Thaw and Ice fixes and features

[holzcloud]

Fixes and features from the other Ice fork, Thaw (GPL-3.0), and from the open pull requests and issues of the original Ice by Jordan Baird. Two phases share this pull request: 05.1.1 Thaw fixes and speed and 05.1.1.1 Thaw features. Code adapted from Thaw is credited in NOTICE (one line per file).

Done — Phase 05.1.1

Plan 05.1.1-01: input, robustness, hardening

• THAW-07 No input path waits on another app: the application menu frame and the menu bar's validity are read off the main thread with a 0.25 s per-element timeout (ApplicationMenuFrames); hit tests, hiding app menus, temporary showing and the overlay read the cache; macOS 27 item bounds asked on the main thread come from the last read.
• THAW-05 A click on empty bar space reveals from cached state; the debug log says how many ms after the click. The double-click part does not apply (holzBar has no double-click option; Option-click picks Always Hidden).
• THAW-03 Event taps rebuild an invalid port and enable after adding their run loop source; a health check runs after wake/unlock/display changes and when Accessibility is granted. Automatic moves back off (60 s doubling to 10 min, adapted from Thaw's MoveCircuitBreaker); Layout pane and Shelf moves always go through. holzBar rests while locked, asleep or switched away and settles 2 s after. The tint and shape stand on every desktop, follow the item list, reveals and macOS 27 concealment, step aside in fullscreen, and come back after sleep and login.
• ICE-01 (Fix macOS 26 (Tahoe) support and harden XPC, config parsing, and logging jordanbaird/Ice#985) Stored hotkeys with an out-of-range key code or unknown modifier bits are ignored instead of trapping; stored colours with the wrong component count are rejected; the logs check fails on a public window title.

Plan 05.1.1-02: identity, menus, Dock icon, URL audit

• THAW-01 Items keep their identity when their titles change (numbers canonicalised, title-changing apps learned and keyed by position, several items of one app kept apart; old stored keys still match). Before macOS 27, sections are saved after the user arranges items and restored through one path on launch, app launch (+ one 2 s re-check) and display settle; profiles, groups, known items and temporary shows match by identity.
• THAW-02 Only real menus delay rehiding (before and on macOS 27). On macOS 27 a click is bridged to the clock only inside the visible bar's rectangle. Settings and the search open without a Dock icon; new setting "Keep the Dock icon hidden" (on by default). Notification Center already followed the click (no fixed timer).
• THAW-08 holzbar://profile/<name> asks before it rearranges the bar (Cancel is the default); every URL command's effect is documented in Integrations/Raycast/README.md.
• ICE-02 #900 was already done (no mouse-down monitor without a click feature). #933: clicks on another app's window above the bar (notch apps) no longer toggle hidden items. #911: failed source-PID lookups are remembered for 30 s and the application menu is found at several points (control items were already recognised directly). #923: a respawned app is not launched twice (the other causes were fixed earlier).

Plan 05.1.1-03: macOS 27 displays and notch, no screenshots, docs

• THAW-04 macOS 27 hover, click and right-click on the display whose bar is not active use the frames MenuBarAgent draws there; holzBar's icon is kept out from under the notch by a transient concealment; folded items come back on a roomier display; the overflow button is bridged like the clock. The spacing parts do not apply to holzBar: one global spacing, applied only by the Apply button, no per-display spacing, no prompt after sleep.
• THAW-06 Nothing drawn over the bar takes a screenshot on macOS 27: the wallpaper beside a shape comes from the desktop picture file (a file watcher instead of a 30 s timer), the search uses the flat colour, and a cover hides the concealed items while a clock click lifts concealment.
• ICE-03 ([macOS 27 / PR #995] An app launched while concealed gets a squashed (3 pt) menu bar item that never recovers jordanbaird/Ice#1007) An app launching into a concealed section is shown until its item exists, so it is not squashed to 3 points.
• ICE-04 (rest of macOS 27 support: remaining gaps on top of #995 jordanbaird/Ice#1001) Hidden items open from the search through ItemClicker27; bundleless items are disabled in the Layout pane with a tooltip; settings without effect are hidden on 27; the wallpaper window is found under WindowManager; a dropped holzBar icon is put back.
• ICE-06 docs/upstream-bugs.md is up to date (#1005, #1007, #974, #968, #988, #959, #979, #961, #976).

README (05.1.1): new rows in "holzBar vs. Ice and Thaw", the feature list, the macOS 27 section and the Screen Recording row.

Done — Phase 05.1.1.1

Plan 05.1.1.1-01: Zen mode, Shortcuts, hotkeys per profile and item, profiles per display or Space

• THAW-10 Zen mode keeps hidden items hidden: hover, empty-bar clicks, scrolling, reveal rules, URL commands and change reveal show nothing; holzBar's icon and the section hotkeys still do. On from a hotkey, holzBar's menu, holzbar://zen/toggle or Shortcuts, and optionally on its own while a display is mirrored or the screen is shared (screen sharing agent and mirror state from notifications; no permission, no polling).
• THAW-15 Shortcuts actions (App Intents): Toggle Zen Mode, Change Section, Apply Layout Profile, Open Menu Bar Item (by name, fuzzy), Search Menu Bar Items, with App Shortcuts. Every layout profile and every menu bar item can have its own hotkey (Hotkeys pane, item context menu); the old hotkey storage is unchanged.
• THAW-11 Profiles can be bound to a display or a Space and apply when the display connects or the Space becomes active (the Space wins); rename and delete keep bindings and hotkeys in step.

Plan 05.1.1.1-02: item hints, keyboard and VoiceOver, rehide, change reveal

• THAW-14 "Open an item by letter": a hotkey shows every item with a letter under the menu bar; typing it opens the item, hidden ones included. Every way of opening an item (Shelf, search, groups, hints, hotkeys, Shortcuts) goes through one path.
• THAW-13 The Layout pane works from the keyboard (focus, arrows, Option-arrows, Command-1/2/3), with undo and redo of moves and of deleting a profile, and VoiceOver actions; the holzBar Shelf opened by its hotkey works with the arrows, Return and Escape.
• THAW-12 Opened items stay up to 30 s after their menu closes (the delay starts when the menu closes, on macOS 27 too); "Open hidden items in the menu bar" off opens them in place without showing them. "Show When It Changes" shows a marked item for 5 s when its title or value changes (at most every 30 s, never in Zen mode; Accessibility notifications, no polling).

Plan 05.1.1.1-03: images and folders, appearance, sync, languages

• THAW-16 Any item can have an image of your choice or its app's icon (Layout pane context menu); without Screen Recording the Shelf and the search show app icons. Groups get a colour and a symbol or image.
• THAW-17 Dashed and dotted borders; tints that follow the wallpaper or the accent colour; the system's glass (macOS 26 and later). Older appearances import unchanged.
• SYNC-01 Settings sync through iCloud Drive or any folder the Macs sync (Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive, Syncthing, a network share), chosen with an open panel and kept as a bookmark; existing iCloud Drive users keep syncing without a question.
• ICE-05 holzBar in English, German (Swiss spelling), French, Italian and Romansh: three String Catalogs (359 strings), AppKit texts through String(localized:), a strings CI job that proves every text has its four translations. macOS's per-app language chooses it. The translations are machine-written and wait for a reader.

README: new comparison rows, selling point "Five languages", feature list, permissions ("A folder you choose"), 338 unit tests, app size 16.5 MB. CI also checks that every language and the App Intents metadata are in the built app.

Before merging (macOS 26 and 27)

05.1.1-01

• Stop a menu bar app (kill -STOP <pid>), then hover, click the menu bar and type for 30 s: the pointer, clicks and keys never stall (kill -CONT afterwards).
• log stream --predicate 'subsystem == "com.holzcloud.holzBar"' --level debug | grep 'after the click' shows about 70 ms or less.
• Lock for a minute and unlock, sleep and wake, unplug and replug a display: no move or capture while locked, items keep their sections, the look is back within about 2 s.
• Launch at login keeps the tint and shape.
• Tint and shape on every desktop, follow an app adding an item, show with the icons, step aside in fullscreen.
• Layout pane drags always move, also right after a "paused" log line.
• defaults write com.holzcloud.holzBar Hotkeys -dict-add ToggleHiddenSection -data 5b39393939392c3235365d, relaunch: ignored without a crash.

05.1.1-02

• macOS 26: an app with a changing title (mail counter, date item, iStat Menus) in Hidden stays there after its title changes, a relaunch, a holzBar restart and a display unplug/replug, and is never moved into the new-items section. Two items of one app keep their sections after a relaunch. A profile applied from the Layout pane moves every item. A Command-drag on the bar is kept after the next app launch.
• With a Dock-preview or floating-window app running, an item opened from the Shelf hides again after its menu closes.
• macOS 27: a click just below the clock over a maximised window, and near the clock in a fullscreen video with the bar hidden, reaches the app; a click on the clock still opens Notification Center at once.
• Settings, the search and revealing items over a crowded bar show no Dock icon; with "Keep the Dock icon hidden" off the application menus hide again (with the icon).
• With boring.notch or another notch app, clicking its controls with show on click on does not toggle hidden items.
• macOS 26 on a notched Mac: a Shelf click on a hidden item opens it on the first try.
• Apply spacing relaunches every app (Spotlight, a respawning helper) once.
• open "holzbar://profile/Work" asks; Cancel (Return or Escape) leaves the bar unchanged.

05.1.1-03

• macOS 27 with two displays: on the display whose bar is not active, hovering and clicking an item does not reveal hidden items, right-clicking holzBar's icon keeps its menu open, another app's item opens its menu there.
• Notched MacBook with a crowded bar: holzBar's icon is visible after launch and after unplugging an external display; moving the bar to a wide external display brings folded items back; » opens while items are concealed.
• macOS 27 with a split or rounded shape and a picture wallpaper: the wallpaper shows beside the shape and nothing lights the recording indicator; a new wallpaper shows within a second.
• Clicking the clock while items are concealed opens Notification Center with no hidden item flashing.
• Launching an app whose section is Hidden: its item is full width when revealed.
• macOS 26: a shape shows the wallpaper beside it without Screen Recording.
• macOS 27: a hidden item opened from the search opens its menu; an item without a bundle identifier is disabled with the tooltip; the five Advanced settings are hidden; the icon stays reachable after ten minutes of concealing.

05.1.1.1-01

• Zen mode from holzBar's menu: hidden items hide; hovering, clicking empty bar space and scrolling reveal nothing, a low-battery or offline rule does not reveal, open holzbar://show/hidden is ignored; holzBar's icon and the section hotkey still show them. The Zen mode hotkey and open holzbar://zen/toggle toggle it; Shortcuts lists "Toggle Zen Mode" and it works.
• "Turn on Zen mode while the screen is mirrored or shared": mirroring a display (or AirPlay) and another Mac sharing this screen turn Zen mode on, ending them turns it off; lsappinfo list | grep -i screensharing during a session lists the sharing agent.
• A profile and an item with a hotkey: the profile applies and the item's menu opens from the keyboard; both survive a relaunch and an export/import.
• Shortcuts lists holzBar's actions; "Apply Layout Profile" lists the profiles; "Change Section", "Open Menu Bar Item" (by name) and "Search Menu Bar Items" work.
• Bind a profile to an external display, unplug and replug it: it applies once; bind one to a Space and switch Spaces: it applies; after a restart the bindings still work.

05.1.1.1-02

• "Open an item by letter": every item shows a letter; typing one opens its menu (hidden ones included), Escape closes; VoiceOver reads "A, Wi-Fi". The Shelf, the search and a group still open items as before.
• macOS 26 Layout pane: Tab to an item (focus ring), arrows, Option-Right moves it one place, Command-2 moves it to Hidden, Command-Z puts it back, Shift-Command-Z redoes; a mouse drop is undone the same way. macOS 27: Option-Right beeps and says why; Command-1/2/3 change its section and undo.
• Delete a profile and press Command-Z: it returns with its binding and hotkey; the bar does not move.
• VoiceOver: layout items read name and section and offer the move actions; Shelf items offer Open and Open Menu. The Shelf opened by its hotkey works with arrows, Return and Escape.
• With the delay at 10 s an item opened from the Shelf stays 10 s after its menu closes; with "Open hidden items in the menu bar" off its menu opens without the item appearing.
• A counter or timer app marked "Show When It Changes" shows for 5 s when its title changes, at most every 30 s, never in Zen mode; note which apps post no change.

05.1.1.1-03

• Choose an image for an item: it shows in the Layout pane, the Shelf, the search and the hints and survives a relaunch; "Use App Icon" and "Reset Image" work. Without Screen Recording (tccutil reset ScreenCapture com.holzcloud.holzBar) the Shelf and the search show app icons. A group with a colour and an image shows them in its icon and panel.
• Border styles Dashed and Dotted at widths 1 and 3; "Follow Wallpaper" follows the wallpaper without the recording indicator; "Use Accent Color" follows a change in System Settings at once; "System Glass" looks like the system's glass; an appearance exported before this PR imports unchanged.
• Settings sync: an existing iCloud Drive sync keeps working after the update without a question; "Change…" to a Nextcloud, Dropbox, OneDrive or Syncthing folder on two Macs: a change on one arrives on the other; "Turn Off" stops it.
• holzBar's language set to Deutsch, Français, Italiano and Rumantsch (System Settings → General → Language & Region → Applications), relaunched: menus, Settings, alerts, the permissions window and Shortcuts actions are translated, nothing is cut off, holzBar and holzBar Shelf stay as they are. A native speaker (or you) reads the machine-written translations, Romansh above all.
• With macOS in English and German as a second language, holzBar stays in English (the app has no en.lproj; English comes from the development region).

Website

Rows for the comparison table on https://holzcloud.ch/holzbar (Ice 0.11.12 / Thaw 3.0 beta / holzBar), all added in this pull request:

Row	Ice 0.11.12	Thaw 3.0 beta	holzBar
Zen mode (also while presenting)	❌	✅	✅
Hotkeys per profile and per item	❌	✅	✅
Shortcuts actions (App Intents)	❌	✅	✅
Profiles bound to a display or a Space	❌	✅	✅
Folders with their own icon and colour; item images of your choice	❌	✅	✅
Dashed and dotted borders, wallpaper, accent and glass tints	❌	✅	✅
Open an item by letter	❌	✅	✅
Layout editor and Shelf from the keyboard, undo, VoiceOver actions	❌	✅	✅
Opened items stay up to 30 s, or open without showing the item	❌	✅	✅
Show an item briefly when it changes	❌	✅	✅ (opt-in per item)
Export and import settings (replaces "Export, import and sync settings")	❌	✅	✅
Settings sync: iCloud Drive or any synced folder	❌	❌	✅
Languages	English	many, through Crowdin	English, German, French, Italian, Romansh
Input never stalls when an app hangs	❌	✅	✅
Items keep their section when an app changes its title	❌	✅	✅
Pauses while the screen is locked, settles after wake	❌	✅	✅
Look on every desktop, follows the icons, steps aside in fullscreen	❌	✅	✅
No screen-recording indicator when showing or hiding (macOS 27)	—	✅	✅
Hover and click on a second display (macOS 27)	—	✅	✅
URL commands that rearrange items ask first	—	—	✅
Validated hotkeys and colours (no crash loop from bad settings)	❌	—	✅

Changed rows: "Settings sync checks for changes" → when the synced folder delivers them, no polling (Thaw: — no sync); "Unit tests run on every change" → 338; "App size" → 16.5 MB. Selling points: "Five languages" (English, German, French, Italian and Romansh); "More features" now names folders, Zen mode, Shortcuts actions and settings sync through any folder. Permissions: "A folder you choose" replaces "iCloud Drive file"; without Screen Recording the Shelf and the search show app icons.

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