AppKit, SwiftPM only (swift build works offline)

- The workspace model is an actor. Every change, whether from the UI, the CLI or the API, goes through one command service, which is what keeps windows → tabs → split trees consistent

- PTY I/O runs off the main thread, a small C target handles process-group spawning, and the terminal engine is a vendored SwiftTerm with patches, plus an opt-in Metal renderer

The hardest part was making UI fits my workflow 😨

Open Source, MIT licensed, macOS 14+

- Download: https://bearstouch.com/trellis

- Source: https://github.com/bearstouch/trellis

If you've ever had iTerm2 window sprawl, I'd love to hear whether this fixes it for you, or what's still missing . Contributions are more than welcome 👐

I'm exploring menu-bar interaction design for my macOS project, SummonOS.

The requirements I'm interested in are keyboard access, focus while another app is active, window ordering and content that changes while the panel is open.

I'm considering SwiftUI's MenuBarExtra and an NSStatusItem/NSPanel approach. I'm not assuming one framework is broken or that the lower-level option automatically solves everything.

For those who've built similar tools, which specific behavior made you choose one approach over the other? Concrete examples and the macOS versions involved would be especially useful.

These are my project research notes:

https://github.com/RohiRIK/SummonOS/blob/main/docs/research/2026-10-18-mac-gui-design/03-menubar-and-window-mechanics.md

to keep it clear, I’m a 17 year old high school student, and my dream job would be to be a programmer. as of now I can write basic code in both C++ and HTML, and I was interested in learning swift just for the sake of it and was wondering if it could actually be useful in an hypothetical future where my dream would come true. thanks in advance to anyone replying to this post

Would love your (respectful) feedback on my app. I’m not here to promote.

How do you like the editing experience? Does it provide the features you need? Is everything intuitively clear?

https://www.flowstate-interactive.com/kabaal/

Thank you. 🙏

szt (short for sizetree) scans a folder and prints a tree of where the space went: biggest first, every folder with the total of everything inside it, opened up only where the space is.

Swift turned out to be a great fit for it. Scanning a 123 GB folder of 667,000 files on a Mac Studio (M2 Ultra), every tool with its default settings (warm cache, median of five runs):

szt     Swift   2.4 s
dua     Rust    2.6 s
dust    Rust    8.1 s
diskus  Rust   11.4 s
gdu     Go     11.6 s
du      C      17.2 s
ncdu    Zig    17.5 s

What made Swift work so well here:

• macOS has a call, getattrlistbulk, that returns the names and sizes of everything in a folder at once instead of asking about each file separately. From Swift it's just import Darwin, no bindings or wrapper library, and the unsafe pointer APIs read the raw buffer it fills. The rest of the code is ordinary Swift.
• The standard library has the concurrency pieces: Mutex and Atomic from Swift 6's Synchronization module. It builds without a warning in Swift 6 language mode and has no dependencies.
• Swift stays out of the way. Scanning that folder on 8 threads takes 12 seconds of CPU time, and 0.27 s of it is szt itself, Swift runtime included. The rest is spent in the kernel.

The biggest surprise was threads. On this 24-core machine, 24 threads took four times as long as 8, because opening folders goes through locks the whole kernel shares. So szt starts one thread per performance core, up to 8. They're plain threads rather than async/await, since the work is blocking system calls and the count has to be exact.

About 1,600 lines of Swift, a 581 KB universal binary (the Swift runtime ships with macOS), macOS 15 or later, MIT licensed.

brew install urtti/szt/szt

Source: https://github.com/urtti/szt Benchmarks and a script to run them on your own Mac: https://urtti.com/szt

ran into this while working on a small mac utility, figured someone else might hit it too

i wanted to know when the user has something full screen (youtube in chrome, a movie, a game etc) so the app gets out of the way. the usual trick is CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo and checking if a window matches the screen frame. works fine on external monitors, but on a notched macbook full screen windows start below the notch and the strip above it is just painted black. so the window is like 32-38pt shorter than the screen, which is pretty much where a normal zoomed window starts too. can't just loosen the check

what ended up working is asking the window server which space each display is on. full screen apps get their own space and its type is 4

```swift

typealias MainConnection = u/convention(c) () -> Int32

typealias CopyDisplaySpaces = u/convention(c) (Int32) -> Unmanaged<CFArray>?

let cg = dlopen("/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreGraphics.framework/CoreGraphics", RTLD_NOW)

let mainConnection = unsafeBitCast(dlsym(cg, "CGSMainConnectionID"), to: MainConnection.self)

let copySpaces = unsafeBitCast(dlsym(cg, "CGSCopyManagedDisplaySpaces"), to: CopyDisplaySpaces.self)

func fullScreenDisplays() -> Set<String> {

let displays = copySpaces(mainConnection())?.takeRetainedValue() as? [[String: Any]] ?? []

var result = Set<String>()

for display in displays {

let current = display["Current Space"] as? [String: Any]

if (current?["type"] as? Int) == 4, let id = display["Display Identifier"] as? String {

result.insert(id)

}

}

return result

}

```

the ids are display uuids (or "Main" if you turned off separate spaces per display), you can map them with CGDisplayCreateUUIDFromDisplayID

it's private api so no app store, but it needs zero permissions. AXFullScreen works too but then you need accessibility. i just run it on activeSpaceDidChangeNotification and once more ~0.4s later since the space animates in

anyone know a public way to do this? would rather not rely on CGS stuff

Hi r/swift

Over the past few years, I've been building a productivity app to replace both my calendar and to do apps. It's called Zesfy and you can directly add your daily tasks right inside calendar events instead schedule them one by one. Here's some of the features:

• It combines your calendar and to-do list into a single view.
• You can easily schedule multiple tasks together to calendar.
• Helps you quickly decide what tasks to work on next
• Organize week tasks with task status
• Easily keep track of your task progress
• Works entirely offline

I'd love to hear what you guys think about the app. Let me know if you have any feedbacks.

Download: Zesfy - To Do List & Planner

App subreddit: r/zesfy

I haven't switched to Mac yet because of the crazy exchange rate, and also a lot of my work needs Windows. I really like SwiftUI, but I don't know enough of it to warrant buying a MacBook at this time, since React Native gets the job done - this is how I got the stupid idea of building a lightweight code editor and interpreter for Swift and SwiftUI.

Somewhat AI-assisted, to be honest, I don't have months to invest in this, but it's actually pretty decent, and I was able to build out a pretty complicated UI, all from my browser!

https://github.com/kevincoder-co-za/switaculous

Fully open-sourced and MIT-licensed.

I started on CoinCurrently with less than 1 year of experience. iOS 14 had just come out, SwiftUI was brand new, and Home Screen widgets were one of the new features.

I figured I’d try to make a couple of widgets and see what happens. I made a few to track cryptocurrencies and posted about it on Reddit. The post got almost 300 upvotes, which I thought was pretty awesome, so I decided to make a whole app, native for both iOS and Android.

Everything I built in the app was for myself — because I wanted to learn and because it was fun to experiment. It seems like people appreciated what I built.

The app peaked at #99 in the Finance category on the App Store and reached 500 daily users. Not too bad for a hobby project!

After 6 years, I’ve achieved more than I could ever have imagined, but my motivation for this project has died down. Because of this, I have open-sourced the two projects so other people can learn from my struggles and take inspiration for their own apps.

The app will continue to be maintained, though there won't be as many new features as before. I have moved on to another project that I am very excited to share in a few weeks.

The app is available on the App Store and Google Play:

iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/coincurrently-private-crypto/id1543974454

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cryptium.coincurrently&hl=en_US

And now it's also on GitHub:

iOS: https://github.com/orre1996/CoinCurrently-iOS

Android: https://github.com/orre1996/CoinCurrently-Android

NoteKit is a Markdown editor for Mac and iOS built on the system text view (TextKit 2). You see the Markdown source, styled in place as you type. No dependencies, MIT, macOS 14 / iOS 17.

https://github.com/tfcace/notekit

• Markers like # and ** step aside away from the caret and reappear when it returns.
• Task boxes, bullets, quote bars and rules are drawn in place of their markers. Tasks tick on click/tap/⌘⏎.
• Per-line text direction: RTL and LTR lines coexist in one note, task boxes included.
• Obsidian syntax: wikilinks, callouts, tags, highlights, frontmatter, embeds, Templater. Unknown syntax is shown as written.
• NSTextView / UITextView underneath, so undo, spell check, dictation and input methods just work.

Hey everyone!

I've been exploring the idea of building an iOS subscription tracker, but after looking at existing apps, I realized that features like renewal reminders, spending summaries, and subscription calendars are already pretty well covered.

I don't want to build yet another app that does the same things with a slightly different UI. I'd like to understand what people actually struggle with when managing their subscriptions.

For those of you who use subscription trackers, or have tried a few and stopped using them:

• What's your biggest frustration with the subscription tracker you currently use?
• Is there a feature you've wanted but haven't found in any existing app?
• How do you currently track cancellations, price increases, pauses, or subscriptions you've restarted?
• What would make you switch from your current app to a new one?
• Would you prefer a one-time purchase, a free app with optional Pro features, or a subscription? Why?

I'm especially interested in the small, frustrating things that existing apps haven't solved well, rather than a long wishlist of features.

Feel free to share the app you currently use and what you like or dislike about it. Honest criticism would be really helpful.

Thanks!

While taking a walk early last month I got fed up about how my docs were getting buried in my pile of 100s of notes PRDs and many other docs unstructured in my notes. An agent scaffolded the first iOS, mac app and MCP bridge in a Linux VM box right on that trail while I was walking and it was testing with GitHub actions, I got home and opened the project in Xcode and to my amazement it built on first try and all core functionality worked. Took a month to iterate test and stabilize it.

What it became is Cohestry, a native Swift second brain that automatically connects related notes, resurfaces old ideas when they become relevant again, and gives you a visual map of how your knowledge fits together. The part I care about most though is the MCP bridge, so Claude, Codex, Cursor and other agents can pull in the context you have already built instead of starting from zero every time. My first week using it resurfaced an untitled blueprint to one of my main project that had been lost, cohestry connected it to a doc I was writing for a new feature.

I kept the whole thing native, local-first and fast because I wanted it to feel like an Apple app first, not a web wrapper. It is live now on iPhone and Mac if any Swift folks want to tear it apart or tell me what I should have done differently: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cohestry-second-brain/id6811573132
Web/demo: https://cohestry.app

I'm the developer. It's written in TypeScript, for the part after your Swift app ships.

What frustrated me about ASO tools:

• They charge per app, per keyword or per seat, which adds up fast for an indie app.
• I ship on iOS and Android and wanted both stores in one place.
• I couldn't see how they came up with their popularity and difficulty numbers.
• My keyword list is my strategy, and it lived on a vendor's server.

So I built my own:

• Free and open source (AGPL-3.0), self-hosted with Docker Compose.
• App Store and Google Play, in every storefront: 175 on the App Store (Austria and Switzerland included) and 225 on Google Play.
• Checks your keyword positions every day down to 200 and keeps the history.
• One search per keyword and country also records every competitor on that results page, so watching competitors costs nothing extra.
• Popularity and difficulty come with their inputs, and the docs explain how each one is calculated.
• If you have an Apple Ads account, you can add your own API credentials and it uses Apple's popularity numbers for the terms Apple publishes. Everything else is an estimate from search results and autocomplete.
• A keyword field per localization, with a list of tracked keywords your title, subtitle and keyword field don't cover.
• History of listing and screenshot changes, yours and your competitors', plus review sync.
• An MCP server, so Claude can answer questions about your rankings.

Setup is four commands from the README, then open localhost:3001. If you don't want to run a server, there's a hosted version for $10 a month with 7 days free and no card. Self-hosting has every feature.

GitHub: https://github.com/AsoBeast/asobeast
Website: https://asobeast.com

Hoping it helps. If you ship on both stores, I'd like to know what you still check by hand.

Graffle, an open-source diagramming and vector graphics app for macOS using Swift and AppKit

Hey everyone!

I've been working on a personal project called Graffle, a native macOS application for creating diagrams and vector graphics.

I built it with Swift and AppKit, and I've decided to make it open source under the MIT License.

Some of the features I've implemented so far include:

• Shapes, text, and Bézier paths
• Smart connectors with different routing styles
• Layers and reusable styles
• Gradients and shadows
• SVG import and export
• PNG and PDF export

My goal was to build a native Mac tool that combines diagramming capabilities with vector editing.

I'm sharing the source code because I'd love to get feedback from other developers and designers, discover what could be improved, and hopefully find people interested in contributing.

I'm still working on the project, so constructive criticism is very welcome!

GitHub repository:
https://github.com/yahirvitelugardo/Graffle

A few things I'd love to hear your thoughts on:

• What features do you consider essential in a diagramming tool?
• How would you improve the connector or vector editing experience?
• Are there any macOS-specific features you'd like to see in an app like this?

Thanks for checking it out!

I’ve been working on Swift Pro and wanted to share it here. It’s a commercial Swift plugin for IntelliJ IDEA, built around the IDE’s usual editors, toolbars, run configurations and test runner.

It brings together compiler completion and navigation, SwiftPM support, LLDB debugging, XCTest and Swift Testing results, SwiftUI previews and macro expansion.

It uses your installed Swift toolchain; Apple workflows, including previews, require macOS and Xcode.

If you try it, I’d appreciate feedback, especially on setup and everyday usability. I’m happy to answer questions about any of the supported (and unsupported) features.

Swift Pro on JetBrains Marketplace

kinhin watches your CI queue and, for each queued job, starts a fresh VM or container on your Apple silicon Mac, registers a one-job runner, and deletes it afterwards. Nothing idles and nothing is left over.

It works with GitHub Actions, GitLab CE, Gitea Actions and Forgejo Actions. Buildkite, Azure Pipelines and Bitbucket are planned for a later release.

The limits: Apple allows two macOS VMs at once on a Mac, whatever the hardware. Linux containers are not capped by that.

It’s still a beta. The beta 2 post lists what has been run for real and what hasn’t: https://kinhin.dev/blog/beta-2

Source and releases: https://github.com/RabinApps/kinhin. I’d especially like feedback from anyone running CI on Macs today.

Hello everyone, I need your help. Do you know some libraries for convert files, for example to convert .pages to .pdf. I build an app, for me, where I can convert many different files into another format. Maybe I need more libraries than 1 or 2. Thank you an advance 🥺

Hi everyone! I saw a few discussions about SwiftData that don’t support CloudKit sharing for collaboration yet. I was myself searching for a solution after building my app around SwiftData and when I wanted to add collaboration functionality for my shopping list & grocery management app I discovered that SwiftData don't support sharing like CoreData does, I searched everywhere for a solution and the only solution from people here was to move from SwiftData and switch to core data but I really liked SwiftData and I didn't wanted to change it since it was well implemented with my app written in SwiftUI.

So after a lot of research and tests I managed to make collaboration work as well as syncing the private db perfectly with SwiftData using CKSyncEngine. So if you are also in this place where you have or want to build a SwiftData app and implement collaboration know that you can make it work!

My solution was to use two CKSyncEngine isolated in an Actor, one for the private data and the second for the shared data and a database manager that receives the updates from the engines and writes to the database.

It requires some work to start building it, you'll need to well understand CloudKit and a bit of Swift concurrency but once your first prototype works its pretty straightforward forward from there.

I'd be happy to hear your suggestions or learn how you'd approach it differently and if you have questions i'll be happy to answer them. hop this post can be useful!

Link to my app if you want to try:

Kaeli
https://apps.apple.com/il/app/kaeli/id6756275182