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Auto Hide v1.0.0

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@vitobotta vitobotta released this 06 Sep 15:42
· 4 commits to main since this release
v1.0.0
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vitobotta Vito Botta
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Learn about vigilant mode.

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).

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