CíBar for Windows 11 · 1.1.0-preview.1

CíBar now has a native Windows 11 x64 preview: a small movable vocabulary pill above the taskbar, created by Akash Mahedy · @akashmahedy.

Download and run

Download CiBar-Windows-x64.zip, extract the entire ZIP to a permanent folder, and run CiBar.exe. Keep Resources beside it. No administrator rights, .NET, Electron, Windhawk or separately installed Visual C++ runtime is required. This preview is unsigned; Windows may show its normal SmartScreen prompt.

Default: HSK4 · sequential · 45 seconds · adaptive width capped at 260 · smooth fill · no seconds label. Drag to move; right-click to lock/reset. The tray icon opens Settings, Pause, Show/Hide, Library and Quit.

Included

• Native C++20/Win32 with DirectWrite/Direct2D and DirectComposition countdown animation. No per-frame image generation or CPU redraw loop.
• The existing 5400-entry HSK 3.0 pack and 3071 sourced examples. No new vocabulary list; automatic example Pinyin remains labelled.
• Multilevel/range selection, sequential/random cycles, previous/next/jump, Favorites, search, display toggles, font/width controls, presets and fill contrast.
• Full word cards, copy, dictionary and source attribution. Card/fullscreen/sleep/lock pauses coexist with manual pause.
• Mac-compatible CiBarBackup version 1 for vocabulary, custom words, settings, Favorites and progress. Recovery backup and interrupted-restore rollback; Windows position/startup stay local.
• Offline local data in %LOCALAPPDATA%\CiBar; startup is off by default.

Verification and preview limits

MSVC x64 build, playback/import/restore tests, app-owned compositor/window smoke on Windows Server CI, and compatibility with the actual Mac Codable model passed. Synthetic fixtures are used; no personal data is packaged.

Real Windows 11 GUI/scaling/fullscreen/sleep/lock checks and five-minute CPU/private-working-set measurements remain pending. No Windows 11 screenshots or measured resource claims are supplied. Targets are mean CPU ≤1% of one core and private working set ≤60 MiB; these are not yet verified. This is a prerelease, not a stable Windows release. Windows 10 and ARM64 are unsupported.

Windows guide · Verification checklist · Build and test results

Mac 1.0.2 remains the stable Mac release; its app behavior and source are unchanged.

App code/original assets: MIT. Vocabulary/examples: separate Creative Commons licenses in Resources/ATTRIBUTIONS.txt. nlohmann/json 3.12.0: MIT. Creator credit appears in Settings, About and word cards. Verify the ZIP against CiBar-Windows-SHA256SUMS.txt.

CíBar 1.0.2 — Chinese in your menu bar

CíBar brings Chinese vocabulary into your macOS menu bar with Hanzi, Pinyin, English and a gentle shrinking countdown.

Created by Akash Mahedy (@akashmahedy). Creator credit is visible in the app's Settings and included in its copyright and source attribution.

• Offline 2025 HSK 3.0 exam-syllabus vocabulary: 5400 words across levels 1–6.
• Multiple levels and serial ranges, sequential/random playback, pause, jump and favorites.
• Font/width controls, independent display toggles, color presets and fill contrast options.
• Full word cards, 3071 sourced/original examples, CSV/TSV import and backup export/restore.
• Native AppKit and Core Animation; no subscription, account or background network requests.

Download CiBar-Apple-Silicon.zip for an M-series Mac or CiBar-Intel.zip for an Intel Mac. Unzip and move the app into Applications. The Apple Silicon build needs no Rosetta. macOS 13+ is required.

These app-only archives contain no personal settings, progress or migration backups. SHA-256 checksums are attached. App code is MIT; bundled vocabulary and examples retain their separate Creative Commons licenses and attribution.

The apps use local ad-hoc signatures and are not Apple-notarized. Use the normal macOS Open Anyway flow after reviewing the source if Gatekeeper blocks a download. Automatic example Pinyin is labelled and can need correction; not every word has an example. Physical Intel hardware and macOS 13 have not been tested locally; see the repository's CI results and verification documentation.

User guide · Data sources · Performance