Stapler: I remade a 32 year old classic Macintosh app
Matt Sephton has modernized the classic Macintosh app Stapler, enabling users to launch related applications and files with features like drag-and-drop and zero-click auto-launch, designed for macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
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Matt Sephton has developed a modern version of the classic Macintosh app Stapler, originally released in 1992. Inspired by both Stapler and its successor LaunchList, the new app allows users to collect and launch related applications, files, and folders for specific tasks, enhancing workflow efficiency. Unlike its predecessors, this version includes features such as drag-and-drop functionality and zero-click auto-launch, while maintaining a simple interface without preferences or settings. Users can create a Stapler Document for each project, which contains a list of aliases that can be launched simultaneously. The app is built using Swift and SwiftUI, and it is designed to run on macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Sephton acknowledges the challenges of modern macOS development, particularly regarding file permissions and security protocols. He expresses a desire for a better app icon and thanks collaborators who contributed to the project. The app aims to revive a task-based approach to computing, reminiscent of older operating systems, while also addressing contemporary user needs.
- Matt Sephton has recreated the classic Macintosh app Stapler for modern macOS.
- The new app allows users to launch multiple related applications and files simultaneously.
- It features drag-and-drop functionality and zero-click auto-launch.
- The app is built with Swift and SwiftUI and requires macOS 14 Sonoma or later.
- Sephton seeks improvements for the app's icon and acknowledges the complexities of modern macOS development.
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- Users express frustration with current task-based interfaces, preferring a more integrated approach to managing multiple applications.
- There are requests for features like window positioning and workspace management to enhance productivity.
- Some commenters question whether similar functionality can be achieved using existing macOS tools like Shortcuts or Automator.
- Interest in the motivations behind the development of such side projects, including personal satisfaction and skill development.
- Comparisons are made to other applications with similar functionalities, indicating a desire for more streamlined solutions.
15 commentsIt still feels nuts to me that we have all this stuff and yet when entering/exiting 'work mode' I have to either leave everything running indefinitely or reposition all my work apps every time I launch them.
If I've one frustration with computer interfaces, dating back to the 1990s, it's this. If anything it's become worse with time as apps, both desktop and mobile though especially the latter, become more self-centric, to the point of having their own, non-filesystem-based, data silos. I understand some of the security reasons for this (apps are themselves increasingly untrusted and untrustworthy, and data-sharing is a significant risk). But it is extraordinarily frustrating when trying to work with multiple tools.
Modern MacOS is particularly pernicious in that I'm often working between multiple applications, but on the same project, and the friction of raising and lowering all app-associated windows as I cycle between these, often navigating to a workspace I'd not meant to go to, is quietly maddening.
The Linux / X-Windows notion of focus-follows-mouse addresses this somewhat. Your current app is whatever the mouse happens to be on top of. On MacOS this simply isn't available, though there are some ... hints of this. E.g., if I happen to have the mouse over a browser window I can scroll that window with the mouse. But if I then, say, hit Cmd-W to close that tab ... suddenly the actually focused app which I'd forgetten about gets a kick in its nethers. This happens to me several times a week, if not per day.
I don't know that Stapler is the true solution to this, but it does seem to track in that direction.
Thanks for filling in the gaps for all of us who don’t just use one app at a time!
[1]: https://bunchapp.co/
I've had a desire for something like this (windows/linux) -- what would be cool is if it knew the window size and layouts?
So you could do a launch group that will do the whole desktops workspace - and can be saved (but also has a reset button to snap back to the layout if you mix things up. Support for a second desktop to launch then to - so you can throw one context cluster on each...)
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Weren't you the one who lost all their archive content? What was the timeline with all of that?
Can we make it more like Stapler?
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