Macheim

Valheim Mod Manager for macOS

r2modman and Thunderstore Mod Manager don't support macOS. Macheim fills that gap.

A native macOS mod manager for Valheim, built with Tauri v2. Browse, install, and manage mods from Thunderstore with a single click. No terminal required.

Screenshots

Mod Browser	Installed Mods	Modpacks

Features

• Auto-detect Valheim - Automatically finds your Valheim installation via Steam library
• One-click BepInEx install - Downloads and configures BepInEx from Thunderstore, handles macOS Gatekeeper automatically
• Thunderstore mod browser - Browse, search, and filter thousands of mods (Popular / Newest / Top Rated / A-Z)
• One-click mod install - Automatic dependency resolution using topological sort
• Modpack support - Install entire modpacks with all dependencies in one click
• Profile management - Create, switch, clone, import, and export mod profiles
• BepInEx config editor - Edit mod configuration files directly in the app
• Backup & restore - Create and restore full mod backups
• Sync & Clean - Re-download missing mod files and clean up orphaned files
• Play Modded - Launch Valheim with mods, automatically handles Rosetta for Apple Silicon
• Dark viking-themed UI - Built for the Valheim aesthetic
• Lightweight - 5.7MB DMG, 16MB app (vs Electron-based alternatives at ~1.3GB)

Requirements

• macOS 12+ (Monterey or later)
• Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4) or Intel Mac
• Valheim installed via Steam
• Internet connection for downloading mods

Installation

Download

1. Download Macheim.dmg from the Releases page
2. Open the DMG and drag Macheim to your Applications folder
3. Important: The app is not code-signed yet, so macOS will block it. Open Terminal and run:

   xattr -cr /Applications/Macheim.app

4. Now open Macheim normally. If macOS still blocks it, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway

Build from Source

Prerequisites: Node.js 18+, Rust 1.70+, Tauri CLI

git clone https://github.com/lofcgi/macheim.git
cd macheim
npm install
npm run tauri build

The built DMG will be in src-tauri/target/release/bundle/dmg/.

Getting Started

1. Launch Macheim - The Setup Wizard will automatically detect your Valheim installation
2. Install BepInEx - Click "Install BepInEx" to set up the mod framework
3. Browse Mods - Go to the Mods tab to browse and search Thunderstore
4. Install - Click any mod to see details, then click "Install" to download with all dependencies
5. Play Modded - Click "Play Modded" to launch Valheim with your mods enabled

Known Issues

Pink/Magenta Objects

Some mod-added objects (buildings, creatures, effects) may render as pink/magenta. This happens because mods ship DirectX-only shaders without Metal variants, and macOS uses Metal for rendering.

This is a known limitation of modding Valheim on macOS. Mod functionality is completely unaffected - only the visual appearance of some mod-added objects is impacted. Vanilla game objects are never affected.

BepInEx Requires Rosetta

On Apple Silicon Macs, BepInEx's Harmony/MonoMod only works under x86_64 emulation. Macheim handles this automatically by launching the game via arch -x86_64. Rosetta will be installed automatically if not already present.

macOS Gatekeeper

After BepInEx installation, macOS may block some libraries. Macheim automatically removes quarantine attributes, but if you encounter issues, go to System Settings > Privacy & Security to allow blocked items.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Framework	Tauri v2
Backend	Rust (28 source files, 25 Tauri commands)
Frontend	React 19 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS v4
State	Zustand
UI Icons	Lucide React

How It Works

Macheim uses Tauri v2 to bridge a Rust backend with a React frontend:

• Game detection: Parses Steam's libraryfolders.vdf to locate Valheim
• BepInEx management: Downloads from Thunderstore, patches config for macOS (Type = GameObject), removes Gatekeeper quarantine from dylibs
• Mod installation: Downloads mod ZIPs, extracts to the correct profile directory, resolves dependencies via Kahn's algorithm (topological sort)
• Game launch: Uses arch -x86_64 env DYLD_INSERT_LIBRARIES=libdoorstop.dylib to bypass macOS SIP restrictions and force Rosetta on Apple Silicon

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Tauri - Lightweight app framework
• BepInEx - Unity mod loader framework
• Thunderstore - Mod repository and API
• r2modmanPlus - Inspiration for this project
• The Valheim modding community