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Releases: nparashar150/dockset
Release list
v0.1.9
0.1.9 (2026-10-01)
Bug Fixes
- a removed widget takes its open panel with it, and the note and watchlist panels fit in (9f7d80f)
- a slow player is waited out, not turned into a Connect button (f956b38)
- players keep syncing when slow, and panels close with their widget (eb5af34)
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.8
0.1.8 (2026-10-01)
Bug Fixes
- the panel's tail is part of its outline, not drawn over it (2d8fbbb)
- the panel's tail is part of its outline, not drawn over it (159763c)
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.7
0.1.7 (2026-10-01)
Features
- every panel is one graphite card with its reading on it (cf709da)
- every tile leads with the same badge and reads the same way (163fdd6)
- graphite card panels, one tile structure, and the shelf stays out for the library (10ac5a9)
Bug Fixes
- the shelf stays out while the widget library is open (545987f)
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.6
0.1.6 (2026-09-30)
Features
- Now Playing on any site, a picture-first panel, and settings that show their choices (09ac35b)
- Now Playing reads any site and stands on its picture (14ae33a)
- settings and the menu show what each choice does (4c1c446)
Bug Fixes
- choosing a setup takes effect without a relaunch (82f0dd6)
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.5
0.1.5 (2026-09-30)
Features
- a shelf rising out of the edge, as a layered macOS 26 icon (6d369c8)
- a shelf that carries widgets and nothing else (58694c6)
- a sidebar, the shelf's contents as a list, and a staggered arrival (1baf910)
- real cover art for browser video, and widgets that answer the pointer (2438419)
- show the app that is playing when there is no album art (2c5166b)
- the cover is the music card, not a stamp on it (00c1947)
- the Now Playing panel stands on its artwork's colour (3d0cc52)
- the shelf comes out with Mission Control, and in step with it (915ea32)
- the shelf rides the Mission Control swipe instead of chasing it (56f0fe0)
- the weather strip shows rain, not five copies of the same number (738af53)
- weather leads with now, and the rings say which way they are going (35cc3c5)
Bug Fixes
- a press stays pressed until the player says otherwise (96a7050)
- an empty sticky note reads as paper rather than as a failure (2d8a745)
- draw Apple's material rather than a tinted copy of it (9db391c)
- give the panel's transport a primary control and a pressed state (9e2ec27)
- make the Widgets settings tab usable (e53612c)
- settings per widget, and a mini Now Playing that can do something (9a21099)
- stop spending a row on one button (6e94a33)
- stop the music widget mistaking its own traffic for a refusal (affc28a)
- stop the shelf chasing a Dock move it caused (0f8b063)
- the mini music chip is the control and nothing else (f070edd)
- the shelf answers to the wallpaper it is standing on (cfe5203)
- the shelf leaves Mission Control with the swipe, not after it (ca2d62c)
- the shelf leaves Mission Control with the swipe, not after it (2b53e4f)
- use the system's text token instead of a dimmer copy of it (5b2a4a9)
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.4
0.1.4 (2026-09-27)
Features
Bug Fixes
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.3
0.1.3 (2026-09-27)
Features
- give Calendar and Reminders the tiles their panels deserved (95d5376), closes #19
- leave a handle on screen when the shelf hides (#125) (c1537e1), closes #3
- let profiles be created, renamed, duplicated and deleted (#117) (2aad9bb), closes #29 #36 #31
- let someone actually add a spacer (#116) (f28ef08), closes #33
- make Back Up and Restore do something (#115) (ebcedef), closes #32
- tell people when a new version exists (#111) (c63b90c), closes #110
- yield the edge when Apple's Dock comes out (#106) (4f1c4de), closes #4
Bug Fixes
- actually receive the notification the Dock posts (#105) (aa24465), closes #12 #37
- connect the Focus Timer settings to the Focus Timer (#127) (a410ed3), closes #37
- delete two stored settings nothing reads, and say why two others stay (#126) (4e2333d), closes #27 #30
- give each release its own build number (#113) (a97bfbc), closes #112
- land on the tab that was asked for, and tell two widgets apart (#123) (d15d346), closes #43 #44
- make a widget's options reachable and honest (#107) (d1136fd), closes #21 #25 #14
- make the Dock tab apply what it is set to (#109) (5c56ac9), closes #6 #5 #7 #8
- make the menu bar and appearance settings apply (#119) (dcded3a), closes #39 #40 #41
- measure System Activity for what it actually draws (#120) (422b12d), closes #22
- reach the weather location, and make Hourly mean something on a side shelf (#122) (ca287aa), closes #26 #23
- report a failed Dock apply where the button is, and verify something (#118) (ae11597), closes #34 #35
- say why three library categories are empty (#124) (4e625dd), closes #45
- stop offering a chart to a layout that cannot draw one (#121) (d1cc104), closes #20
- stop offering options no widget reads (#114) (6f63e1d), closes #15 #16 #17 #38
- stop one unreadable value discarding the whole setup (#108) (abe19b5), closes #13
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
...
v0.1.2
0.1.2 (2026-09-26)
Features
- borrow the Dock's reserved strip so windows stop at the shelf (#102) (87ec8d2), closes #46 #28
- give the Show Trash toggle a Trash to show (#100) (bfeb22b), closes #1
Bug Fixes
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
v0.1.1
0.1.1 (2026-09-26)
Bug Fixes
Requirements
macOS 26. Docket reads the real Dock's own preferences and draws against the
current SDK; there is no build for anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside it.
(The .zip is there too if you prefer it; unzip and move the app across
yourself.) Install it before the next step, because the permission you are
about to grant is attached to where the app lives, and granting it while the
app sits in Downloads means granting it again later. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
Docket v0.1.0
The first release of Docket - a free, open-source shelf that sits beside
Apple's Dock and holds live widgets, app groups and folders. This release - a free, open-source shelf that sits beside
Apple's Dock and holds live widgets, app groups and folders.
Standing on Dockset's shoulders
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely lovely
macOS app built and sold by an independent developer. Dockset is the original -
it worked out what a Dock shelf should feel like, and it is polished, supported
and worth paying for. If you want the real article, go and buy it.
Docket is an independent reimplementation, written from scratch as a homage and
a way of learning how something like this is built. It is not affiliated with,
endorsed by or connected to Dockset, and it is not "the free version" of it.
Full attribution is in NOTICE.md.
What's in it
It follows your real Dock. Size, edge, magnification and auto-hide are read
from com.apple.dock rather than copied, so there is nothing to keep in sync
when you move the Dock or drag the size slider. Magnification uses Apple's own
raised-cosine falloff, with the peak and radius taken from your own largesize
and tilesize.
Widgets that open. Clicking any widget opens a detail panel anchored to its
tile, with a tail pointing back at it - the whole day's agenda rather than the
next event, every battery rather than the Mac's, a minute of history behind the
number. It closes on a click outside, Escape or ⌘W.
App groups. Drop one icon onto another and hold, the way iOS makes a folder.
Tinted, renamed in place, and you can drag icons back out.
Now Playing reads Spotify and Apple Music over Apple Events, falling back to
whatever a scriptable browser tab is playing. MediaRemote would be the obvious
route and has been entitlement-gated since 15.4 - it loads, the symbol resolves,
and it returns an empty dictionary.
And the rest: overflow scrolling, drag to reorder, the launch bounce, files
and folders, and layouts you can save and write back to Apple's own Dock.
Requirements
macOS 26, Apple Silicon or Intel - the build is universal. Docket reads the real
Dock's preferences and draws against the current SDK; there is no build for
anything earlier.
This build is unsigned
It is signed ad-hoc - no Apple Developer certificate, no notarisation. Nothing
is wrong with the download; it just has no identity Apple recognises, so
Gatekeeper stops it the first time.
Opening it on macOS 26:
- Open the .dmg and drag Docket onto the Applications alias inside
it. Install it before the next step, because the permission you are about to
grant is attached to where the app lives. - Double-click it. macOS refuses, saying it cannot verify the app is free of
malware. Click Done. - Open System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security and scroll to Security.
There is a line there about Docket being blocked, with an Open Anyway
button. Click it and authenticate. - Launch Docket again and confirm Open Anyway.
Control-clicking the app and choosing Open - the old advice, still all over
the internet - no longer works for this. macOS stopped honouring that shortcut
in Sequoia, and macOS 26 sends you to Privacy & Security instead.
If macOS still refuses, or calls the app damaged, the download's quarantine
flag is the thing in the way:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Docket.appPrefer to avoid all of this? Build it yourself - brew install xcodegen,
xcodegen generate, and the build instructions in the README. A local build
signed with your own certificate has none of these problems.
After it launches, look at the menu bar
Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no entry in the app switcher, no
window on launch. If you double-click it and seem to get nothing, it started
fine - its status item is in the menu bar, and everything (settings, quitting)
is behind that.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation - Now Playing reads Spotify, Apple Music, or a scriptable
browser tab over Apple Events. macOS asks the first time it tries; approving
it under Privacy & Security ▸ Automation is what makes the widget show
anything. The browser fallback additionally needs Allow JavaScript from
Apple Events in that browser's Develop menu. - Calendars and Reminders - asked only when you open those widgets'
detail panels, and only for what they display. - Location - the weather widget asks, for your city. macOS does not present
that prompt to an accessory app with no ordinary window, so the request
quietly goes nowhere; set a city by hand in Settings ▸ Widgets instead.
Nothing is sent anywhere. Docket is not sandboxed because reading the Dock's
preferences and driving other apps over Apple Events both require it.
Credit where it is due
Docket exists because of Dockset, a genuinely
lovely macOS app by an independent developer, who had the idea of a widget
shelf beside the Dock and executed it beautifully. Docket is an independent
reimplementation and a learning exercise, written from scratch and from the
outside - it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Dockset in
any way.
If you want the polished, supported, commercial article, go and buy Dockset.
It is worth paying for, and paying independent developers for their work is
how apps like it keep getting made.
After it launches, nothing appears to happen
That is expected. Docket is an accessory app: no Dock tile, no window of its
own. Its only permanent UI is the status item in the menu bar - everything
is reached from there. The shelf itself appears beside your Dock.
Permissions it will ask for
- Automation, the first time Now Playing tries to read a player. Without it
the widget says so plainly instead of guessing. Browser fallback additionally
needs "Allow JavaScript from Apple Events" in that browser's develop menu. - Calendar and Reminders, if you add those widgets.
Known limits, said out loud
- Location consent is not reachable. macOS does not present the prompt to an
accessory app with no ordinary window. Set a city in Settings ▸ Widgets. - Stripe, Paddle and Shopify widgets have no service behind them. They exist
in the catalog and cannot currently be added. - Removal uses a deprecated API on purpose.
NSAnimationEffectis the Dock's
own poof, and a real poof beats a hand-drawn puff of smoke. - This is a hobby project with rough edges and no support. For the finished,
supported article, buy Dockset.