happymode

Native macOS menu bar app that controls Light/Dark appearance based on sunrise/sunset or custom daily times.

Highlights

• Menu bar utility (no Dock icon) with left-click popup and right-click context menu.
• Auto, Light, and Dark modes.
• Two scheduling options:
  • Sunrise and sunset (automatic by location or manual coordinates).
  • Custom times (user-defined daily switch times).
• Weekly preview of sunrise/sunset times, including polar night and midnight sun indicators.
• Optional countdown in menu bar for time remaining to next transition.
• Local solar calculations (no external API calls).
• Automatic update checking (once daily) with manual "Check for Updates" option.
• Native macOS login item integration with System Settings approval flow.
• Five settings tabs: General, Schedule, Location, Permissions, and About.

Install

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap happytoolin/happytap
brew install --cask happymode

Direct download

Download the latest build from Releases, then move happymode.app to /Applications.

First launch on macOS

If Gatekeeper blocks launch, use one of these:

1. Open System Settings -> Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway.
2. Right-click happymode.app in /Applications, then click Open.

If needed:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/happymode.app"

Usage

Menu Bar

Left-click the menu bar icon to open the popup:

• Set Mode to Auto, Light, or Dark.
• In Auto, choose between Sunrise and sunset or Custom times.
• View next switch countdown and today's sunrise/sunset times.
• Refresh to force location refresh.
• Settings… (Cmd+,) to open settings window.
• Quit (Cmd+Q) to exit.

Right-click the menu bar icon for quick access:

• Switch between Auto, Light, and Dark modes.
• Settings… to open settings window.
• Check for Updates… to manually check for new releases.
• Quit happymode to exit.

Settings

Open Settings… to configure:

• General: Theme picker, menu bar countdown toggle, startup at login.
• Schedule: Choose between sunrise/sunset or custom times, view weekly preview.
• Location: Automatic location detection or manual latitude/longitude coordinates.
• Permissions: Grant Location and Automation permissions with quick links to System Settings.
• About: App version, GitHub repository, website, and update check button.

Initial Setup

1. Launch happymode.
2. Click the menu bar icon and set your preferred Mode.
3. Open Settings… to grant permissions:
   • Location: Required for automatic sunrise/sunset calculations.
   • Automation: Required to switch macOS appearance.
4. (Optional) Enable Start happymode at login in General settings.

Screenshots

Permissions

• Location Services: Required for automatic sunrise/sunset calculations. Can be disabled if using manual coordinates or custom times.
• Automation -> System Events: Required to apply macOS appearance changes.

Both permissions can be granted from the Permissions settings tab, which provides direct links to System Privacy settings. If location is denied, you can disable automatic location and set manual latitude/longitude in the Location settings tab.

Development

Requirements

• macOS 15.0
• Xcode 16+
• Swift 5.10+

Build (Debug)

xcodebuild \
  -project happymode.xcodeproj \
  -scheme happymode \
  -configuration Debug \
  -sdk macosx \
  CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO \
  SYMROOT="$PWD/build" \
  clean build

Run tests

swift test

Release

Releases are automated with GitHub Actions on version tags (v*).

1. Merge changes to main.
2. Tag and push:

git tag v0.0.4
git push origin v0.0.4

The release workflow publishes:

• happymode-vX.Y.Z.zip
• happymode-vX.Y.Z.sha256
• happymode-latest.zip

To auto-update the Homebrew tap cask, set repository secret:

• TAP_GITHUB_TOKEN (write access to happytoolin/homebrew-happytap)

If this secret is missing, the release still succeeds and tap update is skipped.

Troubleshooting

• App does not switch appearance:
  • Open Settings…, go to Permissions, grant Automation permission, and allow happymode under Privacy settings.
• Sunrise/sunset schedule is unavailable:
  • Grant Location permission in Permissions, or switch to manual coordinates/custom times in Location or Schedule settings.
• App shows warning icon in menu bar:
  • Open the popup and follow the setup guidance to grant required permissions.

License

Licensed under GNU GPL v3.