Keep all system icons visible and click Spotlight properly

The spacer boundary cut off Now Playing and the input source, which
should stay like Wi-Fi, so move it left of every Apple item. Spotlight's
status item ignores the accessibility press action, so click it at its
real position instead.

💘 Generated with Crush

Assisted-by: Crush:deepseek-v4.1-flash

AGENTS.md

@@ -134,12 +134,20 @@ preferred position controls where the hidden/kept boundary lands:
 - Verified with `--diag-hide` across positions 100–400. Below ~200 Wi-Fi gets
   hidden too; above ~300 app icons (Now Playing, TextInput) leak back.
 - `debug.spacerPos` (Double) overrides the seed for tuning without rebuilding.
-- Pressing a tray tile calls `MenuBarItemManager.press` (`kAXPressAction`, then
-  `kAXShowMenuAction`). Because a hidden item sits off-screen, its menu would
-  open off-screen; `AppDelegate` therefore calls `MenuBarHider.suspend()`
-  (`popoverWillShow`) to reveal items while the panel is open and `resume()`
-  0.6s after `popoverDidClose`. `suspend`/`resume` do not change the user's
-  `enabled` preference.
+- Pressing a tray tile calls `MenuBarItemManager.press`. A hidden item sits
+  off-screen, and its menu opens off-screen too (verified with `--diag-press`:
+  the menu window lands at negative x). So press briefly `suspend()`s the hider,
+  waits ~0.2s for the layout to settle, performs the accessibility action
+  (`kAXPressAction`, then `kAXShowMenuAction`), and `resume()`s ~0.1s later. The
+  menu is its own window anchored at the item's on-screen spot, so it survives
+  re-hiding.
+- `press` first calls `onWillPress`, which `AppDelegate` wires to close the
+  popover **and** `NSApp.deactivate()`. Closing alone left our app frontmost, so
+  transient items (Spotlight's search field) still would not appear.
+- **Cannot reveal a single icon.** The spacer hides a contiguous block to its
+  left, so a press can only reveal the whole block. Isolating one item would
+  need either per-item ordering control (not available) or covering the icons
+  with an overlay window instead of moving them off-screen.
 - **Order matters**: `AppDelegate` must call `setupStatusItem()` *before*
   `MenuBarHider.shared.prepare()`. If the hider contracts the bar first, the
   hamburger is created into the collapsed space and lands off-screen.

README.md

@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ collects every other app's menu bar (tray) icons, plus every app running on your
 Mac, into three sections:
 
 - **Menu Bar** — a tray of all other apps' menu bar items, discovered through
-  the Accessibility API. Click one to open its real menu. Optionally **hide the
-  items from the menu bar** so they only live inside this panel (best-effort;
-  see below).
+  the Accessibility API. It is split into **Apps** and **System** sections.
+  Click one to open its real menu. Optionally **hide the items from the menu
+  bar** so they only live inside this panel (best-effort; see below).
 - **Apps** — regular apps that live in the Dock.
 - **Background Apps** — accessory/agent apps without a Dock icon. This section
   is a **dropdown**: it stays collapsed to a single header, and when you expand

Sources/SimpleTopBar/App.swift

@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ struct SimpleTopBarApp: App {
 /// full menu bar, a brand new item lands under the notch and is invisible;
 /// writing `NSStatusItem Preferred Position <name>` into defaults puts it in a
 /// visible slot, and the autosave name lets the user's own drag persist.
-final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSPopoverDelegate {
+final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
     private var statusItem: NSStatusItem?
     private var popover: NSPopover?
 
@@ -48,6 +48,27 @@ final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSPopoverDelegate {
         setupStatusItem()
         MenuBarHider.shared.prepare()
 
+        if CommandLine.arguments.contains("--diag-press") {
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2.0) {
+                MenuBarHider.shared.suspend()
+            }
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2.25) {
+                if let item = MenuBarItemManager.enumerate().first(where: {
+                    $0.title.lowercased().contains("wireguard")
+                }) {
+                    NSLog("diag-press: pressing \(item.appName) after brief reveal")
+                    _ = AXUIElementPerformAction(item.element, kAXPressAction as CFString)
+                }
+            }
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2.45) {
+                MenuBarHider.shared.resume()
+            }
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 4.5) {
+                dumpWindows()
+            }
+            return
+        }
+
         if CommandLine.arguments.contains("--diag") {
             DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 2.5) {
                 dumpMenuBarItems()
@@ -103,7 +124,6 @@ final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSPopoverDelegate {
         let popover = NSPopover()
         popover.behavior = .transient
         popover.animates = false
-        popover.delegate = self
         popover.contentViewController = NSHostingController(
             rootView: TopBarView(
                 model: AppListModel.shared,
@@ -112,19 +132,18 @@ final class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSPopoverDelegate {
             )
         )
         self.popover = popover
-    }
 
-    // Reveal the hidden menu bar items while the panel is open so pressing a
-    // tray icon opens that app's menu at its real, on-screen position.
-    func popoverWillShow(_ notification: Notification) {
-        MenuBarHider.shared.suspend()
-    }
-
-    func popoverDidClose(_ notification: Notification) {
-        // Small delay so a menu just opened from a tray tile is fully on screen
-        // before the bar contracts again.
-        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.6) {
-            MenuBarHider.shared.resume()
+        // Selecting a tray item must dismiss our panel and give up focus,
+        // otherwise the panel stays on top of the menu and our app stays
+        // frontmost, which stops transient items (Spotlight's search field)
+        // from appearing at all.
+        Task { @MainActor [weak self] in
+            MenuBarItemManager.shared.onWillPress = {
+                self?.popover?.performClose(nil)
+                DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.05) {
+                    NSApp.deactivate()
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
 

Sources/SimpleTopBar/MenuBarItems.swift

@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ struct MenuBarItem: Identifiable, Equatable {
     let appName: String
     let title: String
     let icon: NSImage
+    /// True for Apple's own items (Control Center, Spotlight, …).
+    let isSystem: Bool
+    /// Frame in Accessibility coordinates (origin top-left of the main screen).
+    let frame: CGRect?
     let element: AXUIElement
 
     static func == (lhs: MenuBarItem, rhs: MenuBarItem) -> Bool {
@@ -28,6 +32,9 @@ final class MenuBarItemManager: ObservableObject {
 
     private var observers: [NSObjectProtocol] = []
 
+    /// Called just before pressing an item so the owner can close its panel.
+    var onWillPress: (() -> Void)?
+
     private init() {}
 
     func start() {
@@ -70,10 +77,11 @@ final class MenuBarItemManager: ObservableObject {
 
             var seenTitles = Set<String>()
             for (index, child) in children.enumerated() {
+                let position = pointAttribute(child, kAXPositionAttribute)
                 // Control Center reports every module it owns, including the
                 // ones not in the menu bar, which are parked off-screen around
                 // y=982. Keep only items actually sitting in the bar.
-                if let position = pointAttribute(child, kAXPositionAttribute), position.y > 60 {
+                if let position, position.y > 60 {
                     continue
                 }
 
@@ -85,12 +93,22 @@ final class MenuBarItemManager: ObservableObject {
                 // "Control Center"; show each distinct title once per app.
                 if !seenTitles.insert(title).inserted { continue }
 
+                let size = sizeAttribute(child, kAXSizeAttribute)
+                let frame: CGRect?
+                if let position, let size {
+                    frame = CGRect(origin: position, size: size)
+                } else {
+                    frame = nil
+                }
+
                 found.append(MenuBarItem(
                     id: "\(pid)-\(index)",
                     pid: pid,
                     appName: app.localizedName ?? app.bundleIdentifier ?? "Unknown",
                     title: title,
                     icon: Self.icon(forTitle: title, app: app),
+                    isSystem: Self.isSystemBundle(app.bundleIdentifier),
+                    frame: frame,
                     element: child
                 ))
             }
@@ -103,16 +121,66 @@ final class MenuBarItemManager: ObservableObject {
         }
     }
 
-    /// Opens the real menu bar item by pressing its accessibility element, so
-    /// its menu/popover appears at its true screen location.
-    @discardableResult
-    func press(_ item: MenuBarItem) -> Bool {
+    /// Opens the real menu bar item, so its menu/popover appears.
+    ///
+    /// A hidden item sits off-screen, and its menu would open off-screen too.
+    /// So briefly reveal the items, let the layout settle, press the item, then
+    /// hide again shortly after. The reveal is momentary rather than lasting the
+    /// whole time the panel is open.
+    func press(_ item: MenuBarItem) {
+        // Close our own panel first, otherwise it stays open on top of the
+        // menu that is about to appear (and can leave menus behind it).
+        onWillPress?()
+
+        let hider = MenuBarHider.shared
+        let needsReveal = hider.isHiding
+        guard needsReveal else {
+            _ = performPress(item)
+            return
+        }
+        hider.suspend()
+        DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.25) {
+            _ = self.performPress(item)
+            // The menu is its own window, positioned at the item's on-screen
+            // spot, so the bar can be re-hidden shortly after.
+            DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.4) {
+                hider.resume()
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private func performPress(_ item: MenuBarItem) -> Bool {
+        // Spotlight's status item accepts the accessibility press action but
+        // does nothing with it; it needs a genuine click.
+        if item.appName.lowercased().contains("spotlight"), let frame = item.frame {
+            postClick(at: CGPoint(x: frame.midX, y: frame.midY))
+            return true
+        }
         if AXUIElementPerformAction(item.element, kAXPressAction as CFString) == .success {
             return true
         }
         return AXUIElementPerformAction(item.element, kAXShowMenuAction as CFString) == .success
     }
 
+    /// Posts a real left click at a point in Accessibility/global coordinates.
+    private func postClick(at point: CGPoint) {
+        let source = CGEventSource(stateID: .hidSystemState)
+        let down = CGEvent(mouseEventSource: source, mouseType: .leftMouseDown, mouseCursorPosition: point, mouseButton: .left)
+        let up = CGEvent(mouseEventSource: source, mouseType: .leftMouseUp, mouseCursorPosition: point, mouseButton: .left)
+        down?.post(tap: .cghidEventTap)
+        up?.post(tap: .cghidEventTap)
+    }
+
+    // MARK: - Classification
+
+    /// Apple's own menu bar items (Control Center, Spotlight, the input-source
+    /// agent, …) live under `com.apple.*` bundles; everything else is a third
+    /// party app.
+    nonisolated static func isSystemBundle(_ bundleID: String?) -> Bool {
+        guard let bundleID else { return false }
+        return bundleID.hasPrefix("com.apple.")
+    }
+
     // MARK: - Icons
 
     /// Picks an icon for a menu bar item. Control Center owns many unrelated
@@ -194,6 +262,16 @@ final class MenuBarItemManager: ObservableObject {
         guard AXValueGetValue(value as! AXValue, .cgPoint, &point) else { return nil }
         return point
     }
+
+    nonisolated static func sizeAttribute(_ element: AXUIElement, _ attribute: String) -> CGSize? {
+        var value: CFTypeRef?
+        guard AXUIElementCopyAttributeValue(element, attribute as CFString, &value) == .success,
+              let value,
+              CFGetTypeID(value) == AXValueGetTypeID() else { return nil }
+        var size = CGSize.zero
+        guard AXValueGetValue(value as! AXValue, .cgSize, &size) else { return nil }
+        return size
+    }
 }
 
 /// Best-effort menu bar item hiding. A zero-width spacer status item is created
@@ -238,7 +316,7 @@ final class MenuBarHider: ObservableObject {
         if let override = UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: "debug.spacerPos") as? Double {
             UserDefaults.standard.set(override, forKey: key)
         } else if UserDefaults.standard.object(forKey: key) == nil {
-            UserDefaults.standard.set(250.0, forKey: key)
+            UserDefaults.standard.set(350.0, forKey: key)
         }
         let item = NSStatusBar.system.statusItem(withLength: 0)
         item.autosaveName = name

Sources/SimpleTopBar/SelfTest.swift

@@ -1,5 +1,28 @@
 import AppKit
 import ApplicationServices
+import CoreGraphics
+
+/// Diagnostic used by `open SimpleTopBar.app --args --diag-press`. Presses a
+/// hidden item's accessibility element without revealing it and dumps the
+/// resulting high-level windows, to see where its menu actually opens.
+func dumpWindows() {
+    var lines: [String] = []
+    if let list = CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo([], kCGNullWindowID) as? [[String: Any]] {
+        for window in list {
+            let layer = window[kCGWindowLayer as String] as? Int ?? -1
+            guard layer > 20 else { continue }
+            let owner = window[kCGWindowOwnerName as String] as? String ?? "?"
+            let bounds = window[kCGWindowBounds as String] as? [String: Any] ?? [:]
+            let x = bounds["X"] as? Double ?? 0
+            let y = bounds["Y"] as? Double ?? 0
+            let width = bounds["Width"] as? Double ?? 0
+            let height = bounds["Height"] as? Double ?? 0
+            lines.append("\(owner) layer=\(layer) frame=\(Int(x)),\(Int(y)) \(Int(width))x\(Int(height))")
+        }
+    }
+    try? lines.joined(separator: "\n").write(toFile: "/tmp/simpletopbar-windows.txt", atomically: true, encoding: .utf8)
+    exit(0)
+}
 
 /// Diagnostic used by `open SimpleTopBar.app --args --dump-items`. Writes the
 /// live Accessibility view of the menu bar to /tmp so it can be inspected
@@ -12,7 +35,7 @@ func dumpMenuBarItems() {
     lines.append("count=\(items.count)")
     for item in items {
         let pos = MenuBarItemManager.pointAttribute(item.element, kAXPositionAttribute)
-        lines.append("\(item.appName) | \(item.title) | pid=\(item.pid) | id=\(item.id) | pos=\(pos.map { "\(Int($0.x)),\(Int($0.y))" } ?? "?")")
+        lines.append("\(item.appName) | \(item.title) | pid=\(item.pid) | id=\(item.id) | system=\(item.isSystem) | pos=\(pos.map { "\(Int($0.x)),\(Int($0.y))" } ?? "?")")
     }
     let own = MenuBarItemManager.enumerate(includeOwn: true).filter {
         $0.pid == ProcessInfo.processInfo.processIdentifier
@@ -80,9 +103,9 @@ func runSelfTest() {
     check(MenuBarItemManager.children(of: systemWide) == nil, "no children on a non-app element")
 
     let element = AXUIElementCreateSystemWide()
-    let first = MenuBarItem(id: "1-0", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), element: element)
-    let same = MenuBarItem(id: "1-0", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), element: element)
-    let different = MenuBarItem(id: "1-1", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), element: element)
+    let first = MenuBarItem(id: "1-0", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), isSystem: false, frame: nil, element: element)
+    let same = MenuBarItem(id: "1-0", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), isSystem: false, frame: nil, element: element)
+    let different = MenuBarItem(id: "1-1", pid: 1, appName: "A", title: "T", icon: NSImage(), isSystem: false, frame: nil, element: element)
     check(first == same, "menu bar items compare by id and title")
     check(first != different, "different ids are not equal")
 
@@ -94,6 +117,11 @@ func runSelfTest() {
     check(MenuBarItemManager.symbolName(for: "Search") == "magnifyingglass", "search maps to magnifier symbol")
     check(MenuBarItemManager.symbolName(for: "cmux") == nil, "unknown titles fall back to the app icon")
 
+    // Tray sections: Apple bundles are "system", everything else is an app.
+    check(MenuBarItemManager.isSystemBundle("com.apple.controlcenter"), "apple bundles classify as system")
+    check(!MenuBarItemManager.isSystemBundle("com.cmux.app"), "third-party bundles classify as apps")
+    check(!MenuBarItemManager.isSystemBundle(nil), "unknown bundles are treated as apps")
+
     let authorized = AXIsProcessTrusted()
     print("accessibility authorized=\(authorized)")
     if authorized {

Sources/SimpleTopBar/TopBarView.swift

@@ -60,23 +60,6 @@ struct TopBarView: View {
     /// The hamburger tray: every other app's menu bar item lives here.
     private var menuBarSection: some View {
         VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
-            HStack(spacing: 6) {
-                Text("MENU BAR")
-                    .font(.caption2)
-                    .fontWeight(.semibold)
-                    .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
-                Spacer()
-                Text("\(menuBar.items.count)")
-                    .font(.caption2)
-                    .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
-                    .padding(.horizontal, 6)
-                    .padding(.vertical, 1)
-                    .background(Capsule().fill(Color.secondary.opacity(0.15)))
-            }
-            .padding(.horizontal, 12)
-            .padding(.top, 4)
-            .padding(.bottom, 4)
-
             if !menuBar.authorized {
                 VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 4) {
                     Text("Grant Accessibility to collect and open menu bar items.")
@@ -98,12 +81,9 @@ struct TopBarView: View {
                     .padding(.horizontal, 12)
                     .padding(.vertical, 4)
             } else {
-                LazyVGrid(columns: [GridItem(.adaptive(minimum: 34), spacing: 6)], spacing: 6) {
-                    ForEach(menuBar.items) { item in
-                        MenuBarTile(item: item, menuBar: menuBar)
-                    }
-                }
-                .padding(.horizontal, 12)
+                trayGroup(title: "Apps", items: appTrayItems)
+                Divider().padding(.vertical, 2)
+                trayGroup(title: "System", items: systemTrayItems)
             }
 
             if menuBar.authorized {
@@ -115,7 +95,53 @@ struct TopBarView: View {
                 .controlSize(.mini)
                 .padding(.horizontal, 12)
                 .padding(.top, 6)
-                .help("Best-effort: pushes other apps' icons off the menu bar so they only live here. Apple's Wi-Fi, Spotlight, Clock, Battery and Control Center stay visible; macOS won't let any third-party app move them.")
+                .help("Best-effort: pushes other apps' icons off the menu bar so they only live here. Apple's system items (Wi-Fi, Now Playing, Clock, Battery, Control Center, Spotlight) stay visible; macOS won't let any third-party app move them.")
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// Third-party apps' menu bar icons.
+    private var appTrayItems: [MenuBarItem] {
+        menuBar.items.filter { !$0.isSystem }
+    }
+
+    /// Apple's own menu bar items (Control Center, Spotlight, …).
+    private var systemTrayItems: [MenuBarItem] {
+        menuBar.items.filter { $0.isSystem }
+    }
+
+    private func trayGroup(title: String, items: [MenuBarItem]) -> some View {
+        VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 0) {
+            HStack(spacing: 6) {
+                Text(title.uppercased())
+                    .font(.caption2)
+                    .fontWeight(.semibold)
+                    .foregroundStyle(.secondary)
+                Spacer()
+                Text("\(items.count)")
+                    .font(.caption2)
+                    .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
+                    .padding(.horizontal, 6)
+                    .padding(.vertical, 1)
+                    .background(Capsule().fill(Color.secondary.opacity(0.15)))
+            }
+            .padding(.horizontal, 12)
+            .padding(.top, 4)
+            .padding(.bottom, 4)
+
+            if items.isEmpty {
+                Text("None")
+                    .font(.caption)
+                    .foregroundStyle(.tertiary)
+                    .padding(.horizontal, 12)
+                    .padding(.bottom, 4)
+            } else {
+                LazyVGrid(columns: [GridItem(.adaptive(minimum: 34), spacing: 6)], spacing: 6) {
+                    ForEach(items) { item in
+                        MenuBarTile(item: item, menuBar: menuBar)
+                    }
+                }
+                .padding(.horizontal, 12)
             }
         }
     }

build-app.sh

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 cd "$(dirname "$0")"
 
-VERSION="${1:-0.2.3}"
+VERSION="${1:-0.4.5}"
 
 swift build -c release