Installation

Requirements

• macOS 26 or newer
• Apple silicon for the current downloadable ZIP
• A signed-in local tool or provider session for each integration you want to use

Vibe Bar is a menu-bar app. A successful launch adds a status item rather than opening a normal application window.

Download a release

1. Download the Apple-silicon ZIP from GitHub Releases.
2. Move Vibe Bar.app to /Applications.
3. Launch it from Applications or Spotlight.

First launch

Release builds are ad-hoc signed and currently not notarized. If Gatekeeper blocks the first launch, right-click the app and choose Open.

No Apple Developer account is required to run Vibe Bar locally.

If macOS still refuses to open it, confirm the ZIP came from the official release page and see Troubleshooting.

First-run checklist

1. Open the menu-bar item.
2. Open Settings and choose Remaining or Used.
3. Enable only the core and Misc providers you use.
4. Run each core provider's connection check.
5. Configure the refresh cadence.
6. Open Cost Data and decide how long to keep local history.

The default cadence is 10 minutes. Popover-open refresh and Launch at Login are off by default.

Updates

Sparkle-enabled releases check the signed GitHub Release feed once a day. You can also choose Check for Updates… from a menu-bar item's context menu or from Settings → System.

Vibe Bar always asks before installing an update. The first release that adds Sparkle must still be installed manually once; later updates can use the in-app flow.

Before replacing a source-built copy, quit any running instance so macOS does not keep the old executable alive.

Add a remote Linux machine

Install the macOS Core first, then follow Remote Probes to download the separate Linux binary, verify its checksum, enroll it without exposing the one-time code in shell history, and enable safe updates/rollback. The Probe opens no inbound port and is not bundled inside the macOS app.

Build instead

If you prefer to inspect and build the source yourself, follow Build from source.

Remove the app

Quit Vibe Bar and move Vibe Bar.app from /Applications to the Trash.

Vibe Bar keeps its derived settings and history under ~/.vibebar/. Removing the app bundle does not silently remove that local data. Review Privacy and local data before deleting it manually.

Vibe Bar-owned cookies and provider credentials are stored separately in macOS Keychain. Use the provider settings pages to delete saved cookies or credentials before uninstalling if you want those removed as well.