# boringBar

boringBar replaces the macOS Dock with a taskbar that shows only windows from the current desktop. The standard Dock shows every open app regardless of which Space you're on, which breaks the mental separation that Spaces are supposed to provide. boringBar fixes this by filtering windows per display and per Space.

## How it works

The bar sits at the bottom of the screen (like the Dock) and displays "chips" — small icons representing windows. Each chip shows the app icon, and optionally the window title or app name. When you have multiple windows from the same app, they collapse into one chip with a count badge.

Hovering over a chip shows a thumbnail preview of that window, fetched via Screen Recording permission. Clicking switches to that window.

The desktop switcher panel shows all Spaces on the current display with window counts, letting you jump between them. You can also scroll on the bar itself to switch Spaces.

## Permissions

Requires two permissions:
- **Accessibility** — to observe and interact with windows, desktops, and apps
- **Screen Recording** — solely for thumbnail previews (the purple Control Center dot only appears when fetching thumbnails)

## Features

- Current desktop only: hides windows from other Spaces
- Desktop switcher: click to jump, see window counts per Space
- App launcher: searchable list with configurable global shortcut
- Thumbnail previews on hover
- Notification badges from macOS
- Attention pulse when an app needs focus
- Scroll to switch desktops
- Group windows by app or show individually
- Pin apps to bar or app menu
- Hide Dock while boringBar runs
- Multi-monitor support (including "Displays have separate Spaces" off)

## Pricing

Personal licenses:
- **Perpetual**: $40 one-time for 2 devices, includes 2 years of updates (keeps working after, just no new features)
- **Yearly**: $7.99/year for 1 device, +$2/device up to 5

Business licenses start at 6 users with volume pricing ($3.50/user dropping to $1/user at scale).

14-day free trial with all features.

## Requirements

macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later.

## Links

- Website: https://boringbar.app/