Keep one thing visible at all times.
- Compact native macOS popover
- Automatic text color or three custom color profiles
- Quick color-profile switching from the menu bar context menu
- Normal, Bold, and Italic menu bar text styles
- Configurable character limit
- Shift-click shortcut to clear text immediately
- No Dock icon, analytics, account, or network access
Dynamic wallpapers can make a single accent color difficult to read throughout the day. 1thing provides four text-color modes:
- Automatic — uses the Light profile in Light Mode and the Dark profile in Dark Mode
- Light — custom color for Light Mode and bright wallpaper states
- Mixed — custom color for transitional or visually mixed states
- Dark — custom color for dark wallpaper states
The dropdown and right-click menu use SF Symbols to distinguish the modes. Right-click the menu bar item to switch profiles immediately.
Choose one of three menu bar text styles:
- Normal — the established semibold 1thing appearance
- Bold — a stronger emphasis
- Italic — a slanted variant of the normal weight
The active style is marked with a checkmark in the dropdown menu.
Saved entries are stored as UTF-8 text with one entry per line:
~/.config/1thing/history.txt
The newest entry appears first. Reusing an existing entry moves it to the top.
Use ↑ and ↓ in the input field to browse the complete history, or click the inline history icon to choose from the ten most recent entries. Selecting an entry fills the editor; it is not saved until Return is pressed. Choose Open History File… to open the complete UTF-8 history in the default text editor.
- macOS 13 or later
- Apple Silicon Mac
- Swift compiler / Xcode Command Line Tools
xattr -cr "/Path-to/1thing"
cd "/Path-to/1thing"
./build.zsh| Action | Result |
|---|---|
| Left-click | Open or close the editor |
| Right-click | Open the color-profile menu |
| Shift-click | Clear the saved text immediately |
| Inline History | Show the ten most recent entries |
| Inline × | Clear the current input |
| Return | Save and close |
↑ / ↓ |
Browse the complete history |
| Escape | Close without saving |
⌘C, ⌘X, ⌘V, ⌘A, ⌘Z |
Standard editing actions |
⌘Q |
Quit |
1thing stores its settings and history locally. It makes no network requests and collects no data.
Created by Steffen Wöll, 2026.
MIT License.