alt Hacker NewsShow HN: What if your menu bar was a keyboard-controlled command center?
Hey Hacker News The ones that know me here know that I am a productivity geek.
After DockFlow to manage my Dock and ExtraDock, which gives me more space to manage my apps and files, I decided to tackle the macOS big boss: the menu bar.
I spend ~40% of my day context-switching between apps — Zoom meetings, Slack channels, Code projects, and Figma designs. My macOS menu bar has too many useless icons I almost never use.
So I thought to myself, how can I use this area to improve my workflows?
Most solutions (Bartender, Ice) require screen recording permissions, and did not really solve my issues. I wanted custom menus in the apps, not the ones that the developers decided for me.
After a few iterations and exploring different solutions, ExtraBar was created. Instead of just hiding icons, what if the menu bar became a keyboard-controlled command center that has the actions I need? No permissions. No telemetry. Just local actions.
This is ExtraBar: Set up the menu with the apps and actions YOU need, and use a hotkey to bring it up with full keyboard navigation built in.
What you can do: - Jump into your next Zoom call with a keystroke - Open specific Slack channels instantly (no menu clicking) - Launch VS Code projects directly - Trigger Apple Shortcuts workflows - Integrate with Raycast for advanced automation - Custom deep links to Figma, Spotify, or any URL
Real-world example: I've removed my menu bar icons. Everything is keyboard- controlled: cmd+B → 2 (Zoom) → 4 (my personal meeting) → I'm in.
Why it's different: Bartender and Ice hide icons. ExtraBar uses your menu bar to do things. Bartender requires screen recording permissions. Ice requires accessibility permissions. ExtraBar works offline with zero permissions - (Enhance functionality with only accessibility permissions, not a must)
Technical: - Written in SwiftUI; native on Apple Silicon and Intel - Zero OS permissions required (optional accessibility for enhanced keyboard nav) - All data stored locally (no cloud, no telemetry) - Very Customizable with custom configuration built in for popular apps + fully customizable configuration actions. - Import/export action configurations
The app is improving weekly based on community feedback. We're also building configuration sharing so users can share setups.
Already got some great feedback from Reddit and Producthunt, and I can't wait to get yours!
Check out the website: https://extrabar.app ProductHunt: https://www.producthunt.com/products/extrabar
Comments
Why do you have a 14-day money back guarantee instead of a 30-day free trial?
My perception (although I never tried it) is that it reduces the number of people actually trying it and avoids that you have to still pay for the payment platform fee when there is a refund, plus I presume there is also some dedication needed for handling the refund itself.
I speculate that there might be a sweet spot between the impulse purchase and the price level where you do not bother to ask for a refund, even if the tool does not work for you, but still it is counterintuitive for me why not to reach as many potential users as possible at a nearly zero marginal cost and sort of pray for conversion with a much higher user base.
In other words, at this price range with no recurring income, what is the percentage of users who actually to ask for a refund? Is it very low?
How does this work on laptop screens? E.g. running Chrome on my MBA with a notch, the Chrome menus take up 3/4 of the screen width, and then the remaining ~6 icons there is space for are utilities I need. There are even a couple more icons I regularly use and have to switch to Finder to access them, just because it has less menus. The idea is interesting, but it's not clear at all from the homepage how/if this works on laptops as opposed to large monitors, when you're using an application with lots of menus.
I'm also curious how this compares to other similar solutions -- QuickCMD, Raycast, Keyboard Maestro, Command Keeper, etc. It seems clear that its featureset is different, but it's hard to figure out which ones do which things. If you included a comparison features chart it might be helpful so potential customers can see what makes this one unique -- i.e. it's the only one that does X and Y and Z, because every other app only does 2 but not all 3.
I really like the concept, however, I'm struggling to imagine using it over Alfred. The menu bar has a lot of limitations compared to an instantly available pop up. Could you share what specifically wasn't meet by Alfred and other quick search style solutions?
Cool project. I am working on something similar but was having a hard time with macOS permissions. I am not a Mac developer and not familiar with the space. I wasn’t even familiar with ray cast or things like that before I started. But I’ll definitely test this out and see if it solves what I was setting out to accomplish
I may have missed it, but may I assume a device license is transferable? I mean to transfer it when I ditch my Mac for a new one, so I'm talking about my devices only. I'm just asking to be clear, especially given use of the word "lifetime". Thanks!
I'll check this out! I've been using doll for a while, but I don't think it's maintained anymore.
I love this!
I have a custom menu bar I wrote that integrates with Yabai and requires disabling SIP for full functionality, it works similarly to yours, but I love how simple and polished this one is.
How are you able to do that without OS permissions?
Love the 9 euros for a lifetime sub. Easiest purchase ever even if I don't use it. Looks great.
I use hammerspoon for this but if you don't want to write your own scripts this might be nice.
I spotted the very underrated Bloom [1] in the screenshots and thought I should give it a shout in here. I've been using it, along with Witch [2] as an app switcher so that I can hide the Finder icon, for about 2 months and love it.
Why is it more expensive to buy multiple license at once?
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Tangent: “ No permissions. No telemetry. Just local actions.”
That phrasing is so GPT coded. Same for other portions of the text.
Just feeling curious that the tone is there, not judging your usage of tools.