Read Assist is now available as an early public source release for Apple-silicon Macs running macOS 14 or later.
Highlights:
- Native SwiftUI/AppKit menu-bar reading companion
- Explicit consent before selected text is sent for explanation
- User-supplied OpenAI API key stored in macOS Keychain
- Foundation-only ReadAssistCore library for reuse and integration
- Privacy-safe diagnostics and 43 automated tests across 7 suites
Install from source using the README instructions. No prebuilt app binary is attached: current developer archives are ad-hoc signed and not notarized, so source build is the supported distribution path.
Locally verified at commit e9027cf:
- swift test --disable-sandbox
- swift build -c release
- scripts/build-app.sh
- generated archive checksum
- Resources/Info.plist validation
Known boundaries: reader compatibility varies by application; Accessibility and live API behavior require manual acceptance testing; users pay their own OpenAI API charges.