Something In The Background

A native menu bar utility for managing background processes, SSH tunnels, and scheduled tasks.

Features

• Tiny native macOS app with a Rust core (less than 1MB)
• Run any script or CLI task without keeping a terminal open
• Fire-and-forget one-time commands (silent, with notification, or in a terminal)
• Auto-discover scripts from a directory
• Run scripts on a schedule without cron, or launchd
• Controlled from the menu bar
• Cross-platform support (macOS, Linux, Windows)
• Everything is configured with one simple config file

Installation

macOS

Install from GitHub Releases

On an Apple Silicon Mac, download something_bg-macos-arm64.zip from the GitHub Releases page, unzip it, then move Something in the Background.app to /Applications.

Starting with v1.10.1, GitHub release builds are signed with a Developer ID certificate and notarized by Apple before publication.

Starting with v1.11.0, the macOS app uses Sparkle for secure in-app updates. Open the status menu and choose Check for Updates... to run Sparkle's standard interactive update flow. The app also checks quietly at launch and once per hour; when it discovers a newer version, the menu action changes to Update Available... without interrupting you. The first v1.11.0 installation is manual because older versions do not contain the updater.

The packaged macOS release currently targets Apple Silicon (arm64). Intel Mac users can build the app from source on an Intel Mac.

Build from source

Step 1: Install Rust (skip if already installed)

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env

Step 2: Install build tools

xcode-select --install
cargo install cargo-bundle

Step 3: Build and install

git clone https://github.com/vim-zz/something_bg.git
cd something_bg
./scripts/bundle-macos.sh
cp -r "target/release/bundle/osx/Something in the Background.app" /Applications/

Launch from Applications or run: open "/Applications/Something in the Background.app"

Source builds do not require Sparkle. When Sparkle.framework is absent, the app continues to run and disables Check for Updates.... To build a Sparkle-enabled bundle, fetch the pinned framework and provide the public EdDSA key:

./scripts/fetch-sparkle.sh
SOMETHING_BG_SPARKLE_PUBLIC_ED_KEY="your_public_key" \
SOMETHING_BG_REQUIRE_SPARKLE=1 \
./scripts/bundle-macos.sh

For local development, these variables may instead be stored in a git-ignored .env file at the repository root. The macOS bundle and local Sparkle fixture scripts load that file automatically.

Test macOS updates locally

The full replacement flow must use a bundled app, signed update ZIP, and HTTP appcast; cargo run cannot exercise it. After creating a Sparkle key pair, prepare the fixture without installing or launching anything:

SOMETHING_BG_SPARKLE_PUBLIC_ED_KEY="your_public_key" \
SOMETHING_BG_SPARKLE_PRIVATE_KEY="your_private_key" \
./scripts/prepare-local-sparkle-update.sh

The script writes ignored files under target/sparkle-dev/ and prints separate commands to serve the fixture, install the seed bundle manually, and verify the replacement marker.

Linux

Install from GitHub Releases

Download the latest Linux tarball from the GitHub Releases page, then extract and run the binary:

tar -xzf something_bg-linux-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz
chmod +x something_bg_linux
./something_bg_linux

Move something_bg_linux somewhere on your PATH if you want to launch it more easily later.

Build from source

Prerequisites (Ubuntu/Debian):

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
source $HOME/.cargo/env
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config libayatana-appindicator3-dev libgtk-3-dev libxdo-dev

Build and run:

git clone https://github.com/vim-zz/something_bg.git
cd something_bg
cargo run -p something_bg_linux --release

Windows

Build on Windows:

# Install Rust from https://rustup.rs/
git clone https://github.com/vim-zz/something_bg.git
cd something_bg
cargo build -p something_bg_windows --release
.\target\release\something_bg_windows.exe

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.config/something_bg/config.toml (created on first run).

Example

version = 2

[environment]
path = "/bin:/usr/bin:/usr/local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin"

[[sections]]
id = "database"
title = "DATABASE"
icon = "sf:cylinder.fill"
kind = "tunnel"

[[sections.items]]
id = "database-prod"
name = "PROD"
start = ["ssh", "-N", "-L", "5432:localhost:5432", "user@server.com"]
stop = ["pkill", "-f", "user@server.com"]

[[sections]]
id = "kubernetes"
title = "KUBERNETES"
icon = "sf:cloud.fill"
kind = "tunnel"

[[sections.items]]
id = "k8s-service"
name = "API Service"
start = ["kubectl", "port-forward", "svc/api", "8080:8080"]
stop = ["pkill", "-f", "svc/api"]

[[sections]]
id = "personal"
title = "PERSONAL"
icon = "sf:person.fill"
kind = "command"

[[sections.items]]
id = "fix-quarantine"
name = "Fix Whisperer Quarantine"
run = ["xattr", "-dr", "com.apple.quarantine", "/Applications/whisperer.app"]

[[sections.items]]
id = "deploy"
name = "Deploy"
run = ["bash", "/Users/me/scripts/deploy.sh"]
output = "terminal"

[[sections]]
id = "scheduled"
title = "SCHEDULED"
icon = "sf:clock.fill"
kind = "scheduled-task"

[[sections.items]]
id = "daily-backup"
name = "Daily Backup"
run = ["/usr/local/bin/backup.sh"]
cron = "0 6 * * *"

Fields

• version — Config schema version; the current version is 2.
• sections — Ordered menu sections. The app inserts separators between them.
• Section id — Stable identifier, unique across sections.
• Section title and icon — Optional visible heading and SF Symbol.
• Section kind — "tunnel", "command", or "scheduled-task".
• Item id — Stable identifier, unique within its kind.
• Item name — Display name.
• Tunnel start and stop — Executable followed by its exact argument list.
• Command run — Executable followed by arguments; output controls output handling.
• Scheduled-task run and cron — Command and five-field cron expression.

The order of [[sections]] and [[sections.items]] entries is the menu order. Commands are executed directly; use ["bash", "-c", "..."] when shell syntax such as pipes or && is required.

Legacy unversioned files and version = 1 files are migrated automatically. The original is retained as config.toml.v1.bak, while config.toml is rewritten in the current format.

One-Time Commands

Run any command with a single click from the menu bar. Each command has a configurable output mode:

Mode	Behavior	Best for
silent (default)	Fire and forget, no output	Instant commands (xattr, pkill)
notify	Run in background, show notification on completion with last 5 lines of output	Scripts that take seconds to minutes
terminal	Open a terminal window with live output	Long/interactive scripts, debugging

version = 2

[[sections]]
id = "utilities"
title = "UTILITIES"
kind = "command"

[[sections.items]]
id = "fix-quarantine"
name = "Fix Quarantine"
run = ["xattr", "-dr", "com.apple.quarantine", "/Applications/myapp.app"]
# output defaults to "silent"

[[sections.items]]
id = "backup"
name = "Run Backup"
run = ["bash", "/usr/local/bin/backup.sh"]
output = "notify"

[[sections.items]]
id = "deploy"
name = "Deploy"
run = ["bash", "/usr/local/bin/deploy.sh"]
output = "terminal"

Scripts Directory

Auto-discover shell scripts from a directory. All *.sh files appear in the menu under a "Scripts" header, sorted alphabetically. Default output mode is notify.

version = 2

[scripts]
directory = "~/.config/something_bg/scripts"
output = "notify"
section = "scripts"

[[sections]]
id = "scripts"
title = "SCRIPTS"
icon = "sf:terminal.fill"
kind = "command"

Filenames are title-cased for display: delete-logs.sh → "Delete Logs".

Scheduled Tasks

Common cron patterns:

• 0 * * * * — Every hour
• */15 * * * * — Every 15 minutes
• 0 6 * * * — Daily at 6am
• 0 9 * * 1 — Mondays at 9am

SF Symbols (macOS icons)

Common symbols for section icon:

• sf:cylinder.fill — Database
• sf:shippingbox.fill — Cache/Redis
• sf:cloud.fill — Cloud/Kubernetes
• sf:server.rack — Server
• sf:network — Network
• sf:clock.fill — Scheduled tasks
• sf:hammer.fill — Development

Browse all symbols at developer.apple.com/sf-symbols or use the SF Symbols app.

Reload the configuration from the tray menu after editing the file.

License

MIT