A widget-first sticky note application for macOS. Each note lives in a frameless, always-on-top NSPanel that floats above all other windows and remains visible across all Spaces.
The application runs exclusively from the menu bar (LSUIElement = YES). There is no Dock icon and no entry in the application switcher.
| Menu Bar Popover | Frameless Floating Note Panel |
|---|---|
 |
 |
- LSUIElement architecture — the application activates only transiently when a panel or popover receives focus; no persistent Dock presence or main window
- Frameless floating panels — borderless
NSPanelwindows at.floatingwindow level, visible across all Spaces via.canJoinAllSpaces - Physical paper appearance — pastel note surfaces (yellow, white, blue, green, pink) are locked to a forced-light rendering profile regardless of system Dark Mode;
NSVisualEffectViewis pinned to the Aqua appearance so the vibrancy blur is always a clean, bright frost, and all text uses hard-coded dark ink values - Edge-drag resize — custom
ResizeHandleViewstrips at all four edges handle the full drag lifecycle with a four-layer event-routing system that prevents AppKit's internal resize machinery from interfering; S / M / L preset buttons snap to named dimensions - Enforced minimum size — panels cannot be dragged below 240×180 pt, the floor at which the bottom toolbar chrome (color swatches + size buttons) is guaranteed to fit without clipping
- Debounced auto-save — edits commit 500 ms after the last keystroke via SwiftUI's
task(id:)cancellation mechanism; a synchronous save fires on panel close - Session restore — pinned panels reopen at their saved position and size on next launch via per-note
NSWindowframe autosave keys - WidgetKit integration — notes promoted to a widget slot are written to a shared App Group
UserDefaultsstore and trigger an immediateWidgetCentertimeline reload on every save - Color tags — five tints composited over a forced-light
NSVisualEffectViewfrosted-glass material
| Preset | Width | Height |
|---|---|---|
| S | 240 pt | 240 pt |
| M | 400 pt | 240 pt |
| L | 400 pt | 440 pt |
| Minimum | 240 pt | 180 pt |
The minimum width (240 pt) matches the S preset width and is the enforced floor for both NSPanel.minSize and the drag clamp in ResizeHandleView.mouseDragged.
| Minimum | |
|---|---|
| macOS | 14.0 Sonoma |
| Xcode | 15.0 |
| Swift | 5.9 |
A free Apple ID is sufficient for local development. The ModelContainer factory resolves the store path from the App Group container when available and falls back to ~/Library/Application Support/GlanceNote/ for Personal Team builds. Widget data sharing requires a paid Apple Developer Program membership with an App Group entitlement.
GlanceNote/
├── GlanceNote/
│ ├── App/
│ │ └── GlanceNoteApp.swift # Entry point; AppDelegate; pinned-panel restore
│ ├── Model/
│ │ └── Note.swift # SwiftData schema; ModelContainer factory
│ ├── Shared/
│ │ └── NoteCardView.swift # Note surface — panel and widget preview
│ ├── macOS/
│ │ ├── MenuBarController.swift # NSStatusItem; note-list popover
│ │ ├── NotePanel.swift # NSPanel subclass; ResizeHandleView; PanelContainerView
│ │ └── PanelRegistry.swift # UUID → NotePanelController registry; open / close / restore
│ └── Resources/
│ ├── Info.plist # LSUIElement = YES
│ ├── GlanceNote.entitlements
│ ├── popover_view.png # Screenshot — menu bar popover
│ └── floating_panel.png # Screenshot — floating note panel
├── GlanceNoteWidget/
│ └── GlanceNoteWidget.swift # TimelineProvider; systemSmall / Medium / Large families
├── SharedKit/
│ └── SharedDataClient.swift # App Group UserDefaults bridge; NoteSnapshot; NoteColor
├── ARCHITECTURE.md # Full subsystem design document
└── CHANGELOG.md # Revision history
Note (SwiftData)
│ commitSave() — debounced 500 ms, immediate on color change or panel close
▼
SharedDataClient.write(snapshots:)
│ JSON-encodes top-N NoteSnapshot values to UserDefaults(suiteName:)
│ calls WidgetCenter.shared.reloadAllTimelines()
▼
GlanceNoteWidget — TimelineProvider
│ reads NoteSnapshot array from shared UserDefaults
▼
Widget surface (Notification Center)
NotePanel (NSPanel)
└── PanelContainerView ← hit-test gate; routes edge events to handles
├── NSHostingView ← SwiftUI tree: PanelChromeView → NoteCardView
└── ResizeHandleView × 4 ← per-edge drag strips; own the full drag lifecycle
AppKit hit-test isolation is enforced through four coordinated layers:
| Layer | Location | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | NotePanel.mouseDown(with:) |
Swallows edge-zone events that bypass hitTest due to floating-point rounding; forwards interior events to super so window dragging is unaffected |
| 2 | PanelContainerView.hitTest(_:) |
Returns ResizeHandleView unconditionally for edge-zone hits; returns nil for unmatched edge points; normal result for interior |
| 3 | ResizeHandleView mouse handlers |
mouseDown, mouseDragged, mouseUp each complete without calling super, preventing AppKit's .resizable subsystem from co-opting any part of the drag sequence |
| 4 | PanelChromeView hover detector |
Inset by edgeHandleThickness (6 pt) so SwiftUI's NSTrackingArea never activates from edge-zone cursor movement |
See ARCHITECTURE.md for a complete breakdown of all subsystems.
- Open
GlanceNote.xcodeprojin Xcode. - Select the
GlanceNotescheme. - In Signing & Capabilities, set your development team on both the
GlanceNoteandGlanceNoteWidgettargets. - Build and run (
Cmd+R).
The application does not open any window on launch. Look for the note icon in the menu bar.
To enable widget data sharing: add an App Group identifier (group.com.yourteam.glancenote) to both targets under Signing & Capabilities, then update AppGroup.suiteName in SharedKit/SharedDataClient.swift to match.
Gatekeeper (distribution builds): if running a build not signed with a Developer ID, right-click the application bundle in Finder and select Open to bypass the initial quarantine prompt.
MIT