Aetower

Aetower is a macOS performance and runtime observability app for operators, developers, and local AI agents. It combines process pressure, memory, wakeups, energy friction, history, diagnostics, and optional app integrations into one local control surface.

Release status

Aetower is currently a Developer Preview.

This means:

• the app is intended for technical users who understand macOS permissions and local observability tooling
• the default build does not require the optional Endpoint Security helper
• public builds should be Developer ID signed, notarized, and distributed through the direct-download release pipeline
• data collection is local by default; optional exports must be explicitly configured

Do not present Developer Preview builds as production-ready or App Store-ready.

What Aetower does

• Monitors host pressure, process groups, wakeups, memory, CPU, disk, network, GPU-related signals, and friction trends.
• Persists local history for incident reconstruction and before/after comparisons.
• Exposes a local read-only MCP server so AI coding agents can inspect live Aetower data without starting a second collection engine.
• Integrates optionally with Chau7, Chromium-compatible debug endpoints, Docker, local OTLP/HTTP metrics collectors, and an advanced signed helper.
• Provides diagnostics, support-bundle previews, runtime lag checks, and process action planning.

Install and first run

Latest Developer Preview: 0.51 build 418.

Download the release from GitHub Releases. The release pipeline now produces a signed/notarized drag-and-drop DMG, installer PKG, Sparkle ZIP, matching source archive, Homebrew cask artifact, Sparkle appcast, third-party notices, and checksums.

Canonical Sparkle update metadata is configured for:

https://aetower.dev/releases/appcast.xml

Until aetower.dev DNS is fully active, the deployed release payload is also available from the Cloudflare Pages project URL:

https://aetower-dev.pages.dev/releases/appcast.xml

For Developer Preview builds:

1. Download the signed and notarized Aetower.dmg.
2. Open it and drag Aetower.app to Applications.
3. Launch Aetower.
4. Open Settings -> Setup and complete the readiness checklist.

See Getting Started for the first-run flow. See Download Aetower Developer Preview for the public download-page copy, privacy summary, update expectations, and support/reset guidance.

Local development

Install local hooks once:

sh scripts/install-hooks.sh

Run the same gates manually:

sh scripts/ci-local.sh --mode pre-commit
sh scripts/ci-local.sh --mode pre-push
sh scripts/ci-local.sh --mode full

Package a local app:

sh scripts/package-macos.sh

Cut a signed Developer Preview release:

sh scripts/release-public-preview.sh

Release configuration is documented in Direct Download Release. Public-preview verification is documented in Public Preview Validation. Brand asset import is documented in Brand Assets. Cloudflare Pages hosting is documented in Cloudflare Release Hosting. Homebrew cask publishing is documented in Homebrew Release.

Privacy and safety

Aetower observes local system and process metadata. Review Privacy before sharing builds publicly.

Review Known Limitations before publishing or installing Developer Preview builds outside your own machine.

The default direct-download build excludes the optional privileged Endpoint Security helper. Keep that default for Developer Preview distribution unless you are shipping a separately approved enterprise build.

Security

Report vulnerabilities through the process in Security.

License

Aetower is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 only (AGPL-3.0-only). See License.

Copyright (C) 2026 Aetower contributors.

Public binary releases should be paired with the corresponding source archive for that exact version and build.