Kiln

A native Mac app for Claude Code.

Kiln runs Claude Code as a proper desktop app instead of another terminal tab. Sessions live in a sidebar, approvals pop up as real dialogs, and the whole thing feels like the rest of your Mac. Built in SwiftUI. macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel.

Why

I wanted the feel of a native editor — command palette, keyboard shortcuts, a sidebar — without giving up Claude Code's terminal-native workflow underneath. So Kiln wraps the CLI, keeps a session per project, and adds the stuff that's awkward to do in a terminal: per-session tunnels, remote control from another device, real video/image previews, clean export.

It's still early. I use it every day; you might want to wait.

Running it

Clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/raya-ac/kiln
cd kiln
swift build -c release
open .build/release/Kiln

That gets you the raw binary. To produce a real Kiln.app bundle (the kind Finder recognises, with auto-updates wired up):

./scripts/make-app-bundle.sh 0.1.0 arm64      # Apple Silicon
./scripts/make-app-bundle.sh 0.1.0 x86_64     # Intel
open dist/arm64/Kiln.app

Either works fine for trying it out.

Releases & auto-updates

Push a tag like v0.1.0 and GitHub Actions will:

1. Build separate Apple Silicon and Intel .app bundles.
2. Code-sign and notarise them (if you've added the Apple secrets).
3. Sign both zips with Sparkle's EdDSA key.
4. Regenerate appcast.xml — Sparkle reads the binary of each zip and stamps the correct architecture on the feed item, so each Mac pulls the build that matches it.
5. Commit the new appcast.xml back to main and publish a GitHub release with both zips attached.

Inside the app, Kiln → Check for Updates… hits that appcast. Scheduled checks run once a day.

Setting up releases

If you're forking this, you'll need a few secrets on your repo at Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions.

For Sparkle (required for auto-updates to actually verify):

Secret	Why
SPARKLE_ED_PRIVATE_KEY	Signs the update zips. Keep it safe.
SPARKLE_ED_PUBLIC_KEY	Embedded in the app so it can verify updates came from you.

Generate the pair once:

curl -LO https://github.com/sparkle-project/Sparkle/releases/download/2.6.4/Sparkle-2.6.4.tar.xz
tar -xJf Sparkle-2.6.4.tar.xz
./bin/generate_keys       # adds private key to your Keychain; prints the public half
./bin/generate_keys -x    # prints the private key — base64 it for the GH secret

For Apple code-signing and notarisation (optional — leave blank and the workflow skips these steps, but users will see a Gatekeeper warning on first launch):

Secret	Why
APPLE_CERT_P12	Your Developer ID Application cert exported as a .p12, base64-encoded.
APPLE_CERT_P12_PASSWORD	Password you set on the .p12.
APPLE_CODESIGN_IDENTITY	e.g. Developer ID Application: Your Name (TEAMID).
APPLE_API_KEY_P8	App Store Connect API key for notarytool, base64-encoded.
APPLE_API_KEY_ID	The 10-char key ID.
APPLE_API_ISSUER_ID	Issuer UUID from App Store Connect.

Layout

Sources/
  App/          entry point, AppDelegate
  Views/        SwiftUI views — sidebar, chat, settings
  Services/     AppStore, Claude subprocess, remote control, tunnels, updater
  Models/       domain types
scripts/        make-app-bundle.sh + entitlements
.github/        CI + release workflows

Development shortcuts

Common commands are wrapped in a Makefile:

make           # lists everything
make run       # debug build + open the binary
make bundle VERSION=0.2.0 ARCH=arm64
make lint      # swift-format --lint
make format    # swift-format --in-place
make logo      # re-render the brand mark
make ci-local  # run everything CI runs, locally

Contributing

It's a personal project but PRs are welcome. Build with swift build, run with open .build/debug/Kiln (or the release variant), and the CI workflow will catch the obvious stuff. See CONTRIBUTING.md for the shape of a good patch and CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md for how we behave in issues and PRs.

Security issues: please don't file them as public issues — see SECURITY.md.

Licence

MIT.