Installation

Installation

Requirements: macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple Silicon and Intel (universal binary).

Homebrew (recommended)

brew install --cask roypadina/tap/vaultbar

Release zip

Download VaultBar.zip from the latest release, unzip it and move VaultBar.app to /Applications.

First launch (not notarized)

VaultBar releases are self-signed with a stable identity, so permissions survive updates (not notarized, so first launch still needs Open Anyway) (no paid Apple Developer ID), so macOS may block the first launch. Either:

• open System Settings → Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway (right-click → Open no longer works on macOS 15+), or
• clear the quarantine flag once:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/VaultBar.app

Run it from /Applications.

Launch at login

Settings… → Launch at login. The login item is a LaunchAgent, ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.padina.vaultbar.login.plist, which runs /Applications/VaultBar.app by path; it shows up in System Settings → General → Login Items (Login Items & Extensions on macOS 15+).

• macOS starts VaultBar at login and restarts it if it crashes.
• It is not restarted after you choose Quit.
• Exactly one copy runs, and from 0.2.1 on never zero. A second copy exits right away, unless the running one is handing over to it: then the running copy quits only after the new one has confirmed it is running. That happens when a copy you started yourself hands over to the login item's copy (once nothing is in progress), and on upgrades.

Versions 0.1.1–0.2.0 registered the login item with SMAppService, which pins the exact app binary, so after an upgrade macOS couldn't start the new one. 0.2.1 replaces that registration with the LaunchAgent above the first time it runs.

Auto-lock needs VaultBar running, which is why this is on by default.

Quitting

Quit VaultBar while a vault is unlocked asks first, because auto-lock stops while VaultBar is closed:

• Lock All & Quit
• Quit
• Cancel

Upgrade

brew upgrade --cask vaultbar

Within about 30 s, once nothing is in progress, the running VaultBar starts the new version and quits as soon as the new one has taken over; from 0.2.1 on, auto-lock doesn't stop. If the new bundle isn't readable yet (mid-upgrade), it keeps running and checks again. The upgrade from 0.2.0 or older still runs the old version's restart, which can leave VaultBar stopped for 1–2 s.

Uninstall

brew uninstall --zap --cask vaultbar

Or run vaultbar --unregister-login-item (it locks every unlocked vault first; a busy one stops it unless you add --force), or turn off Launch at login in Settings; then quit VaultBar, drag /Applications/VaultBar.app to the Trash, and delete ~/.config/vaultbar. Your vault images stay where they are; VaultBar never deletes an image file.