Thaw Update: 2.0.0 Incoming, macOS 27 Support, & Built-In Privacy

[diazdesandi]

We’ve been dealing with several things in parallel:

1. Thaw 2.0.0-rc2: One thing breaks, another gets fixed, but we’re nearing the finish line for a release this week. Feature freeze is active; no new features will enter this release. Stable should be arriving next week together with 2.1.0 Alpha.
2. Single-repo → organization migration (as you may have noticed). The release channel broke because we forgot about it 😅; fixed now.
3. A huge wave of new PRs. Thank you, everyone. Review and testing take time. New features are in the mix; triggers and diagnostic logs rotation are close to be ready to ship with 2.1.0. Big thanks to @alvst and @nk-tedo-001
4. macOS 27: Development for macOS 27 has slowed for these past 2-3 days (another build is coming soon), focus is on stabilization and regression testing. If nothing blocking turns up from Preview 6, the next step is moving macOS 27 support into the Alpha / Nightly phase as part of the v2.1.0 cycle. Big thanks as well to the community that has showed up to test the previews.

Integrations: Raycast and Droppy

• Raycast: official extension for toggles, search, settings, and more without leaving Raycast. Contributions welcome in the raycast-extension repo.
• Droppy: pairs with Thaw for a fuller menu bar suite (shelf + extras), via the same thaw:// automation surface.
• Alfred: an official workflow is on the roadmap. thaw:// already works with Alfred today; what’s left is a packaged, installable workflow.

Outside the app (and worth knowing)

We’ve been hardening the project around contributors, releases, and trust, not just features:

• Verifying releases: how Apple notarization, Sparkle EdDSA, Sigstore/cosign, and signed tags fit together, and how you can check a build yourself.
• DCO is enforced: every commit needs a Signed-off-by under the Developer Certificate of Origin. This isn’t a CLA; it’s an attestation that you can contribute the change under GPL-3.0 (including AI-assisted work you’re responsible for).
• More docs under docs/: architecture, assurance case, release process, URI schemes, hidden flags, roadmap.
• docs/CREDITS: We want to credit people properly, so there is a new CREDITS.md for translators, and even an Anonymous entry for someone who closed their Crowdin account.

OpenSSF: what the scores mean

OpenSSF gives two related but different signals:

• Best Practices badge: a criteria checklist for how a project is run (security reporting, builds, tests, docs, contribution practices, etc.). Levels: Passing → Silver → Gold. We’re close to Silver (~98%) and at ~78% toward Gold. Silver is meant to be achievable for small projects; Gold is stricter.
• Scorecard: automated supply-chain checks (branch protection, dependency updates, SAST, pinned actions, token permissions, and so on). We’re at 8.2 / 10 and climbing as more measures land.

Together: Best Practices is “are we doing the right things on paper and in process?”; Scorecard is “does the repo look healthy to automated scrutiny?” We’re investing in both because Thaw asks for powerful permissions. Users should be able to verify what they’re installing and how the project is maintained. We’re also going to keep expanding into third-party open source certifications. Most apps don’t pursue them, and menu bar managers basically don’t at all. SLSA is our next objective.

Idea: “What Thaw sees”

For 2.1.0 we’re considering a verification mode where users can see the untreated screen capture Thaw is working from: literally “what Thaw sees” so far. Goal: make capture inspectable, not more opaque. You grant the permission, you should also be able to confirm the scope of what the app observes.

Feedback and questions welcome on any of the above. The goal is transparency and contribution.

[nk-tedo-001]

@diazdesandi BTW, will you guys publish a few 2.0.0 RC builds before the final release, so we can test all the fixes together instead of using individual debug builds?

[alvst]

Maybe related, there was (still is?) a bug where if you had no items in the hidden bar except the "add new items to this bar" item, you couldn't add items into it. I can look into whether that is still a problem and develop a fix. It was one of the things I had fixed in my branch.

[diazdesandi]

@alvst the placeholder issue? Added a fix with rc2.1 because that's what happened and kind of worse

[alvst]

Maybe, tbh I had encountered this a few months ago and fixed it locally but I forget the details of what was causing it.

[alvst]

Just tested this in rc2.1 and it does not work and may be the cause of the :

1. Empty out a section leaving only the [New Items] badge.
2. Attempt to drag a regular item from another section into the empty section:drop once to the left of the badge to the left or the right of the badge.

[alvst]

Fixed here: #897

[chip902]

Is it just me or is there still several problems with the Thaw bar needing to respring all the apps which locks my cursor and is a huge annoyance. I do have the option to Prompt me each time Thaw wants to reload all my programs, but to do so takes a lot of time and resources

[diazdesandi]

Did the issue started with any of the last two builds?

[chip902]

Its gotten demonstrably worse in rc-2.1 (49). Seems to be aggravated when I have to switch monitor arrangements/layouts.

I was able to reproduce the behavior and log it to debug logs... I would file an Issue but I'm honestly not 100% sure how to even describe the problem let alone the EXACT step to reproduce it.

thaw_2026-08-10_11-08-29.log

[diazdesandi]

There was a change with the Thaw bar cache so that might explain why, I'll take a look into the logs, any other issue?

[chip902]

I ran another instance of debugging where it happened more frequently.

thaw_2026-08-10_11-22-51.log

I have several setups so admittedly I'm putting Thaw through the ringer I'm assuming when it comes to Test Cases.

Retina Display Laptop Lid
Sidecar with Apple Vision Pro
Extend to two 32 inch monitors in closed clamshell mode

But I am not changing the resolution at all. I try to keep all this under the same Profile and to keep the Focus Filters configured.

[chip902]

I added my findings to #907

[alvst]

Can you describe more about your setup? Is this one monitor? Multiple? Is it happening when you unplug and replug? Randomly? Anything like that tends to help.

…

On Mon, Aug 10, 2026 at 8:11 AM Andrew Chepurny ***@***.***> wrote: Its gotten demonstrably worse in rc-2.1 (49). Seems to be aggravated when I have to switch monitor arrangements/layouts. I was able to reproduce the behavior and log it to debug logs... I would file an Issue but I'm honestly not 100% sure how to even describe the problem let alone the EXACT step to reproduce it. thaw_2026-08-10_11-08-29.log <https://github.com/user-attachments/files/30904219/thaw_2026-08-10_11-08-29.log> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#854?email_source=notifications&email_token=AB7VZC5YWO4HJNBZ3GOB7ED5JHQ2DA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZZGY2DOMZVUZZGKYLTN5XKO3LFNZ2GS33OUVSXMZLOOSWGM33PORSXEX3DNRUWG2Y#discussioncomment-17964735>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AB7VZC2UWXXV22CGYGJCEO35JHQ2DAVCNFSNUABJKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHMYTCNBVGM3TIOBRHA5UI2LTMN2XG43JN5XDWMJQGUZDGOBWGCQXMAQ> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[chip902]

I have several setups so admittedly I'm putting Thaw through the ringer I'm assuming when it comes to Test Cases.

1. Retina Display Laptop Lid
2. Sidecar with Apple Vision Pro
3. Extend to two 32 inch monitors in closed clamshell mode

But I am not changing the resolution at all. I try to keep all this under the same Profile and to keep the Focus Filters configured.

thaw_2026-08-10_11-22-51.log

[chip902]

I think the closest thing I'm seeing is here: #907

[pwolver]

I'm finding the same thing. I had it happen on both the RC2 and RC2.1 - constant reorganising the menu bar, taking over my cursor and also mucking up the order, so I have to constantly re-order the bar and unhide items / hide items. It got so frequent I dropped back to ICE for the moment and that seems stable in that regard for me. I'll have a read of the #907 bug thread. (Using latest Tahoe btw)