It looks like the Dock
Big icons, only as wide as they need, centred on the bottom edge. Running dots, badges, folder stacks, a Trash that takes a drop.
Overview
Eskele is a minimal macOS dock that can sit on the left, bottom or right edge — and that hides the system Dock while it runs.
It is a dock when you want a dock, and a full-width taskbar with a button per window when you want that instead. Everything below is a setting, not a mode you have to commit to.
It collects nothing and sends nothing about you: zero telemetry, and it goes online only to look for an update when you ask. Privacy spells out exactly what that request carries.
…or like a taskbar
Full width at Small scale, a labelled button for every window with the window’s own title, and your not-running shortcuts tucked into a tray at the leading end.
…or down the side
A full-height column on the left or right edge. Up to five rows — columns, on a side bar — so thirty windows still read.
And it gets out of the way
Auto-hide with a global reveal key, a choice of what to do inside a full-screen space, and reserved screen space so maximised windows stop short of the bar.
Start here
Section titled “Start here”Install and runBuild it, put it in /Applications, and start it at login.
PermissionsWhat each one buys, and why a granted permission sometimes stops working.
Layout and designsEdges, scale, rows, span, alignment, and the three one-click starting points.
Clicks and shortcutsThe modifier grammar, drag and drop, and every global key.
The short version of what it adds
Section titled “The short version of what it adds”| Window awareness | One dash per window, a right-click list with Close on each, per-window buttons in labelled mode, and windows in another Space reached four different ways. |
| A launcher | ⌃Esc from anywhere: Favourites, every app by category, recents, every System Settings pane, and the power actions. Type to filter. |
| Real badges | Whatever macOS is already drawing on a Dock tile, drawn on the bar within two seconds. Plus your own, from a command. |
| Progress | Files landing in a pinned folder, the position of a track in Music, Spotify or VLC, or anything you can write a command for. |
| Activity | Hold ⇧⌥ and every running app reports processor and memory, helper processes counted in. |
| Multi-display | The same bar everywhere, one bar per display showing only that display’s windows, or the main display alone. |
What it does not do
Section titled “What it does not do”- It is not sandboxed, and cannot be while it controls the Dock — so it will never be on the Mac App Store.
- It cannot reserve space inside a native full-screen space. macOS reserves nothing there but the menu bar.
- It cannot see a Dock icon bouncing. It highlights the dialogs that usually accompany one instead.
- Releases run on Apple silicon only for now.
Conventions in these docs
Section titled “Conventions in these docs”Menu paths are written the way macOS writes them: Settings ▸ Appearance ▸ Material. Anything in
monospace is a literal — a path, a file, a command. Key names use the standard symbols:
⌘ command, ⌥ option, ⌃ control, ⇧ shift.