macOS, close to the metal
Menu-bar utilities that read real hardware state — charger input, display brightness, disk usage — and put the number where you can see it. Swift, AppKit, and a healthy suspicion of vendor defaults.
About
I build the small thing
that should already exist.
Most of this starts the same way: a device reports something slightly wrong, or a service holds data I'd rather keep, or a workflow has one step too many. So a tool gets written. Then, because it might be useful to someone else, it gets pushed.
01
What the work tends to be
Self-hosted, quietly
Services that run on your own hardware and stay private: podcast feeds built from YouTube channels, family archives, and the small servers that keep them going.
Tooling for reading & research
Zotero extensions that make AI summarisation explicit and privacy-aware — you bring your own agent, nothing leaves the machine without saying so.
Things built for the fun of it
A split-flap display emulator for any television, a browser tweak, a flight-sim METAR translator. Not everything needs a business case.
02
Toolbox
measured by bytes committed 03
How it gets built
01
Small enough to read
Every project here is something one person can hold in their head. Small tools get finished, and finished tools get used.
02
Local first
Data stays on the machine that made it. Self-hosted services, no accounts, no telemetry, nothing phoning home.
03
Say what it actually does
Numbers should come from the hardware, not from a spec sheet. If a charger claims 140 W, the tool should be able to check.
04
Public by default
If it was worth building, it is worth pushing. Every repository here is open, forks included.
- watt-is-it A tiny native macOS menu-bar utility that shows your Mac's real power figures — actual input from the charger, system draw, rated adapter input, and charge surplus — so you can see whether your charger really delivers what it promises. Swift 3 days ago
- PodcastSync-Local-Mac-App Turn YouTube channels and playlists into a private podcast feed on your Wi‑Fi. Downloads MP3s locally, keeps them organised, and works with normal podcast apps. Built for Mac (menu bar app + small server). Python 3 days ago
- METAR-Translator METAR Viewer is a Windows application that translates raw METAR Data into a more "human-friendly" format. FOR FLIGHT SIM ONLY C# 3 days ago
- family-tree-site Bhimjiyani Family Tree — built site (family data AES-encrypted) JavaScript 3 days ago
- LumaControl Modern macOS display control with extended XDR brightness, display-aware sync, and active maintenance for current macOS releases. Swift 3 days ago
- PodcastSync-VPS Private collaboration repository for PodcastSync Python 3 days ago
- zotero-ai-plugin Explicit, privacy-aware AI summaries and cross-checks for Zotero 9+. JavaScript 3 days ago
- Mac-TreeSpace Swift 3 days ago
Get in touch
Issues and pull requests are welcome.
Every repository is open. If something here is nearly useful to you, open an issue and say what's missing.