# Build brief — a focused alternative to Bartender > **Verdict:** Yes, for personal use · **Buildability:** 90/100 · **Category:** Productivity Utilities > **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/bartender > Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Bartender. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting. ## Context **Bartender** — Hide, reveal, and arrange menu-bar items with user-defined rules. It currently costs Variable pricing. The core loop is small enough for a capable coding agent to produce a useful local version. For Bartender, hide, reveal, and arrange menu-bar items with user-defined rules. The hard boundary is deep macos menu-bar handling, os update compatibility, and polished interaction, plus os integration polish and maintenance. This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Bartender that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest. ## What you are building Hide, reveal, and arrange menu-bar items with user-defined rules, expose keyboard-first controls, and store settings locally. - Build a focused single-user workflow with real persistence, search, and export. - A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states. ## Requirements ### Functional - MacOS 14 or later. - Xcode. - Only the permissions required by the selected feature. ### Non-functional - Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support. - Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle. - Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down. - Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it. ## Implementation brief Build a personal replacement for Bartender in an empty repository. Use Swift 6, SwiftUI, AppKit where necessary, SQLite, and the macOS Keychain; do not offer alternative stacks. The core loop is: hide, reveal, and arrange menu-bar items with user-defined rules, expose keyboard-first controls, and store settings locally. Make the first run work locally with one documented command. Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward. Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials. Create a menu-bar app with a searchable command window and global hotkey. Implement only the primary feature and one settings screen instead of a plugin platform. Request permissions just in time and explain why each is needed before opening System Settings. Store configuration locally, support export or import, and never capture unrelated user content. Add launch-at-login, update-check opt-in, diagnostics export, and a complete uninstall note. Write unit tests for transformation logic and one UI test for the core keyboard workflow. Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states. Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs. Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path. Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps. Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane. Deliberately leave out a third-party extension marketplace. Deliberately leave out cloud accounts and cross-device sync. Deliberately leave out broad automation that executes untrusted scripts. Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used. ## Delivery standard - Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code. - Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data. - Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations. - Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states. - Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data. - Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details. - Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey. - Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations. ## Acceptance criteria - [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example. - [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable. - [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state. - [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control. - [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures. - [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified. ## Non-goals Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them: - Deep macOS menu-bar handling, OS update compatibility, and polished interaction. - Years of OS-version edge cases. - Large extension ecosystem. - Cross-device sync. - The last 20 percent is sync, migration fidelity, speed, and edge cases. ## What you still own after launch - Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates. - Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change. - Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss. ## Risk **Manageable.** A personal version is realistic if you test the critical journey and keep reliable backups. Editorial confidence in this assessment: high. No independent one-shot implementation is linked yet. ## Prior art Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting: - [Espanso](https://github.com/espanso/espanso) — Active open-source cross-platform text expansion utility with system integration --- Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/bartender