Perch 0.2.0 — Mac developer preview

The bird now lives in your Mac's menu bar. This first native developer preview includes connection setup, heartbeat receipts, pause/resume, a private-dashboard link, Keychain token storage, and optional Open at login.

The connection window keeps Connect this Mac and validation feedback in a fixed header while the form scrolls.

Download

Choose Perch-0.2.0-developer-preview.dmg below. The DMG contains Perch.app, an Applications shortcut, and installation notes. Requires macOS 13 or later, Apple silicon or Intel. No Node.js runtime is required.

Developer preview: ad-hoc signed, not Developer ID signed or notarized by Apple. macOS may block this download from opening. A signed installation experience is still pending. Do not disable Gatekeeper. The SHA-256 file checks download integrity; it is not independent proof of authenticity.

Connect your own Mac

Configure your own Perch server, then enter its HTTPS origin, machine ID, and write-only token. The public project website is not a shared monitoring service. Nothing is collected or sent before you connect. Stop an earlier Perch Terminal agent before connecting the native app.

tmux metadata and this Mac's Tailscale addresses are separate opt-ins, off by default. Tokens remain in this Mac's Keychain. The app does not provide terminal access or remote execution.

Verification and remaining work

The native test suite covers transport boundaries, configuration validation, bounded collectors, and pause/failure/recovery behavior using test fixtures. Native UI checks cover blank-field validation, optional settings, and the fixed connection action. Web/API and browser checks cover the existing dashboard and download links.

Hosted Google sign-in and Redis, a real Mac heartbeat interruption/recovery, clean downloaded installation, signed-update Keychain continuity, and login-item relaunch still need integration verification. A missing heartbeat means unknown current state, not proof the Mac is powered off.