Hover

Hover is a local-first macOS menu bar app that opens an AI prompt next to your cursor. Select text anywhere, press Command-Shift-X or triple right-click, choose an action, and send the result back into the app you were using.

Hover supports LM Studio, Ollama, OpenAI, Featherless, and OpenAI-compatible endpoints. It does not require a Hover cloud account.

Screenshots

Why Open Source

Hover sits close to a user's daily Mac workflow, so the code should be inspectable. The repository is open for transparency, review, and contributions.

The paid option is the official DMG distribution: a convenient build, setup guidance, support, and updates. Users can always build from source.

Current Features

• Menu bar macOS app with LSUIElement background behavior.
• Global Command-Shift-X trigger and optional triple right-click trigger.
• Floating cursor-adjacent panel with action presets.
• Explain, rewrite, summarize, reply, translate, fix grammar, and ask modes.
• OpenAI-compatible streaming chat completions.
• LM Studio and Ollama local model detection.
• API keys stored in non-syncing macOS Keychain items.
• Optional screen context, screenshot context, and push-to-talk voice input.
• Copy result, replace selection, and paste to active app.
• First-run onboarding, connection testing, and privacy-safe diagnostics.
• GitHub Releases-backed in-app updates through Sparkle.

Repository Layout

Hover/              macOS app source
Hover.xcodeproj/    Xcode project
docs/               OSS and user documentation
release/            release checklist
scripts/            release scripts

The marketing site is intentionally kept in a separate repository so the app project stays focused.

Build From Source

Requirements:

• macOS 14 or newer
• Xcode 16 or newer
• Swift 5

Steps:

1. Open Hover.xcodeproj in Xcode.
2. Select the Hover scheme.
3. Build and run.
4. Follow the setup guide from the menu bar app.

Command-line typecheck used during development:

swiftc -typecheck -module-cache-path /private/tmp/Hover-ModuleCache -target arm64-apple-macosx14.0 -sdk /Library/Developer/CommandLineTools/SDKs/MacOSX.sdk Hover/HoverApp.swift Hover/AppEnvironment.swift Hover/Controllers/StatusBarController.swift Hover/Models/HoverAction.swift Hover/Services/GlobalTriggerManager.swift Hover/Services/LLMClient.swift Hover/Services/KeychainStore.swift Hover/Services/LocalModelDiscovery.swift Hover/Services/ScreenContextService.swift Hover/Services/SpeechTranscriptionService.swift Hover/ViewModels/SettingsViewModel.swift Hover/Views/SettingsView.swift Hover/Views/VisualEffectView.swift Hover/Windows/FloatingPanel.swift Hover/Views/FloatingContentView.swift

Paid DMG Strategy

Hover does not need the Mac App Store. The official paid DMG is distributed through Dodo Payments, while the public GitHub release feed provides only in-app update assets.

Important distinction:

• Signed and notarized DMG: best user trust, requires Apple Developer Program.
• Unsigned supporter-preview DMG: possible without the Apple Developer Program, but macOS will show Gatekeeper warnings.

See docs/release.md and release/DMG_CHECKLIST.md.

Published GitHub releases include only the Sparkle appcast and update ZIP. The paid installer DMG is distributed separately through the payment provider, while installed copies update from inside Hover.

Marketing site: https://hoverformac.com

Documentation

• Install guide
• Local models
• Providers
• Architecture
• Release process
• Changelog
• Privacy
• Contributing
• Security

License

Code is licensed under GPL-3.0-only. The Hover name, logo, website copy, and official build identity are covered by the trademark policy.