Exmen

A macOS menu bar app for zero-friction script execution. Click, run, done.

What is Exmen?

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.

Features

• Menu Bar App — Always accessible, never in the way
• TOML Configuration — Human-readable action definitions
• Auto-Discovery — Drop a .toml file, it appears instantly
• Multiple Output Handlers
  • clipboard — Copy output to clipboard
  • notification — Show macOS notification
  • popup — Display in a result window
• Hook System — Scripts can update their display dynamically
• Status Polling — Periodic status updates for monitoring actions
• CLI Tool — Integrate with external tools via exmen command
• Global Config — Control action ordering and enable/disable

Installation

Download

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases:

• DMG — Open, drag Exmen to Applications
• ZIP — Extract, move Exmen.app to Applications

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/noomz/exmen.git
cd exmen
xcodebuild -project Exmen.xcodeproj -scheme Exmen -configuration Release build

The built app will be in ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/Exmen-*/Build/Products/Release/Exmen.app

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
• Xcode 15.0+ (for building)

Quick Start

Copy the example configs to get started:

cp -r .config/exmen ~/.config/

This includes:

• config.toml — Global configuration example
• actions/system-status.toml — CPU monitoring with status polling
• actions/check-disk-space.toml — Disk space notification
• actions/update-homebrew.toml — Brew update with popup output

Configuration

Actions are defined in TOML files located at ~/.config/exmen/actions/

Basic Action

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"

Action with External Script

name = "Update Homebrew"
icon = "arrow.clockwise"
description = "Run brew update && upgrade"

[script]
type = "file"
path = "~/.config/exmen/scripts/update-brew.sh"

[output]
handler = "popup"

Action with Hooks (Dynamic Updates)

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"
"""

Hook System

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.

CLI Tool

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.

Installation

Copy the CLI to your PATH:

cp /Applications/Exmen.app/Contents/MacOS/exmen /usr/local/bin/

Global Configuration

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",
]

Configuration Reference

Action Fields

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)

Script Configuration

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

Output Configuration

Field	Type	Required	Description
output.handler	string	No	"clipboard", "notification", or "popup" (default: "clipboard")

Hook Configuration

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

Project Structure

Exmen/
├── ExmenApp.swift           # App entry point
├── Models/
│   ├── Action.swift         # Action model
│   ├── ActionConfig.swift   # TOML config models
│   ├── GlobalConfig.swift   # Global settings model
│   ├── HookUpdate.swift     # Hook system models
│   └── ScriptResult.swift   # Execution result
├── Views/
│   ├── MenuContentView.swift
│   ├── ActionRowView.swift
│   └── PopupResultView.swift
├── Services/
│   ├── ActionService.swift   # Action management
│   ├── ConfigLoader.swift    # TOML loading
│   ├── DirectoryWatcher.swift
│   ├── ScriptRunner.swift    # Script execution
│   ├── OutputService.swift   # Output handling
│   ├── HookParser.swift
│   ├── StatusPoller.swift
│   └── IPCServer.swift       # Unix socket server
├── CLI/
│   └── main.swift            # CLI tool entry point
└── Assets.xcassets/
    └── AppIcon.appiconset/

License

MIT License. See LICENSE.md for details.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.