GitHub - DodoApps/dodopulse: A lightweight, native macOS menu bar app for real-time system monitoring with beautiful mini graphs

🌍 Localized in 7 languages: 🇺🇸 English | 🇹🇷 Türkçe | 🇩🇪 Deutsch | 🇫🇷 Français | 🇪🇸 Español | 🇯🇵 日本語 | 🇨🇳 中文

A lightweight, native macOS menu bar app that displays real-time system metrics with beautiful mini graphs.

Features

• CPU monitoring - Usage percentage, temperature, frequency (Intel), per-core tracking with history graph
• Memory monitoring - Used/free memory, active/wired/compressed breakdown
• GPU monitoring - Utilization percentage, temperature, display refresh rate (Hz)
• Network monitoring - Download/upload speeds, local & public IP, session totals
• Disk monitoring - Usage percentage, free space, SSD health (when available)
• Battery monitoring - Charge level, charging status, time remaining, power consumption
• Fan monitoring - RPM for each fan (when available)
• System info - Load average, process count, swap usage, kernel version, uptime, screen brightness
• Multi-language support - Choose your language from the menu (7 languages available)

Interactive features

• Click any card to open the corresponding system app (Activity Monitor, Disk Utility, System Settings, etc.)
• Right-click the menu bar icon for a quick menu with settings and language selection

Comparison with Paid Alternatives

Why DodoPulse? Free, open source, lightweight (~1-2% CPU), privacy-focused (no analytics), and easy to audit/modify.

Requirements

• macOS 12.0 (Monterey) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

Installation

About notarization: DodoPulse is not currently notarized by Apple. Notarization is Apple's security process that scans apps for malware before distribution. Without it, macOS may show warnings like "app is damaged" or "can't be opened". This is safe to bypass for open-source apps like DodoPulse where you can inspect the code yourself. Fix: Run xattr -cr /Applications/DodoPulse.app in Terminal, then open the app. Notarization is planned for a future release.

Option 1: Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap dodoapps/tap
brew install --cask dodopulse

On first launch, right-click the app → Open → confirm. Or run: xattr -cr /Applications/DodoPulse.app

Option 2: Download DMG

1. Download the latest DMG from Releases
2. Open the DMG and drag DodoPulse to Applications
3. On first launch, right-click → Open → confirm (see note above about notarization)

Option 3: Build from source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/dodoapps/dodopulse.git
   cd dodopulse

2. Build the app:

   swiftc -O -o DodoPulse DodoPulse.swift -framework Cocoa -framework IOKit -framework Metal

3. Run:

Option 4: Create an app bundle (optional)

If you want DodoPulse to appear as a proper macOS app:

1. Create the app structure:

   mkdir -p DodoPulse.app/Contents/MacOS
   cp DodoPulse DodoPulse.app/Contents/MacOS/

2. Create DodoPulse.app/Contents/Info.plist:

   <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
   <plist version="1.0">
   <dict>
       <key>CFBundleExecutable</key>
       <string>DodoPulse</string>
       <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
       <string>com.bluewave.dodopulse</string>
       <key>CFBundleName</key>
       <string>DodoPulse</string>
       <key>CFBundleVersion</key>
       <string>1.0</string>
       <key>LSMinimumSystemVersion</key>
       <string>12.0</string>
       <key>LSUIElement</key>
       <true/>
   </dict>
   </plist>

3. Move to Applications (optional):

   mv DodoPulse.app /Applications/

Option 5: Run with Automator

This method allows DodoPulse to run independently of Terminal, so it keeps running even after you close Terminal.

1. Build DodoPulse first (see Option 1 above)

2. Open Automator (search for it in Spotlight)

3. Click New Document and select Application

4. In the search bar, type "Run Shell Script" and drag it to the workflow area

5. Replace the default text with the full path to your DodoPulse binary:

   /path/to/dodopulse/DodoPulse

   For example, if you cloned to your home folder:

6. Go to File > Save and save it as "DodoPulse" in your Applications folder

7. Double-click the saved Automator app to run DodoPulse

Tip: You can add DodoPulse to your Login Items to start automatically at boot:

1. Open System Settings > General > Login Items
2. Click + and select your DodoPulse Automator app

Usage

Once running, DodoPulse appears in your menu bar showing CPU and memory usage.

• Left-click the menu bar item to open the detailed panel
• Right-click for a quick menu with settings, language selection, and quit option
• Click a card to open the related system app

Changing language

1. Right-click the DodoPulse icon in the menu bar
2. Select Language from the menu
3. Choose your preferred language from the submenu

Technical details

DodoPulse uses native macOS APIs for accurate metrics:

• CPU: host_processor_info() Mach API
• Memory: host_statistics64() Mach API
• GPU: IOKit IOAccelerator service
• Network: getifaddrs() for interface statistics
• Battery: IOPSCopyPowerSourcesInfo() from IOKit
• Temperature/Fans: SMC (System Management Controller) via IOKit

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a pull request.

Adding translations

DodoPulse supports adding new languages easily. To add a new language:

1. Add a new case to the Language enum
2. Add translations for all strings in the L10n struct
3. Submit a pull request

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.

KDE Plasma Support

DodoPulse is also available as a KDE Plasma widget for Linux users!

Features the same system monitoring capabilities with beautiful sparkline graphs:

• CPU, Memory, GPU monitoring with real-time graphs
• Network speeds with session totals
• Disk usage with external drive detection
• Battery status and system info

Installation:

kpackagetool6 -t Plasma/Applet -i dodopulse.plasmoid

For more details, see KDE/README.md

Acknowledgments

Built with Swift and AppKit for native macOS performance.