A real sandbox
A community mode runs in an isolated web view: no network, no files, no reach into other apps, except what its manifest asks for — and that list is on screen before you install.
2.0
Store, community modes, a three-finger desktop switcher
your notch breathes
Media, alerts and files in the one spot of your screen that's always in sight. And now a whole store of modes and themes — vaho's own, and the ones the community makes.
The modes
Infinite modes. Zero windows.
Modekit
Missing a mode? Write it.
A community mode is a folder of HTML, CSS and JavaScript that vaho draws inside the notch. The guide takes you from zero to your first mode in an afternoon.
{
"id": "com.example.nowplaying",
"name": "Now Playing",
"version": "1.0.0",
"icon": "waveform",
"height": 180,
"permissions": ["nowPlaying", "media"],
"allowedHosts": ["api.example.com"]
}
vaho hands the mode one bridge, window.vaho, carrying exactly what its manifest asked for. No Xcode, no build step, nothing to sign.
nowPlayingmediabattery
systemclipboardnetwork
openURLshortcutsnotifications
calendarlocation
The eleven permissions a mode can ask for. Everything else — theme, storage, panel height, haptics — needs none, because it never leaves the notch.
Validated, then published
Every upload runs through automated validation — manifest, size, file types, duplicates. Anyone can report a mode, and one can be taken down.
Yours, even unpublished
A folder in ~/.config/vaho/webmodes/ is already an installed mode. Edit, hit Reload, repeat. Nothing to compile.
Desktops · new
Every desktop, three fingers away.
Rest three fingers on the trackpad, without pressing, and the notch opens with every desktop on the display, full-screen apps included. Slide to the one you want and lift: you're there, instantly, without sliding through every desktop on the way.
- Slide past the last desktop to add one.
- Slide down to close one: its windows move to the desktop beside it.
- Slide up to lift one out, carry it along the strip and put it down somewhere else.
- Drag a window to the notch and drop it on another desktop: its app moves there. Works with a mouse too.
Quick swipe
Sweep three fingers without resting them first and you're on the next desktop over, no strip to pick from. You choose which way it goes.
Previews or apps
Each card shows the desktop as it looks right now, the icons of its apps, or only its number.
No Mission Control in sight
macOS only adds, moves and closes desktops in Mission Control, so vaho does it there, behind a still picture of the screen. All you see is the strip change.
Tuned to your hand
Hold time, travel per desktop and a haptic tick on every desktop. The panel wears your notch's style and border.
The gesture needs Accessibility, to hold back macOS' own three-finger swipe and to change desktops. Previews need Screen Recording; without it, each desktop shows its apps.
Lock screen · Pro
Locked isn't blank.
When the session locks, the notch grows into a small strip of widgets drawn over the lock screen: what's playing, your next event, batteries, and how many alerts are waiting. You pick which ones, and how high they sit. Nothing here can unlock the Mac — it's a readout.
9:41
Media player
Album art, title and playback controls for what's playing.
Next event
Your next calendar event and when it starts.
Battery
The Mac's, plus AirPods, mouse and keyboard when they report one.
Notification counts
How many alerts are waiting per app. Only icons and numbers — no text.
The vaho family
Four more apps, the same breath.
vaho's themes reach further with its sibling apps: a theme can carry your desktop widgets, an animated wallpaper and your terminal's look too. vaho detects them on its own; if you don't have them, it applies everything else and offers you the link.
bruma
Widgets on your desktop — clock, weather, anything — drawn on the wallpaper, behind your icons.
vidrio
A transparent, borderless terminal that lets your desktop show through. Themes restyle its colours and type.
sider
Your minimized windows, on the left edge. Push the pointer there and they slide out as a row of previews — click one and it comes back.
neowall
An animated ASCII wallpaper in the style of Omarchy. It costs almost no battery and stops completely while a window covers it. Themes restyle its palette.
Pricing
Free to start. One payment for all the rest.
Simple rule: your everyday, free. The four tools people live in, and everything that lifts a limit, Pro. One payment.
Free
€0forever
No account, no catch. macOS 13+ · Silicon & Intel.
- Community modes from the store.
- Up to 6 modes installed at once. Media, Files, Alerts and Themes come installed and can't be removed, so you have 2 free slots to spend.
- Themes: apply, export, share and download from the store. Up to 2 saved themes of your own.
- The built-in display, as a notch or a pill.
- Automatic updates.
No licence to activate — download and it runs.
PRO
vaho Pro
€5.99one-time · 1 Mac
No subscription. Lifetime updates included.
- The four Pro modes: Shortcuts, Reminders, Clipboard and Pomodoro.
- Unlimited installed modes and unlimited saved themes.
- Lock-screen widgets.
- The launcher in the notch: shortcut, two letters, you're inside any app.
Pro activates inside the app — download the free version first.
Pro is what pays for the store, the review of what goes into it, and the next version.