v1.0.1

Fix: overlays no longer get hidden with their app

• A background app's overlay above the normal window level (e.g. BoltAI's shortcut research panel, HUDs, open menus) draws over other apps' windows even where the rectangles overlap. Auto Hide now treats such windows as visible whenever they are on a display, so their app is not hidden while the overlay is up.
• Menu-bar chrome is now detected by shape (thin status-level strip at a display's top edge) instead of a blanket status-level exclusion, so a window-sized overlay at the status level also keeps its app open.
• Faded (fully transparent) and off-display overlays correctly do not keep an app open.
• Regression tests cover the overlay scenario and counter-cases; mutation-checked.

Auto Hide v1.0.0

First release

Auto Hide is a small native macOS menu-bar app that hides background applications when none of their document or floating windows is visible. Switch back with Command-Tab or the Dock to reveal their non-minimised windows again.

Features

• Whole-app hiding rather than minimising individual windows.
• Visibility checks across connected displays; even a partly visible window keeps its app open.
• Foreground apps stay open, and manually minimised windows stay minimised.
• Stable-invisibility checks before hiding, with pauses during mouse interaction, display sleep, and inactive sessions.
• No preferences, accounts, telemetry, third-party runtime dependencies, or Accessibility/Screen Recording permission requirements.

Download and install

Requires macOS 13 Ventura or later and an Apple Silicon Mac (arm64). Intel Macs can build from source using the README instructions; this release does not include an Intel binary.

1. Download Auto-Hide-v1.0.0-macos-arm64.zip below and extract it.
2. Quit any existing Auto Hide copy, then drag Auto Hide.app into Applications.
3. Open it. The app appears in the menu bar, not the Dock. Choose Quit Auto Hide from its menu to stop it.

The app is ad-hoc signed, not Developer ID-signed or notarised. If macOS blocks it, try opening it once, then use System Settings > Privacy & Security > Open Anyway only if you trust this download. Do not disable Gatekeeper globally.

To verify ZIP integrity, download SHA256SUMS into the same directory and run:

shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS

Important limits

• Hiding is app-wide, including across Mission Control Spaces; it is not per-window or per-Space.
• Visibility is estimated from rectangular window bounds and opacity, without capturing screen pixels.
• Hidden apps are not quit or suspended. Background work can continue.
• Lower WindowServer CPU usage is a goal, not a measured guarantee.

Verification

The release build passed make check, a strict code-signature check after ZIP extraction, and the live make check-hiding check against the extracted app (visible siblings, whole-app hiding, native foreground restoration, and preservation of manual minimisation).