Docktopus for macOS
App Starter, Drop Zone, Potato Timer, Dev Servers, Clock, Calendar, Coffee, Focus Blur, Now Playing, and more.
Three distinct themes. Light and dark presets. Free to try, one purchase to keep.
Widgets
Choose what earns a place in your dock. Many tools also work from the menu bar; wider modules make room for music, calendars, and system activity.
App Starter
Find an app by name, browse your collection, or jump straight to a favorite. App Starter keeps launching close to the dock and your keyboard.
Search all installed apps even while browsing a category. Match names, bundle identifiers, paths, and app category information. Combine multiple search words without worrying about accents or capitalization; exact names and name prefixes rank higher.
Browse Development, Internet, Media, Productivity, Utilities, and Graphics, or choose Favorites and Recent. Right-click an app to add or remove a favorite, or press ⌘D for the selected app. Favorites carry across themes. Recent shows successful launches from App Starter, or recently added apps when no launch history is available.
Search is ready when the panel opens. Use ↑ and ↓ to select an app and Return to open it. In search, ← and → move the text cursor. ⌘F focuses search, Control + Tab cycles categories, and ⌘1–9 jumps to a category. Escape dismisses an open app menu, clears an active search, or closes the panel.
Drag an app from App Starter into the dock to add a launcher. Drop supported files onto an app to open them with it. The right-click menu also offers Open and Show in Finder, so you can launch an app or locate its application bundle.
Liquid Glass presents an icon grid. CDE groups apps into Favorites, Recent, Frequent, and app categories. Windows 95 uses a Start menu with categories and app lists. Each has light and dark presets and follows your theme’s colors, fonts, and icon overrides.
Press ⌘R to refresh the list after installing or moving an app. A busy indicator shows when a launch is in progress. If macOS cannot open the app, App Starter keeps the panel open and shows the error so you can choose another app or try again.
Drop Zone
Set aside files, links, images, and text while you work. Pick them up again from the dock, menu bar, or Dynamic Island.
Drop files and folders, links, plain text, or PNG, JPEG, and TIFF images. Files and folders stay in their original location. Text, image, and link drops receive local saved copies that you can reuse from the shelf.
The dock widget, optional menu bar item, and Dynamic Island share the same items. Add Drop Zone in Dock settings, enable it under Settings → Menu Bar, or select its activity in an enabled Island. Dragging onto the Island previews the shelf; an accepted drop keeps it open and pinned.
Your shelf restores locally after restarting Docktopus. Saved text, images, and links remain available through their shelf copies. Original file and folder references need continued access to the originals; the shelf does not track files moved elsewhere.
Drag an item into a compatible app, click its row to open it, copy it, or reveal its file in Finder. Item Copy includes text, link, or image content where available, alongside its file reference. Header controls open all available items, copy all available file references, or clear the shelf.
At eight items, a search field appears. Filter by filename, path, link address, or a short preview of saved text. Compact rows keep item names, type or location details, and individual actions together.
Remove an entry or clear the shelf while original files and folders remain untouched. Removing saved text, images, or links deletes their shelf copies after the change is saved. Missing files stay visible as unavailable entries: access actions are disabled, and Remove remains available.
Import progress appears while items are added, and each drop keeps its incoming order. Adding the same original file again reuses its entry. Storage errors offer Retry for restoring, saving, or cleaning up the shelf. Import errors can be dismissed; drop the affected item again to try another import.
Use Liquid Glass, CDE, or Windows 95, with light and dark presets. The shelf follows your app theme with readable rows, labeled controls, and visible drag feedback. In the standalone panel, press Esc to close it.
Potato Timer
Give focused work and proper breaks their own time. One shared countdown follows you between the dock, menu bar, and Clock panel.
Start with a 25-minute Focus session, a 5-minute Short Break, or a 15-minute Long Break. Set each duration to 1–180 minutes using typed values or steppers in Settings → Menu Bar → Potato Timer. Duration changes apply to the next session, keeping an active or paused countdown intact.
Automatic focus/break cycles are off by default. Enable them to move from Focus to a Short Break and back, with a Long Break after four focus sessions by default. Choose 2–12 focus sessions between long breaks. Pause holds your place, Reset ends the cycle, and starting a preset begins a new sequence. Turning cycles off lets the current session finish.
Click the dock widget or menu bar item to start Focus, pause, or resume. Right-click or Control-click for configured presets, Reset, and Open Timer Controls. The same timer appears in the Clock panel, so changing it from one place updates the others. Spent time is elapsed time for the current session.
Completion sound and macOS notifications have independent switches. Enable either, both, or neither. Notification permission and macOS notification settings control banner delivery; Settings provides guidance and a link to Notification Settings if access is blocked. Sound remains independent of notification access.
Restoration is off by default. When enabled, running timers count time while Docktopus is closed and paused timers keep their remaining time. An expired restored timer shows Done, uses your enabled completion alerts once, and waits for you to start again. Automatic cycles continue while Docktopus is running; reopening the app does not start a new session after an expired timer.
In the Timer panel, Space starts, pauses, or resumes; ⌘1, ⌘2, and ⌘3 start Focus, Short Break, and Long Break. ⌘R resets and Esc closes the panel. With the dock timer focused, Shift-F10 or the Context Menu key opens its options. VoiceOver labels describe the timer state and available actions.
Color Picker
Click the dock widget or optional menu bar item to sample a screen pixel. Scroll to zoom from 0.5× to 3×; click or press Return or Space to copy HEX. Esc cancels.
Right-click for your latest 25 colors, or save up to 12 favorites in your palette. Copy HEX, RGB, or HSB and keep your colors between launches.
Screen sampling needs macOS Screen Recording permission.
Dev Servers
Find your local development servers in one panel. Open a port, copy its address, reveal the project, or review a stop request without hunting through terminals.
See detected servers grouped by process, with a project name, folder path, process name, PID, and listening ports. A process with several ports keeps them in one card. The dock badge and menu bar count show detected ports; the panel also shows how many processes are running them.
Click a port to open its local HTTP address in your default browser. Each port has a copy menu with Copy URL and Copy Port, so you can share an address or use just the port number in another tool. IPv4 and IPv6 loopback addresses are supported, and copy feedback appears in the panel.
Use the folder button to reveal the detected project directory in Finder. The path is visible in the card, with the full path available on hover. If no directory is available, Finder stays disabled; a folder that has since disappeared produces visible feedback.
Stop shows the process and affected ports before you confirm. Docktopus checks that the process still matches the selected server, then sends a graceful stop request to that process. The panel reports the request or an error and checks the list again. Shutdown depends on how the server responds.
The list updates automatically while the dock widget or menu bar item is enabled, with more frequent checks while the panel is open. Use Refresh to check now and see the last checked time. A failed scan keeps the last successful results visible with a Retry button, while loading and an empty list have their own states.
Use ↑ and ↓ to select a process and Return to open its first, lowest-numbered port. ⌘R refreshes, ⌘C copies that port’s URL, ⌘⇧C copies its number, and ⌘O reveals the project in Finder. Press Esc to close the panel. Each port’s on-screen controls remain available when a process has several ports.
Discovery looks for local TCP listeners owned by your current macOS user on ports 1024 and above, using development runtimes and project-folder clues. A listed port means it is listening; it does not confirm that the website is healthy.
Display Controls
Bring brightness, resolution, and display arrangement into one place. Adjust screens together or individually, with the controls supported by each display.
Enable Display Controls in Settings → Displays, then add the Display dock widget or enable its menu bar button. Both open the same panel, with the display containing the clicked launcher first. Display Controls works independently of Dynamic Island; its Controls activity also offers a shared Display brightness section.
Each card identifies the built-in or external display, main display, current “Looks like” resolution, refresh rate, and HiDPI state. The panel scrolls when several monitors are connected and adapts when displays connect or disconnect. Full Display Settings opens the existing settings pane.
Adjust each display with native hardware brightness or DDC monitor control where supported. Software dimming provides a fallback by darkening the image; it does not lower the monitor’s backlight. The panel labels the active control method. Optional combined brightness adjusts several displays together, with a separate built-in brightness ratio.
Monitor volume sliders use DDC on supported external displays. Show or hide these sliders in full settings; the preference applies to the quick panel too. A Volume Control override lets compatible monitors accept volume changes even when they cannot report their current level; it cannot add capabilities a monitor lacks. For system output and application audio, use the Audio Mixer.
Choose supported resolutions and HiDPI modes, use the scaling slider where available, or expand Show all resolutions for exact modes. Refresh Rate lists fixed and variable refresh choices reported by the display; ProMotion appears on compatible built-in displays. Optional smooth scaling on compatible external displays may require administrator approval and a brief reconnect. A mode change can briefly blank the display; failures remain visible with Retry and Dismiss.
Auto Brightness follows a detected built-in display and adjusts external brightness as it changes. Keep display offsets preserves the differences you set between screens. Displays that support macOS ambient-light adjustment also offer Automatically adjust brightness. These controls depend on an available built-in display or the display’s ambient-light support.
Route brightness keys to the display under your pointer, all displays, or selected displays, and configure display shortcuts in full settings. Brightness and volume keyboard overlays are separate opt-in settings requiring Accessibility access. Feedback uses the Island on the affected screen or a standalone themed overlay; unsupported system audio outputs keep their macOS controls.
Compatible external displays offer an HDR toggle. Extra Brightness extends the brightness slider beyond 100% on eligible built-in XDR and external HDR displays; enabling it on an external display may also enable HDR. Availability and the resulting brightness depend on your display and its current mode.
Select ICC color profiles or reference presets offered by compatible XDR displays. Image adjustments include contrast, gamma, gain, color temperature, and individual RGB channels, with pause and reset controls; adjustments may affect HDR content. Save named display presets for resolution, brightness, and arrangement, and apply them again from the preset list or shortcuts.
Arrange displays, choose the main screen, and create or manage virtual displays. Enabled virtual displays remain active while Docktopus runs. On Apple Silicon, supported physical screens can be disconnected through software; they stay disconnected until you explicitly reconnect them in settings. Notch hiding uses an available display mode that excludes the notch area. Advanced display support varies with hardware and macOS.
Liquid Glass uses native sliders; CDE and Windows 95 retain their bevels and focus outlines, with light and dark presets. Retro sliders support arrow keys in 1% steps, Shift-arrow in 10% steps, and Home or End. Press Esc to close the quick panel or ⌘, to open full display settings. Keyboard interaction keeps the panel open until you close it or click outside.
Brightness changes are shared between the quick panel, full display settings, and Island controls. The quick panel and settings also share monitor volume. Controls refresh while visible; closing the panel stops its display refreshes while enabled automatic brightness and keyboard features keep working.
Coffee
Coffee prevents automatic idle sleep while you work. Add the widget to your dock or a submenu, or enable its optional menu bar item in Settings. All three offer the same durations, display preference, and sleep-restoration controls.
Click Coffee to start an indefinite session, or click again to stop an active session. Right-click or Control-click for durations and options. The dock, submenu, and optional menu bar item share the same Coffee state. Normal timed and indefinite sessions end when Docktopus quits.
Keep awake for 10 or 30 minutes, or 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 hours. The menu marks your selected duration and shows the remaining minutes and finish time. Change the duration during a normal session without interrupting its sleep prevention. When the time runs out, Coffee turns off so normal sleep behavior can resume.
Turn off Keep Display Awake to keep your Mac awake while its display may sleep. Turn it on to keep the display awake during a Coffee session. The preference is saved for future sessions, is available in Settings and the Coffee menu, and can be changed during a normal session without resetting its timer.
Theme artwork and badges distinguish inactive, indefinite, timed, closed-lid, pending, and attention states. Hover Coffee for its current status; open the menu for the finish time, display behavior, and Show Error Details. Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95 retain their own artwork and colors, with light and dark presets.
Keep Awake with Lid Closed is a separate indefinite mode that may require administrator approval for the Coffee helper. Coffee records the previous sleep setting before changing it and attempts to restore that setting when stopped or when Docktopus quits. If restoration fails, the state remains visible and Retry Sleep Restoration is available. An outstanding restoration setting is checked again at the next launch.
Activate a focused dock Coffee control with Return or Space. Use Shift-F10 on a focused dock or submenu Coffee control to open its options. VoiceOver has a Coffee Options action for the dock, submenu, and menu bar item, along with the current state and error details. Opened menus also reflect changes to the shared Coffee state.
Focus Blur
Soften the desktop around the window you are using. Your work stays clear, and you can click through to switch windows as usual.
Toggle Focus Blur from its dock widget or optional menu bar menu, or press Command + Shift + B by default. Change the shortcut and enable the menu bar toggle in Settings → Window Switcher → Focus Blur.
Set Effect Strength from 25% to 100% in the same settings. Lower values reveal more of the background; higher values make the focused window stand out more.
The effect and dock glyph match Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95, including light and dark appearances. With macOS Reduce Transparency enabled, Focus Blur uses a simple tint.
Focus Blur pauses in Mission Control and on displays covered by a full-screen window, so other displays can keep their focus effect. It returns when those conditions end.
Clock
Local time, world clocks, and alarms in one place. Choose an analog or digital face, then open the panel to compare cities or start a focus timer.
Analog with seconds is the default. Switch the dock face to digital, follow your Mac’s time format, or choose 12-hour or 24-hour time. Show or hide seconds in both the dock and panel; hiding seconds changes clock display updates from once a second to once a minute. The panel also shows your local date, time zone, and UTC offset.
Save up to 16 world clocks. Search by city, region, or time zone, add your own labels, and compare each clock’s time, UTC offset, and date. Day differences help when another city is ahead of or behind your local date. Copy a city’s time or remove it directly from its row; saved clocks return when you relaunch Docktopus.
Add up to 32 named alarms and see the next due time. Choose Once for the next occurrence of the selected time, or Every day for a daily reminder. Daily alarms follow your Mac’s local time; one-time alarms keep their scheduled moment if your time zone changes. Enable, disable, or delete alarms from the list.
Due and missed alarms stay in the panel until you dismiss them or snooze for 5 minutes. The dock badge counts pending alarms. Alarm schedules and pending reminders are saved, with missed alarms reconciled after wake, a clock change, or launch. Alarm sound and macOS notifications have independent controls, with a link to Notification Settings when access is blocked.
Start with the 25-minute Focus, 5-minute Short Break, and 15-minute Long Break defaults, or set your own durations and optional automatic cycles. Pause, resume, or reset while spent time, remaining time, and progress stay visible. This is the same Potato Timer used by the dock widget and optional menu bar item. Choosing a preset replaces the current session; restoring timers after restarting Docktopus is opt-in in settings. Explore Potato Timer controls and cycles.
Copy local time or a world clock’s time in your selected format, with visible confirmation or an error if copying fails. Hover the dock clock for time and date; VoiceOver exposes the current time and pending-alarm count. Activate the focused dock widget with Return or Space, and press Esc to close the panel. Display and alarm preferences are saved in the existing settings.
Alarms require Docktopus to be running and do not wake a sleeping Mac. Missed alarms appear after wake or the next launch. macOS notification permission and system notification settings control banner delivery; the Clock panel remains available when notifications are blocked.
Calendar
Check your agenda, browse a month, or join the next meeting from the dock. Choose the calendars you want to see; macOS Calendar access keeps events under your control.
Upcoming groups the next two weeks by day, with all-day events, timed events, calendar names and colors, and locations where available. Month offers previous and next navigation, a Today shortcut, and day selection with event dots. Select a day to see events that overlap it, including multi-day events.
Use the source filter to include or hide individual calendars, or choose Show All Calendars to reset it. Your selection is saved and shared across the dock, menu bar, and Island. Cancelled events and invitations you have declined are omitted. Refresh checks for changes; updates also follow Calendar changes, wake, and local date or time-zone changes.
Click an event to open it in the macOS Calendar app, or use Open Calendar from the panel header. Join appears for recognized meeting links in an event’s URL, location, or notes, including Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. Recurring events open their matching occurrence when available, with the selected date as a fallback. Create and edit events in Calendar.
Enable Dynamic Island in Settings → Dynamic Island to show a compact countdown for an upcoming timed event. Calendar previews start 15 minutes before by default; choose 5, 15, 30, or 60 minutes, or turn them off. The strip shows Now while an event is in progress. Click it to pin the expanded Calendar activity, with event details, the agenda, source filters, and meeting actions.
The compact Calendar Preview adapts to bottom and side docks; narrow Liquid Glass side docks show a seven-day list. Hover for a quick agenda, or click the Calendar tile or preview to keep the panel open. Focused dock widgets support Return or Space; Esc closes the panel. In a focused Island, ⌥7 selects Calendar.
Calendar reads events through macOS Calendar access. Choose Allow Calendar Access in the panel to request permission; if access is denied, use Open System Settings to enable Calendar for Docktopus. Opening individual events may also require macOS Automation permission for Calendar. Loading, empty calendars, empty filters, and failed actions have visible states, so you can refresh, restore sources, or try again.
All-day events remain in the calendar views and never trigger the compact Island countdown. Brightness or volume feedback and incoming notification previews temporarily take priority there. Calendar previews require Docktopus to be running and calendar access to be granted; Dynamic Island itself is off by default.
Apple Music & Spotify
Hover Apple Music or Spotify in your dock to see artwork, track details, and playback controls. Play, pause, skip, or seek through the track while keeping your current app in view.
Add Apple Music or Spotify to your dock, then hover its icon to open the player’s music panel. Artwork and track information follow that app; playback control uses macOS Automation access.
Both players use your dock theme, with light and dark presets for Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95. For a compact view of the current macOS media source, add the Now Playing widget.
Now Playing
Keep the current track and playback controls beside your apps. Artwork, progress, and available commands follow the player reported by macOS.
See the title, artist, album, and artwork when the source provides them. Now Playing works with audio and video apps that publish macOS Now Playing information; metadata and control support depend on the player. An app icon or media symbol fills in when artwork is unavailable.
Use previous, play/pause, and next where the current source supports those commands. Controls show an updating state while a command is being sent and prevent overlapping requests. While media controls are shown, a failed playback request is marked on play/pause; hover that control for details. Refresh media information to check the source before trying again.
A read-only progress bar appears when the source reports a duration and the layout has room. Roomier layouts also show elapsed time. Playback state remains available when duration is unknown; the progress bar does not seek or scrub through the track.
Click the artwork or title to bring the running source app forward. Hover shortened metadata for the full track details. Right-click for Open, playback commands, and Refresh media information. When nothing is playing or media information is unavailable, the widget provides a Refresh button.
Compact layouts keep playback controls available while larger slots show more metadata and artwork. Side docks arrange controls to fit their available width. Choose Now Playing in the panel editor, then adjust Now Playing Width in Themes → Widgets; this sets the widget’s width in a horizontal dock and its height in a side dock.
Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95 retain their own styling in light and dark presets. The widget supports Increase Contrast and Reduce Transparency, with full metadata and playback progress, where shown, available to VoiceOver. Progress updates pause while hidden, and shared polling stops when no Now Playing surface is visible.
Desktop Switcher
Move between your macOS desktops from compact dock tiles. The current desktop stays easy to spot in horizontal and side layouts. Switching requires Accessibility access.
A checkmark and outline identify your current regular desktop. Click another tile to switch through Mission Control, including when a full-screen app is active. A progress indicator marks the desktop being selected while the switch is underway.
Horizontal docks arrange desktops in two compact rows, with scrolling and previous/more controls when the list outgrows the slot. Side docks show up to six desktops at a time in a scrollable column. The current desktop is brought into view when it changes.
Hover a tile for its full desktop name, including when a narrow tile shows only a number. Right-click the widget for a context menu with every listed desktop and Refresh Desktops to update the list after changing your setup.
With macOS Keyboard navigation enabled, focus a desktop tile and use the arrow keys to move between tiles. Press Return or Space to select the focused desktop. A separate focus outline keeps keyboard position clear.
If switching fails, the widget shows recovery actions such as Retry or Refresh. A Permissions action helps when Accessibility access is needed; enable access for Docktopus in System Settings, then retry the switch. Hover the warning for its full message.
Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95 each keep their own tile styling in light and dark presets. Hover, selection, and keyboard focus stay distinct, with readable labels and full desktop names for assistive technology.
Battery
The Battery widget shows the lowest battery among your AirPods, Magic Mouse, Keyboard, Trackpad, and other Bluetooth devices, with your Mac’s own battery alongside. Put it in the dock, a submenu, or the menu bar, and get a Dynamic Island alert before anything runs flat.
The tile shows the lowest level and the kind of device it belongs to. Click it for every battery Docktopus can read: your Mac, AirPods with left, right, and case levels, AirPods Max, Beats, and Magic accessories. Levels refresh every minute and right away when your Mac’s power changes.
Your Mac appears as a chip at the top of the panel, unless you hide its own battery in Settings. Power flows in from the adapter and the battery and splits into CPU, GPU, display, and everything else, updated every two seconds while the panel is open. Below it are battery health and condition as System Settings shows them, cycle count, temperature, voltage, the adapter’s name and rating, and serial numbers.
Click the chip to turn it over to your battery history: any device’s level over the last 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days, with charging shaded, and your Mac’s battery health from day to day. From how fast each battery has been draining, the panel tells you how long it has left, such as about 3 h for your Mac or about 4 days for a Magic Mouse, and when your Mac reaches its charge limit. An optional Dynamic Island alert warns when a device is expected to run out within the hour. Levels are saved every 5 minutes for 30 days on this Mac only; turn history off or clear it in Settings → Widgets → Battery.
Set the charge limit to 80, 85, 90, 95, or 100% right from the panel. It is macOS’s own limit from System Settings, so it holds even when Docktopus is not running; a full cycle or the heat hold only borrows it, and quitting Docktopus puts yours back. A full cycle, by hand or weekly or monthly, runs the battery down to 15%, charges it to 100%, rests an hour, and returns to your limit, asking you to unplug or plug in when needed and carrying on by itself. While the battery is hot, Docktopus can hold it at 80%. The panel lists the five apps you can quit that use the most energy, as Activity Monitor measures it.
Turn on energy warnings and, while your Mac runs on its battery, Docktopus checks once a minute which apps you can quit are using the most energy. When one keeps an Energy Impact of 20 or more for five minutes, the Dynamic Island shows its icon with Quit and Ignore, once per app a day. Ignore silences that app until you change it in Settings → Widgets → Battery. The prompt waits while you are reading it, and nothing is checked while you are plugged in.
Keep the charge limit for everyday life and still leave with a full battery. With Top Up Before Travel, Docktopus looks a day ahead in your calendars for events with words like flight, train, or trip, or at a place you do not usually go, and lifts the limit early enough to be full when they start, from how fast your Mac actually charges. Once you unplug or the event ends, your limit is back. It needs calendar access and only reads your events.
A Dynamic Island alert appears once when a device reaches 20% and once more at 10%. It stays quiet until the device has charged again, so a level that hovers around 20% does not keep interrupting. Turn alerts off, or keep them on even without a Battery widget in the dock, in Settings → Widgets → Battery.
When AirPods or other Bluetooth headphones are the system output, the Audio Mixer shows their battery next to the device name, including left, right, and case levels.
Your Mac’s battery needs no permission. Reading AirPods and other Bluetooth batteries asks for Bluetooth access once, only when you use the widget. Docktopus reads battery levels only; nothing is sent anywhere.
Liquid Glass, CDE, and Windows 95 each draw the battery in their own shape language and colors, with light and dark presets. In Windows 95, Battery is a taskbar button that shows the lowest level. Themes can set their own normal, low, and critical colors.
Xeyes
A small companion that follows your pointer. Choose Classic, Glass, Pixel, Robot, or Cat, with optional blinks and idle glances that respect Reduce Motion.
Dock and menu bar share the same look and theme colors. Right-click either to switch looks, pause pointer following, or enable occasional blinks and idle glances. Left-click stays decorative. Find shared preferences in Settings → Menu Bar → Xeyes.