MacPulse

Monitor your Mac. Understand your AI.

A native menu bar monitor for Apple Silicon: system health, Claude Code and Codex usage, cost estimates, quotas, and local-first tools.

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Download latest signed DMG · Website · Gallery · Privacy

Important

The latest public release and signed Sparkle feed are currently v0.9.0. The main branch contains unreleased v0.10 preview work, including the optional community ranking. The app interface is Chinese-first; the language switch above changes project documentation, not the app UI.

Why MacPulse

	What it gives you
System pulse	CPU, memory, network, disk, battery, temperature, fans, and top processes in a menu bar app.
AI usage	Local aggregation of Claude Code and Codex JSONL sessions, with token composition, trends, and API-equivalent cost estimates.
Quota awareness	Claude and Codex quota windows, reset countdowns, optional notifications, and a compact notch experience.
Local-first tools	Privacy mode, safe cache cleanup, bounded memory release, process termination, and recoverable Skills management.

MacPulse is designed for people who use AI coding tools heavily but still want a clear view of the Mac underneath them. The default simple mode answers three practical questions: how long the quota may last, whether today's pace is expensive, and whether the computer is under pressure. Analysis mode keeps the detailed token and model breakdown available when needed.

Gallery

Three visual systems

HUD	LED	Classic

Analysis mode

Public website

All app screenshots above were captured from the built macOS app with privacy mode enabled. Project names are replaced with stable aliases. Screens showing unavailable services, credentials, admin tools, or private paths are intentionally excluded.

Features

System monitoring

• Menu bar label for CPU, memory, and today's AI API-equivalent estimate; optional tightest-quota indicator.
• CPU total/user/system load, real-time chart, and AppleSMC temperature sampling.
• Memory pressure, compression, disk and network throughput, battery health, and fan speed.
• Top processes by CPU or memory, with confirmation before sending SIGTERM.
• Safe cache cleanup guarded by lexical path validation, protected paths, and sandbox-style regression tests.

AI usage and quotas

• Reads local Claude Code (~/.claude/projects) and Codex (~/.codex/sessions) JSONL files.
• Daily and monthly API-equivalent estimates, recent burn rate, seven-day trends, model/project drill-down, and cache reuse.
• Global messageId:requestId de-duplication aligned with ccusage semantics when both identifiers exist.
• Claude OAuth quota access is optional and disabled by default; Codex quota is derived from local rollout events.
• Cost figures are estimates for comparison and planning, not subscription invoices or actual charges.

Experience and optional tools

• Simple and professional information modes.
• Classic, HUD, and LED themes across the popover, dashboard, and notch surfaces.
• Local Skills discovery, installation, copying, and recoverable uninstall-to-Trash behavior.
• Optional quota-reset and wellbeing moments, each rate-limited and controlled by a master switch.
• Optional community ranking on main as an unreleased v0.10 preview; local monitoring works without signing in.

Download and requirements

Requirement	Support
Hardware	Apple Silicon (arm64)
macOS	14 or later
Distribution	GitHub Releases, Developer ID signed and Apple notarized
App Store	Not available; sandboxing would block SMC and local session access

1. Download the latest .dmg from GitHub Releases.
2. Drag MacPulse.app to /Applications.
3. Open the app and review the first-run privacy explanation before enabling optional features.

Note

There is another macOS product using the macpulse Homebrew cask name. MacPulse does not currently publish a Homebrew install command, so use this repository's signed GitHub Release.

Privacy model

MacPulse is local-first. It does not upload conversation text, prompts, responses, private project paths, or AI credentials. Product analytics, advertising telemetry, and automatic crash reporting are not enabled.

Network access only occurs for user-visible features such as update checks, optional Claude quota access, installing a Skill from a user-selected GitHub repository, and the optional community ranking. See the full Privacy Notice and Security Policy.

Build from source

Use the project scripts rather than a bare swift build when you need a runnable app bundle:

./scripts/test.sh
./scripts/build.sh 0.10.0 3
open dist/MacPulse.app

The package uses Swift 5 language mode, targets macOS 14+, and is built with Swift Package Manager. The build script compiles, assembles dist/MacPulse.app, generates the icon when needed, and applies an ad-hoc signature for local testing.

Public release artifacts must be Developer ID-signed, notarized by Apple, and delivered through a signed Sparkle appcast. Maintainer credentials and operational runbooks are intentionally kept outside this public repository. Do not distribute artifacts produced with SKIP_NOTARIZE=1.

Architecture highlights

• SwiftUI MenuBarExtra(.window) and Swift Charts; no Xcode project is required.
• Mach APIs for CPU and memory, getifaddrs for network, IOKit for disk/battery, and AppleSMC for temperature/fans.
• Serial sampling queues behind @MainActor observable stores.
• Sparkle 2 for signed application updates.
• A separate website and lightweight worker for the optional public ranking preview.

Contributing and support

• Read CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a pull request.
• Use the structured bug report and remove tokens, session text, usernames, and real project paths.
• Use GitHub's private vulnerability reporting flow for security issues; do not post credentials in a public Issue.
• Release history is maintained in CHANGELOG.md.

Acknowledgements

MacPulse was inspired by SystemPal and references ideas from exelban/stats and ccusage. Third-party license notices are listed in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.txt.

License

MIT © 2026 Liang Heping