macOS-Minimizer

Minimize every normal macOS window and restore your workspace with one hotkey.

Download latest release

Minimizer is a native macOS menu-bar app that minimizes every normal window to the Dock, then restores those windows and returns focus to the window you were using.

It exists for people who want a true minimize-and-restore workflow on macOS, not Mission Control's temporary Show Desktop gesture and not app hiding.

Features

• Global hotkey for minimize/restore.
• Menu-bar-only app with no Dock icon.
• Direct Accessibility window control through kAXMinimizedAttribute.
• Restore set tracking so already-minimized windows are left alone.
• Focus restoration to the originally active window.
• First-run onboarding for Accessibility permission.
• Settings window for hotkey recording and Launch at Login.
• No telemetry, no analytics, and no network behavior.

Requirements

• macOS 13 or newer.
• Accessibility permission granted to Minimizer at runtime.

Install

Download Minimizer-v1.0.0.zip from the latest GitHub Release, unzip it, move Minimizer.app to Applications, and launch it.

On first launch, macOS will ask for Accessibility permission. Grant it in System Settings so Minimizer can minimize, restore, and focus windows from other apps.

Build From Source

• Xcode command line tools.
• Swift 5.9 or newer.
• XcodeGen for regenerating Minimizer.xcodeproj.

Clone the repository and build the app bundle:

git clone https://github.com/onekapisch/macOS-Minimizer.git
cd macOS-Minimizer
swift build -c release
./build_app.sh
open "Minimizer.app"

Development

Run the SwiftPM path:

swift test
swift build -c release
./build_app.sh

Regenerate and build the Xcode project:

xcodegen generate
xcodebuild -project Minimizer.xcodeproj -scheme Minimizer -configuration Release -destination 'platform=macOS' CODE_SIGNING_ALLOWED=NO build

The Xcode project is generated from project.yml. After adding or removing source files, run xcodegen generate.

Privacy

Minimizer does not collect, transmit, or retain document contents. Window references stay in memory for the active minimize/restore cycle and are cleared after restore. See SECURITY.md for the full security and data handling notes.

Distribution

Public binary releases are Developer ID-signed, notarized, and attached to GitHub Releases. The project is not targeting the Mac App Store because the app needs direct Accessibility control over other apps' windows.

See RELEASE_PLAN.md for the release checklist.

Contributing

Bug reports and focused pull requests are welcome. Please keep changes scoped and preserve the direct Accessibility minimize/restore engine documented in AGENTS.md.

License

macOS-Minimizer is licensed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.