Floater

A native macOS menu bar app that displays Apple Intelligence responses in a floating window. Requests run on device using Apple Foundation Models.

Requires macOS 26 or later and a Mac with Apple Intelligence enabled and ready.

Features

• Floating window: stays above other apps and can be dragged anywhere.
• New Request: write a prompt with optional input text.
• Results: copy the full response or a selection, edit your request, and run it again.
• Replace: paste over selected text in the previous app, or the whole field when nothing is selected. Keeps the result on your clipboard. Requires Accessibility permission.
• History: search and reopen the latest 100 successful results, saved locally.
• Updates: use Check for Updates... in the menu to download and install new versions.
• Automation: send requests through the CLI or floater:// URLs. Skip chosen apps, or read the selected text in the app behind them.

Build and run

make dev-app

Use New to start a request, Open to return to the current window, and History to browse saved results.

Automation

Install the app and CLI with Scripts/install-cli.sh. Add ~/.local/bin to your PATH, then send a request:

floater --prompt "Translate to Spanish" --input "Hello, world"

Use --input - to read the input from standard input. Repeat --ignore with a bundle id to skip that app when choosing where to read and where Replace pastes. Floater remembers the last two other apps, so it can use the one behind an ignored app. Leave Floater running first, or it will not have seen that app.

--capture-input reads the selected text, or the whole text when nothing is selected. It runs only when --input is omitted. The captured text stays selected, so Replace swaps it. Reading and Replace both need Accessibility permission.

floater --prompt "Rewrite this for clarity" --title "Fix Grammar" \
  --ignore com.runningwithcrayons.Alfred --capture-input

You can also open a request from another app or workflow. Repeat ignore for each bundle id, and set capture=1 to read the field:

floater://prompt?prompt=Translate%20to%20Spanish&input=Hello%2C%20world
floater://prompt?prompt=Rewrite%20this&ignore=com.runningwithcrayons.Alfred&capture=1

Releases

Run make release-patch, make release-minor, or make release-major to preview and confirm a version tag push. Keep the working tree clean first. You can also run Release from the GitHub Actions tab with a tag.

Pushing a vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH tag publishes Floater-<version>.dmg, Floater-<version>-SHA256SUMS, and the signed Sparkle appcast.xml. Verify the DMG with shasum -c Floater-<version>-SHA256SUMS.

GitHub Actions needs the repository secrets MAC_APP_CERTIFICATE, MAC_BUILD_CERTIFICATE_BASE64, MAC_BUILD_CERTIFICATE_BASE64_PASSWORD, and SPARKLE_PRIVATE_KEY to publish releases. The Sparkle key must match SUPublicEDKey in Resources/Info.plist, shared with Key Remapper.

License

MIT. The Floater name and original artwork are reserved.