PulseBar

PulseBar is a macOS menu bar app for keeping an eye on running applications and basic system activity. It is a modified version of the original MIT-licensed MissionBar project.

Features

• Processes tab: running applications, app icons, PID, CPU usage, resident memory usage, search, and sorting.
• Guarded quit actions: quit or force quit user applications while protecting PulseBar, Apple apps, and system agents.
• Monitor tab: CPU, memory, network throughput, and connection quality cards.
• Settings tab: Open at login using a user LaunchAgent, so local ad-hoc builds can start automatically.
• About tab: current version, source link, upstream project link, and MIT license link.

Refresh Cadence

• Running processes refresh every 5 seconds.
• Global monitor metrics refresh every 1 second.
• The toolbar refresh button updates both views immediately.

Requirements

• macOS 15.0 or later
• Xcode 16 or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

Build From Source

git clone https://github.com/DailyXplorer/PulseBar.git
cd PulseBar
open PulseBar.xcodeproj

Build and run the PulseBar scheme from Xcode, or build from the command line:

xcodebuild -project PulseBar.xcodeproj -scheme PulseBar -destination 'platform=macOS,arch=arm64' build

Local Install

Open at login is handled by a user LaunchAgent, so it works for local source builds without Apple signing. Enable it from PulseBar's Settings tab after installing the app.

The default command-line build stays ad-hoc so the project remains easy to clone and build. If you still want to install an Apple-signed local copy for development, add your Apple account in Xcode and run:

DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=YOURTEAMID ./script/install_signed_local.sh

If your keychain only has one Apple-issued signing identity, the script can usually detect the Team ID automatically:

./script/install_signed_local.sh

For repeated local installs, you can create an ignored .pulsebar-signing.env file:

DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=YOURTEAMID
# Optional:
# CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="Apple Development: Your Name (YOURTEAMID)"

You can also open PulseBar.xcodeproj, select the PulseBar target, set your Development Team in Signing & Capabilities, then build and copy the app to /Applications.

No prebuilt release binary is published yet. A downloadable app should wait until there is a proper Developer ID signing and notarization flow.

Development

The repository includes script/build_and_run.sh for local agent-driven development:

./script/build_and_run.sh --verify

The project keeps Hardened Runtime enabled and does not use App Sandbox, because PulseBar needs to request quit and force quit actions for other user applications in a direct-download macOS distribution.

Attribution

PulseBar is based on Softal-io/MissionBar, created by Ram Patra and released under the MIT License.

Original copyright remains with Ram Patra. PulseBar modifications are maintained by DailyXplorer. See NOTICE.md and LICENSE.

Support

Please use GitHub Issues for bugs and feature requests:

https://github.com/DailyXplorer/PulseBar/issues