It is always there. It sits at the top of the screen, close to the menu bar, close to system controls, close to whatever you are doing. But most of the time it is treated like a cutout to design around instead of a place software can use.

That felt like a missed opportunity.

So I built SwiftNotch, a macOS menu bar app that turns the notch area into an expandable productivity dashboard. Hover near the notch or press Option + Space, and the quiet black shape becomes a small command center for widgets, files, media, shortcuts, developer tools, and window actions.

Website: swiftnotch.xyz

Demo video: watch SwiftNotch on YouTube

SwiftNotch 1.x is free during beta. I want early Mac users to try the full experience, share feedback, and help shape the app before SwiftNotch 2.0 introduces paid plans.

The idea

I did not want to build another large dashboard that asks you to leave your current app. The goal was the opposite: make useful tools available in the smallest possible space, without breaking flow.

The notch is perfect for this because it already behaves like a visual anchor. You know where it is without thinking. If it can expand only when needed, it becomes a temporary interface layer instead of another permanent panel.

What SwiftNotch does

The current app includes 31 built-in widgets across productivity, system utilities, media, automation, and developer workflows.

• Media Control for Spotify, Apple Music, VLC, YouTube, and browser players
• Shelf for drag-and-drop file staging, quick sharing, paths, iCloud actions, and zip workflows
• Clipboard History for snippets, links, and quick paste
• Calendar Events, Reminders, Notes, Weather, World Clock, and Pomodoro
• Quick Toggles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Dark Mode, and volume
• Window Snapping with layouts for halves, thirds, quarters, and custom grids
• Developer Hub for CPU, memory, disk, ports, and workspace signals
• AI Coding HUD for local CLI assistants like Claude Code
• GitHub / code hosting views for repository and pipeline signals

The app is not trying to replace full-size tools. It is designed for the tiny interactions that usually interrupt you: checking a meeting, controlling music, grabbing a copied command, staging a file, snapping a window, or quickly asking an AI coding assistant something.

Why I built it natively

SwiftNotch is built as a native macOS app using SwiftUI and AppKit. That mattered because a notch utility has to feel lightweight. It sits close to system UI, so performance and polish are not optional.

The web dashboard for the product is built separately with React, Vite, Framer Motion, i18next, and custom CSS, but the macOS app itself is native.

Free throughout the 1.x beta

For launch, I am keeping SwiftNotch 1.x completely free during beta. SwiftNotch 2.0 and later will be paid, but the plan for 1.x is simple: get the app into real workflows, listen carefully, and use that feedback to decide what SwiftNotch should become next.

You can check it out here: https://swiftnotch.xyz