Kickstart is a desktop app for developers who bounce between repos all day.
Stop juggling terminal windows. Keep your local dev commands organized by repo, start what you need in one click, open extra shells when you need them, and always know what is running where.
- Start a whole project from a saved
kickstart.json - Keep personal-only commands in the app without touching the repo config
- Run one service or launch every command a project needs
- Open temporary shells without turning your desktop into terminal soup
- Switch between repos without losing terminal state or the directory each shell was in
With modern dev workflows, it is easy to end up running multiple projects and multiple processes at once. Some repos need one command. Others need a frontend, backend, worker, and a few one-off shells on the side.
Kickstart keeps that setup in one place so local development feels calm again.
apps/desktop-native: the current native macOS appapps/desktop: the archived Electron implementation; it is not built or released by the default desktop commandsapps/marketing: the marketing site
- Bun
1.3+ - macOS 14+ and a Swift 6 toolchain for the native app
bun install
bun run devbun run lint
bun run test
bun run typecheck
bun run build- GitHub releases: https://github.com/paukraft/kickstart/releases
- Public macOS releases may be unsigned. The install page explains the one-time macOS approval step. Developer ID signing and notarization are supported when credentials are available.
- Validate the complete release flow without publishing:
bun run release:desktop:mac:dry-run- To publish, commit the release, tag that commit with the native package
version (for example
v0.2.0), then runbun run release:desktop:mac. - Users install the universal
.dmgfrom GitHub Releases. Unsigned builds must be approved once in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway. - The app checks GitHub Releases and links users to new versions; automatic installation can be added later with an update framework.
- Marketing site source:
apps/marketing - Desktop app source:
apps/desktop-native
MIT. See LICENSE.