I built a native macOS menu bar companion for Portless

Description and use

PortlessBar is a macOS menu bar app that lists all Portless registrations as clickable URLs and lets users toggle the proxy with a single click, streamlining local development workflow.

Problem

Portless replaces port numbers with named URLs for local development, but accessing those URLs and controlling the proxy from the command line is inconvenient on macOS.

Outcome

PortlessBar provides a lightweight macOS menu bar interface that automatically lists Portless registrations, allows quick URL opening, and offers a single‑click proxy toggle, improving developer workflow on macOS.

Workflow

• 1. Install PortlessBar via Homebrew or download the app.
• 2. Ensure Portless is installed and the initial proxy setup is completed in Terminal.
• 3. Launch PortlessBar from the Applications folder or via Homebrew cask.
• 4. PortlessBar reads Portless state files and process arguments to list registrations.
• 5. Click a URL in the menu bar to open it in the default browser.
• 6. Toggle the proxy switch at the top to connect or disconnect the proxy without stopping development servers.
• 7. Use settings to enable Launch at Login or adjust update preferences.

Evidence

PortlessBar shows your current Portless registrations as URLs. Click one to open it in your default browser.

Source

The switch at the top connects or disconnects the proxy without stopping your development servers.

Source

The app is written in Swift. It reads Portless's state files and process arguments to discover registrations and the proxy configuration.

Source

The current release has been tested with Portless 0.8.0 and 0.15.6.

Source

Install with Homebrew: brew install --cask akshitkrnagpal/tap/portlessbar

Source