PRBar

PRBar is a macOS menubar app for tracking your GitHub Pull Requests, checks, and GitHub Actions without keeping a browser tab open.

Preview

Main View

Monitor View

Platform: macOS 13+
UI: Menubar popover + optional floating monitor window
Data source: GitHub REST API
Auth: GitHub Personal Access Token (stored in macOS Keychain)

What PRBar Does

PRBar helps you quickly inspect PR health from your menubar:

List your PRs (search + scope filters)
Click a PR to see details in the popover:
- repo, PR number, title, draft/ready
- updated time, branch, commit SHA
- review/check summary
- latest workflow runs, jobs, and step states
Open links directly to PR/run pages in GitHub
Copy PR URL and branch name quickly
Pin one or more PRs into a floating always-on-top monitor window
Auto-refresh data on a fixed interval with basic rate-limit awareness

Install PRBar

Option A (recommended): Homebrew

Tap the PRBar cask repo:
```
brew tap neural-harmonics/prbar
```
Install:
```
brew install --cask prbar
```

Or in one command:

brew install --cask neural-harmonics/prbar/prbar

To uninstall:

brew uninstall --cask prbar
brew untap neural-harmonics/prbar

Option B: DMG

Open the latest release.
Download PRBar-X.Y.Z.dmg.
Open the DMG and drag PRBar.app to /Applications.
Launch PRBar from Applications.

Option C: ZIP

Download PRBar.app.zip.
Unzip it.
Move PRBar.app to /Applications.
Launch PRBar.

First launch and Gatekeeper

If a build is unsigned/unnnotarized, macOS may block first launch:

Right-click PRBar.app -> Open -> confirm.
Or System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> allow opening anyway.

Signed/notarized releases should open normally.

First-Time Setup

1. Open Settings

Click PRBar menubar icon.
Click Settings.

2. Add your GitHub token

Paste a GitHub PAT into GitHub Token.
Click Save + Validate.

PRBar shows token validation status inline.

3. Recommended PAT permissions

Classic PAT (simple)

repo
read:org
workflow

Fine-grained PAT

Read access for:

Pull Requests
Actions
Checks
Repository metadata in repos you want to monitor
Organization metadata if using org filters

UI Guides

PRBar includes two user-facing views. Start with these guides:

Menubar Popover

Click PRBar in your menu bar to open the popover (main view). For a full walkthrough with screenshot, see Main View Guide.

Floating Monitor

Use Pin Floating Monitor in the main view to open and populate the monitor window. For setup and usage details with screenshot, see Monitor View Guide.

Preferences and Filters

Open Settings from popover.

Refresh

Interval controls refresh cadence (seconds)
Enable auto-refresh toggles background refresh

PR fetch behavior

PR limit
Open only
Include closed
Include drafts

Scope

Enable/disable Personal and Organizations
Select specific orgs
Optional repo allowlist tokens (owner/repo)
- If allowlist is set, it overrides org scoping

Status visibility

Settings also shows:

token status
API rate limit counters
API call metrics by category

Releases and Update Flow

Releases are created from tags in strict semantic format:

vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH (example: v0.0.1)

Each release publishes:

PRBar-X.Y.Z.dmg
PRBar.app.zip

CI/CD supports two modes:

Mode A: unsigned packaging (no Apple signing secrets configured)
Mode B: signed + notarized + stapled artifacts (best end-user UX)

Homebrew cask update automation:

Release workflow computes sha256 from PRBar.app.zip.
Workflow validates generated cask (brew style, brew audit, smoke install).
Workflow updates neural-harmonics/homebrew-prbar with Casks/prbar.rb.

Maintainer requirements:

Keep tag format strict: vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.
Keep release zip asset name exactly PRBar.app.zip.
Configure HOMEBREW_TAP_GITHUB_TOKEN secret with push access to neural-harmonics/homebrew-prbar.

Security and Privacy

GitHub token is stored only in macOS Keychain.
Token is not written to UserDefaults or local cache files.
Cached app data includes PR list/state/settings, but not credentials.
Network calls are made to GitHub REST API over HTTPS.

Troubleshooting

“Missing token” after save

Re-open Settings and retry Save + Validate.
Ensure token is non-empty and valid.
If error text is shown in red, use that message for diagnosis.

No PRs appear

Confirm token scopes/permissions.
Check scope filters (Personal/Org/allowlist).
Try disabling repo allowlist temporarily.
Click manual refresh.

Rate limits

If close to GitHub rate limit, PRBar slows refresh cadence.

Check rate display in Settings.
Increase interval.
Narrow scope or lower PR limit.

macOS blocked app launch

Use right-click -> Open for first run if unsigned.
Prefer signed/notarized release artifacts when available.

Monitor window not updating

Check if monitor auto-refresh is paused.
Click Refresh now.
Verify token validity and API status in Settings.

FAQ

Does PRBar support multiple GitHub accounts?

Not currently. One token at a time.

Does PRBar edit or merge PRs?

No. It is read-focused monitoring and navigation.

Can I use PRBar without org access?

Yes. Personal-only mode works.

Can I inspect full workflow logs in-app?

PRBar focuses on summaries/job-step states and deep links to GitHub for full logs.

For Developers

Run locally

Open PRBar.xcodeproj in Xcode.
Select PRBar scheme.
Build and run on macOS.

Release workflow

Workflow file: .github/workflows/release.yml
Packaging script: scripts/package.sh

Release trigger tag must be strict semver:

v0.0.1 (valid)
v.0.0.1 (invalid)

Optional signing/notarization secrets

Set these in GitHub repository Actions secrets for signed Mode B:

MACOS_CERT_P12
MACOS_CERT_PASSWORD
MACOS_SIGNING_IDENTITY
APPLE_TEAM_ID
APPLE_ID
APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 20 Commits
.github		.github
PRBar.xcodeproj		PRBar.xcodeproj
PRBar		PRBar
docs		docs
scripts		scripts
.gitignore		.gitignore
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md

License

Neural-Harmonics/prbar

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Latest commit

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