A macOS menu bar app for zero-friction script execution. Click, run, done.
Exmen lives in your menu bar and lets you run scripts without switching to Terminal. Define actions in simple TOML files, click to execute, and get results via clipboard, notification, or popup.
Core value: Zero-friction execution — click menu, run action, done.
- Menu Bar App — Always accessible, never in the way
- TOML Configuration — Human-readable action definitions
- Auto-Discovery — Drop a
.tomlfile, it appears instantly - Multiple Output Handlers
clipboard— Copy output to clipboardnotification— Show macOS notificationpopup— Display in a result window
- Managed Services — Run long-lived processes (servers, daemons) with start/stop/restart
- Hook System — Scripts can update their display dynamically
- Status Polling — Periodic status updates for monitoring actions
- CLI Tool — Integrate with external tools via
exmencommand - Global Config — Control action ordering and enable/disable
Download the latest release from GitHub Releases:
- DMG — Open, drag Exmen to Applications
- ZIP — Extract, move Exmen.app to Applications
git clone https://github.com/noomz/exmen.git
cd exmen
xcodebuild -project Exmen.xcodeproj -scheme Exmen -configuration Release buildThe built app will be in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Exmen-*/Build/Products/Release/Exmen.app
- macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
- Xcode 15.0+ (for building)
Copy the example configs to get started:
cp -r .config/exmen ~/.config/This includes:
config.toml— Global configuration exampleactions/system-status.toml— CPU monitoring with status pollingactions/check-disk-space.toml— Disk space notificationactions/update-homebrew.toml— Brew update with popup output
Actions are defined in TOML files located at ~/.config/exmen/actions/
name = "Generate Phone Number"
icon = "phone"
description = "Generate random phone number"
[script]
type = "inline"
content = """
#!/bin/bash
echo "08$(shuf -i 10000000-99999999 -n 1)"
"""
[output]
handler = "clipboard"name = "Update Homebrew"
icon = "arrow.clockwise"
description = "Run brew update && upgrade"
[script]
type = "file"
path = "~/.config/exmen/scripts/update-brew.sh"
[output]
handler = "popup"name = "System Status"
icon = "cpu"
description = "Monitor CPU usage"
[script]
type = "inline"
content = """
#!/bin/bash
echo "CPU: $(top -l 1 | grep 'CPU usage' | awk '{print $3}')"
"""
[output]
handler = "notification"
[hook]
poll_interval = 30
parse_output = true
[hook.status_script]
type = "inline"
content = """
#!/bin/bash
cpu=$(top -l 1 | grep "CPU usage" | awk '{print $3}')
echo "EXMEN:status=CPU: $cpu"
"""Scripts can emit special lines to update their action's display:
EXMEN:title=New Title
EXMEN:status=Current status text
EXMEN:badge=NEW
EXMEN:icon=star.fill
These lines are parsed and removed from the output. The action's UI updates accordingly.
Exmen can manage long-running processes (dev servers, proxies, daemons) directly from the menu bar. Services appear in a dedicated "Services" section with a live status indicator and uptime.
Create a TOML file in ~/.config/exmen/actions/ with type = "service" and a [service] block instead of [script]:
name = "Playwright Proxy"
icon = "network"
description = "MCP proxy server for Playwright"
type = "service"
[service]
command = "playwright_mcp_proxy"
args = ["--port", "3100"]
working_dir = "~/Projects/playwright-proxy"
restart = "on-failure"
max_restarts = 5
keep_alive = false
[service.env]
NODE_ENV = "development"Right-click a service row in the menu to access:
- Start / Stop / Restart — Manage the process lifecycle
- View Output — Open a terminal window showing the service's live stdout/stderr
| Policy | Behavior |
|---|---|
"never" |
Do not restart after exit (default) |
"on-failure" |
Restart only on non-zero exit code |
"always" |
Restart on any exit |
Restarts use exponential backoff (1s, 2s, 4s, ... up to 30s) and stop after max_restarts attempts (default: 3), transitioning to a "crashed" state.
When keep_alive = true, the service process continues running after Exmen quits. On next launch, Exmen reconnects to the running process and resumes monitoring its status.
Exmen includes a command-line interface for integration with external tools (like sketchybar, scripts, etc.):
# List all actions
exmen list-actions
# Run an action by name
exmen run "Generate Phone Number"
# Get action status
exmen status "System Status"The CLI communicates with the running Exmen app via Unix domain socket at ~/.config/exmen/exmen.sock.
Copy the CLI to your PATH:
cp /Applications/Exmen.app/Contents/MacOS/exmen /usr/local/bin/Control action ordering and visibility in ~/.config/exmen/config.toml:
# Display order (unlisted actions appear at the end)
order = [
"Generate Thai ID",
"Generate Phone Number",
"System Status",
]
# Hide actions without deleting their config files
disabled = [
"Update Homebrew",
]| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
name |
string | Yes | Display name |
icon |
string | No | SF Symbol name (default: "terminal") |
description |
string | No | Shown below the name |
hide_on_click |
bool | No | Close menu after clicking (default: true) |
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
script.type |
string | Yes | "inline" or "file" |
script.content |
string | For inline | The script content |
script.path |
string | For file | Path to script file |
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
output.handler |
string | No | "clipboard", "notification", or "popup" (default: "clipboard") |
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
hook.poll_interval |
int | No | Seconds between status script runs (default: 60) |
hook.parse_output |
bool | No | Parse EXMEN: lines from output (default: true) |
hook.status_script |
object | No | Script config for status updates |
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
type |
string | Yes | Must be "service" |
service.command |
string | Yes | Command to run (absolute path or name resolved via $PATH) |
service.args |
string[] | No | Arguments passed to the command |
service.working_dir |
string | No | Working directory (supports ~ expansion) |
service.env |
table | No | Extra environment variables (merged with system env) |
service.restart |
string | No | "never", "on-failure", or "always" (default: "never") |
service.max_restarts |
int | No | Max restart attempts before "crashed" state (default: 3) |
service.keep_alive |
bool | No | Keep process running after Exmen quits (default: false) |
Exmen/
├── ExmenApp.swift # App entry point
├── Models/
│ ├── Action.swift # Action model
│ ├── ActionConfig.swift # TOML config models
│ ├── ServiceConfig.swift # Service config models
│ ├── ServiceState.swift # Service lifecycle states
│ ├── GlobalConfig.swift # Global settings model
│ ├── HookUpdate.swift # Hook system models
│ └── ScriptResult.swift # Execution result
├── Views/
│ ├── MenuContentView.swift
│ ├── ActionRowView.swift
│ ├── ServiceRowView.swift # Service status row
│ ├── ServiceOutputWindow.swift # Terminal output window
│ └── PopupResultView.swift
├── Services/
│ ├── ActionService.swift # Action management
│ ├── ConfigLoader.swift # TOML loading
│ ├── DirectoryWatcher.swift
│ ├── ScriptRunner.swift # Script execution
│ ├── ManagedService.swift # Service lifecycle manager
│ ├── ServiceManager.swift # Service registry
│ ├── OutputService.swift # Output handling
│ ├── HookParser.swift
│ ├── StatusPoller.swift
│ └── IPCServer.swift # Unix socket server
├── CLI/
│ └── main.swift # CLI tool entry point
└── Assets.xcassets/
└── AppIcon.appiconset/
MIT License. See LICENSE.md for details.
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.