nib

Build native macOS menu bar apps in Python.

Write your app logic in Python with a declarative, SwiftUI-inspired API. Nib compiles to a native macOS app with real SwiftUI rendering.

Example

import nib

def main(app: nib.App):
    app.icon = nib.SFSymbol(
        "apple.meditate", rendering_mode=nib.SymbolRenderingMode.HIERARCHICAL
    )
    app.title = "Your Nib app"
    app.menu = [
        nib.MenuItem(
            content=nib.VStack(
                controls=[
                    nib.Text("Custom Item"),
                    nib.Text(
                        "You can place any control you want!",
                        font=nib.Font.CAPTION,
                        foreground_color=nib.Color.WHITE.with_opacity(0.5),
                    ),
                ],
                alignment=nib.Alignment.LEADING,
            ),
            height=35,
        ),
        nib.MenuDivider(),
        nib.MenuItem("Quit", shortcut="cmd+q", action=app.quit),
    ]

    count = nib.Text("0", font=nib.Font.TITLE2)

    def increment():
        count.content = str(int(count.content) + 1)
    def decrement():
        count.content = str(int(count.content) - 1)

    app.build(
        nib.HStack(
            controls=[
                nib.Button(
                    content=nib.SFSymbol("minus"), 
                    action=decrement
                ),
                count,
                nib.Button(
                    content=nib.SFSymbol("plus"),
                    action=increment
                ),
            ]
        )
    )

nib.run(main)

Why Nib?

Nib was born to fill a void in the Python ecosystem. Until now, the only way to create native macOS status bar apps was rumps, great for very simple apps, but limited in system integration and customization, with restrictive layout options.

Nib fills this gap:

• Native performance — Real SwiftUI rendering, smooth 60fps animations
• Pythonic API — Declarative syntax that feels natural, not a Swift wrapper
• Reactive updates — Change a property, UI updates automatically
• Full system access — Notifications, hotkeys, clipboard, file dialogs, drag & drop
• Build & distribute — Compile to a standalone .app bundle with nib build

How It Works

Nib runs as two processes connected by a Unix socket. Your Python code builds a tree of view objects (VStack, Text, Button, etc.) and sends it to a Swift runtime, which renders it as real SwiftUI inside a menu bar popover. When the user interacts with the UI, Swift sends events back to Python, your callbacks run, and only the changed properties are patched.

Features

UI Components — Text, Button, TextField, Toggle, Slider, Picker, Image, List, ScrollView, Charts, and more

Layout — VStack, HStack, ZStack, Spacer, Divider, Form, Section, NavigationStack

Styling — Colors, gradients, shadows, animations, SF Symbols, custom fonts

System Integration — macOS notifications, global keyboard shortcuts, clipboard access, file/save dialogs, drag & drop

Settings — Built-in settings window with tabs, auto-persistence to UserDefaults

Context Menu — Right-click menu on the status bar icon with nested items, shortcuts, badges

Installation

Requirements: macOS 14+, Python 3.10+

pip install pynib

Or build from source:

git clone https://github.com/Bbalduzz/nib.git
cd nib
make install

Quick Start

# Create a new project
nib create myapp
cd myapp

# Run in development mode (hot reload)
nib run main.py

Building

Once you are satisfied with your project, nib lets you compile it into a standalone macOS .app bundle:

nib build main.py

The output is a self-contained app in dist/, it bundles a portable Python runtime, your code, and all dependencies. No Python installation needed on the target machine.

Build options

Flag	Description
--native	Compile Python to native .so modules via Cython (requires pip install cython)
--obfuscate	Strip debug info from .pyc bytecode (function names, filenames, line numbers)
--no-compile	Keep .py source files instead of compiling to .pyc
--icon icon.png	Custom app icon (.png or .icns)
--name "My App"	Override the app display name
--arch arm64	Target architecture (arm64 or x86_64)

# Native compilation — .py files become .so shared libraries
nib build main.py --native

# Obfuscated bytecode
nib build main.py --obfuscate

# Custom name and icon
nib build main.py --name "My App" --icon assets/icon.png

Build options can also be set in pyproject.toml:

[tool.nib]
entry = "src/main.py"

[tool.nib.build]
name = "My App"
icon = "assets/icon.png"
identifier = "com.example.myapp"
native = true

License

MIT