The temporary workspace your Mac deserves.
A free menu-bar app that auto-captures your clipboard, summons a shelf at your cursor, puts music and files in your notch, turns screenshots into text, and snaps and previews your windows — without the clutter.
- Notarized by Apple
- 100% on-device
- Source-available
- No subscription
- — downloads
FlowShelf in 60 seconds — turn the sound on.
One app. Everything you juggle all day.
The shelf is just the start — FlowShelf folds a whole stack of Mac utilities into one lightweight, private menu-bar app.
Everything you copy, in one place
Copies, screenshots, files and links land on a self-cleaning shelf — reach it from the menu bar, the floating shelf or the notch. Click to copy it back, drag it out, pin what matters, or select several items at once. It clears itself after 24 hours, and passwords are never recorded.
A shelf that comes to your cursor
Press ⌘⇧S — or give your mouse a shake mid-drag — and a glass shelf opens right under your pointer. Drop files in, carry them between apps, and drag them out exactly where you need them.
Your notch, finally useful
Music shows up in the notch with album art and live audio bars. Click it for a mini player, switch to AirPods from the Sound Output list, or drop files on the shelf inside. Volume, brightness and charging appear there too. No notch? You get a matching pill.
Snap windows with a keystroke
Hold ⌃⌥ and press an arrow for halves, U I J K for quarters, Return to maximize or C to center. Two keystrokes and your windows sit side by side.
Preview windows without clicking
Hover a Dock icon for live previews of every window. Jump straight to the one you want, or close and minimize windows right from the preview.
Switch windows, not just apps
Hold ⌥ and tap Tab to see every window, live. ⇧ goes back, let go to jump — as thumbnails or a compact list.
Reusable text, one click away
Save signatures, addresses and canned replies once, find them by title or keyword, and copy them from the dashboard or straight from the menu-bar icon.
A full screenshot toolkit, built in
Press ⌘⇧7 to grab a region straight onto your shelf, then mark it up with arrows, boxes, numbered steps, text, a highlighter and blur. Add a gradient backdrop, pin it above everything, scan a QR code — or press ⌘⇧O to copy the text out of anything.
Private AI that never leaves your Mac
Find things by meaning, summarize, rewrite, translate, or ask a question about everything on your shelf — powered by Apple’s on-device models. No accounts, no cloud, and it only runs when you ask.
Uninstall apps completely
Drag an app in and FlowShelf finds its leftovers, scores every match and moves it all to the Trash — so Put Back still works. A cleanup report lands on your shelf, including anything it couldn’t remove.
One app, instead of five.
FlowShelf does what you actually used these popular Mac apps for — in one free, private menu-bar app.
| What you’d reach for | Typical price | FlowShelf |
|---|---|---|
| Paste / Maccy clipboard & shelf | $29.99/yr | ✓ Included |
| Magnet window snapping | $4.99 | ✓ Included |
| AltTab window switcher | Free | ✓ Included |
| CleanShot X screenshots & annotate | $29 | ✓ Included |
| AppCleaner uninstaller | Free | ✓ Included |
| … plus snippets, a notch shelf & on-device AI | $60+/yr value | Free |
Easy installation.
Drag, drop, and you're good to go.
FlowShelf
- 1Open the branded installer
Double-click the
.dmgfile. - 2Drag to Applications
Install FlowShelf like any native Mac app.
- 3Launch & Go
FlowShelf is ready. No setup. No signup.
FlowShelf is Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple. Its polished drag-to-install window opens normally on macOS.
Privacy First
Your data stays on your Mac.
Native Performance
Built with Swift — native and light on memory.
Apple Silicon + Intel
All modern Macs.
No Subscription
Free, yours forever.
Built in the open.
FlowShelf's source is public. Read every line, verify the privacy claims for yourself, and open a pull request — no black boxes, no hidden network calls.
Made by one person, not a corporation.
Hi, I'm Mahin Kadery — a solo developer. I built FlowShelf because I was tired of running five separate apps (and paying five subscriptions) for the little things a Mac should just do. No investors, no growth team, no data collection — just an app I use every day and keep improving. If something breaks, the person reading your bug report is the person who wrote the code.
Loved by people who hate clutter.
Real reviews from FlowShelf users — no account needed to read or leave one.
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Reclaim your Mac's clutter.
Free, native, and yours forever. macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel.
- ✓ Signed & notarized by Apple (Developer ID)
- ✓ Source-available — read the code
- ✓ 100% on-device — no account, no tracking, no servers
The button copies: brew install --cask mahinkadery/tap/flowshelf
Verify your download (SHA-256)
Every release ships with its checksum in the release notes. Current version 1.7.0:
f3cbe581fe13cc115717e30b3827ae7e8c46c742539486a86bff80283ab554fd
In Terminal, run shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/FlowShelf.dmg — the output must match exactly.
Questions & answers
Everything you need before your first launch.
Is FlowShelf really free?
Yes. FlowShelf is free and source-available, with no subscription and no account required. Download it once and it's yours.
Can FlowShelf turn a screenshot into text (OCR)?
Yes. Press ⌘⇧O to select any region of your screen and FlowShelf extracts the text straight to your Shelf and clipboard. Press ⌘⇧7 for a plain region screenshot.
What is the floating shake-to-summon shelf?
Press ⌘⇧S (or shake your cursor, once you turn that on in Settings) and a floating glass shelf appears right at your pointer, so you can drop and grab items without leaving what you're doing. You can also use the menu-bar popover or the dashboard.
Does FlowShelf have a private mode?
Yes. Private mode pauses clipboard capture whenever you want, so sensitive copies never land on your Shelf.
How do updates work, and why do my permissions persist?
FlowShelf checks for updates daily and installs them with Sparkle, the standard macOS auto-updater. Version 1.3.4 and later use the same Apple Developer ID identity, helping Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions persist across future updates.
Is FlowShelf signed and notarized by Apple?
Yes. FlowShelf is Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple, so the app opens normally on macOS.
Where is my data stored?
Everything stays on your Mac. FlowShelf has no servers and no tracking — your clipboard, screenshots, files, links, and text never leave your device.
How does auto-delete work?
Shelf items expire automatically after 24 hours to keep today's workspace light. Pin anything you want to keep, or clear items manually whenever you like.
Which Macs are supported?
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, as a universal binary for both Apple Silicon and Intel.
How is FlowShelf different from Yoink, Dropover, or a clipboard manager?
FlowShelf combines a drag-and-drop shelf, automatic clipboard capture, screenshot OCR, and live window previews in one private menu-bar app — and it auto-cleans daily so it never becomes clutter. It's free and source-available.
