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BasicShell 0.8.1

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@mbahakeskin mbahakeskin released this 05 Nov 16:30
· 12 commits to main since this release
v0.8.1
9026364

Download: BasicShell-0.8.1.zip, with BasicShell.app inside: unzip, move it to Applications. A release is the build with the agent tools (Settings › Agents, off until you turn it on); the plain build is ./build.sh from the source.

It is self-signed, not an Apple Developer ID, so the first time macOS refuses to open it: open it once, then System Settings › Privacy & Security › Open Anyway.

Requires: macOS 27 on Apple silicon.

Updates. BasicShell updates itself: BasicShell menu › Check for Updates…, and once a day by itself unless Settings › General turns that off. Update and Restart downloads the zip, checks it against its SHA-256 and the app in it against this app's identifier, then replaces the old app (which goes to the Trash) and opens the new one. Nothing is installed without your say.

New since 0.8.0

  • The address field searches a site by a keyword. Type yt and a space (or Tab) and a YouTube chip stands in the field: what you type next is searched on YouTube. yt lofi and Return does the same in one go; the keyword alone opens the site's front page (a single letter alone doesn't, so a search for "w" stays a search). A word that is nearly a keyword (yout, clau) is offered as a row, and Tab turns it into its chip; Backspace in the empty field takes the chip off. Built in: yt YouTube, cl Claude, gpt ChatGPT, gh GitHub, w Wikipedia, m Maps, r Reddit, tl Translate; Settings › Search edits the list, with %s where the words go.
    • A site's color, faintly: the chip, the chosen row and the field's glass take a little of the site's color. Settings › Search has an eyedropper beside each keyword to take it from anywhere on the screen.
    • Right-click a search box › Add as Search Engine… makes a keyword from the site's own search form (forms that use GET), with its color from the page's theme-color or its icon.
  • The same field runs commands. The menu bar's items are its commands, read as the field opens, so a new menu item is a new command: mute, translate, downloads. Start with > to see commands only. Keys are shown where there are any. split offers Open Side by Side with each other tab, which had no menu item. The Develop and Debug menus' items come after anything else that fits.
  • View › Pick Color from Screen opens macOS's eyedropper and copies the color's code (#RRGGBB) to the clipboard.
  • Full screen and the macOS menu bar.
    • Touching the Dock's edge no longer makes the menu bar jump down and up once.
    • A three-finger swipe to another desktop no longer leaves the menu bar black until you click BasicShell.
    • Leaving BasicShell's full-screen desktop, the menu bar comes as the window goes, not about a quarter of a second after.
    • Settings › General › Debug logging writes [edges] lines for finding out what a flicker was.
  • The Settings window is a little wider, for its seventh tab.

Known limits

  • A keyword's prompt reaches Claude only if claude.ai still fills its box from ?q=; sources disagree, so cl hello may open an empty chat.
  • Add as Search Engine… needs a search form that uses GET; one that posts is refused with a message.
  • Not saved: DRM-protected video, live streams, video described by a DASH .mpd with segment templates, and the adaptive streams of YouTube.
  • Passkeys and Apple Passwords need an Apple Developer ID and so don't work yet.
  • Extensions run in the main profile only.

After updating, quit and reopen BasicShell if it did not restart itself, and start a new chat in your agent.

SHA-256: BasicShell-0.8.1.zip 7f2627c0ff4eda51a866a17c8e8c14a008f39ae8f08172d24d0cf100bf967a60

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