OverflowBar

A fluid second row for your macOS menu bar.

OverflowBar keeps a crowded Mac menu bar tidy by moving selected status items behind one persistent arrow, then revealing them in a fast, native second row whenever you need them.

Download the latest DMG (Recommended) · Install with Homebrew (Alternative) · Installation · User guide · Roadmap

A focused alternative

OverflowBar is deliberately small in scope. Feature-heavy menu-bar managers such as Ice and similar tools can be useful when you want an entire toolbox of customization; OverflowBar takes a simpler route and focuses on one job: giving crowded menu bars a native second row.

• Lightweight by design — fewer layers, background services, and settings to keep active when all you need is more menu-bar space.
• Native macOS behavior — built with SwiftUI, AppKit, Accessibility, WindowServer, and ScreenCaptureKit so the original controls remain the controls you use.
• A simple mental model — choose the icons, hide them, reveal the second row, and click the original menu-bar action. There is no replacement launcher or extra workspace to learn.
• Focused performance — discovery, capture, and activation are kept event-driven and only do work when the menu bar or the user actually needs it.

Why OverflowBar?

• More room, less clutter — choose which third-party status items stay behind the OverflowBar arrow.
• Instant access — click the arrow or move the pointer to the menu bar to reveal the second row.
• Real menu bar controls — icons are captured from the live status items; selecting one activates its original control.
• Native macOS design — Liquid Glass on macOS 26+, with a lightweight material treatment on macOS 15.
• System controls stay safe — Wi-Fi, Battery, Siri, Control Center, and Clock remain visible and are restored if a previous layout left them offscreen.
• Built for real displays — respects safe areas, notches, multiple displays, full-screen spaces, and reduced-motion settings.

Recommended installation

1. Download OverflowBar-*.dmg from the latest release.
2. Drag OverflowBar into Applications.
3. Open it and complete the guided Accessibility and Screen Recording setup.
4. Right-click the OverflowBar arrow to choose the items you want to manage.
5. Enable Hide selected original icons, then click the arrow to reveal the second row.

The current community build is ad-hoc signed and not yet Apple-notarized. On first launch, macOS may require Control-click → Open. See the installation guide for details.

Homebrew is available as an alternative package-manager installation. The DMG remains the recommended path because it gives the clearest first-launch flow and includes the checksum beside the download. See Install with Homebrew if you prefer to manage OverflowBar with Homebrew.

Documentation

Guide	What it covers
Installation	Requirements, permissions, updating, uninstalling, and Gatekeeper
User guide	Selecting items, second-row interaction, hover reveal, reset, and troubleshooting
Architecture	Scanner, capture pipeline, layout engine, activation flow, and platform boundaries
Roadmap	Current priorities and planned releases
Contributing	Local setup, development workflow, testing, and pull requests
Releasing	Versioning, release checklist, DMG generation, and cadence
Changelog	User-visible changes by version
Privacy	Local capture and permission behavior
Security	Supported versions and responsible disclosure

License

OverflowBar is available under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

How it works

OverflowBar combines public macOS Accessibility APIs, WindowServer metadata, ScreenCaptureKit, SwiftUI, and AppKit:

1. It discovers right-side status items and associates Accessibility elements with their menu bar windows.
2. It captures each selected item's current icon locally.
3. It uses the same user-facing Command-drag behavior as manual menu bar reordering to place managed items in a hidden section.
4. The second row displays cached copies of those icons.
5. Selecting an icon invokes AXPress when available, or briefly reveals and activates the original item before hiding it again.

For component details and data flow, read Architecture.

Requirements

• macOS 15 Sequoia or later
• Apple Silicon for the downloadable community DMG
• Accessibility permission for discovery, activation, and managed layout
• Screen Recording permission for live icon capture

Build from source

Open OverflowBar.xcodeproj in Xcode 16 or later and run the OverflowBar scheme, or build from Terminal:

xcodebuild \
  -project OverflowBar.xcodeproj \
  -scheme OverflowBar \
  -configuration Debug \
  -destination 'platform=macOS' \
  build

Create an Apple Silicon release DMG with:

./scripts/create-dmg.sh

Artifacts and a SHA-256 checksum are written to dist/.

Project status

OverflowBar is an early public release. The core discover, hide, reveal, and activate flow works on macOS 15 and macOS 26, but menu bar management relies on OS behavior that Apple does not expose as a dedicated public API. Compatibility work is therefore an ongoing priority.

If something does not behave correctly, use Settings → Safe Reset before quitting and file a bug report.

Community

• Use GitHub Discussions for ideas, setup help, and show-and-tell.
• Use Issues for reproducible bugs and scoped feature requests.
• Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.

If OverflowBar improves your Mac setup, starring the repository helps other macOS users discover it.