AppRing

A radial app switcher for macOS — summon it at your cursor, flick to any app or window.

macOS 上的环形应用切换器 —— 光标处呼出，一瞥即切。

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English

AppRing replaces the linear Cmd+Tab switcher with a radial glass disc that appears exactly where your cursor is. Running apps sit on an orbit in most-recently-used order; hover to aim, release (or click) to jump. For apps with several windows, keep hovering and a CoverFlow-style fan of live window thumbnails blooms outward — pick the exact window you want in one motion.

Features

• Summon anywhere — press Cmd+Tab or a mouse side button; the ring opens at the pointer, not the screen center.
• Default ⌘Tab, zero learning curve — out of the box AppRing takes over the exact same chord as the system switcher, and a quick tap-and-release behaves identically: the previous app is pre-highlighted on summon, so you flip back instantly. Keep the ring open and move the pointer (or press Tab / arrows) to pick any app manually instead.
• Settings — remap the summon shortcut to any chord (⌃⌥Tab, ⇧⌘Space, a bare F8, …) with a built-in recorder, toggle launch at login, and enable/disable the side-button trigger.
• Radial MRU layout — apps are arranged most-recently-used, top = current, then clockwise. The disc scales to fit however many apps you have open.
• Window-level switching — dwell on an app with multiple windows and a fan of real window cards blooms out, each with a live thumbnail, title, and traffic lights. Click one to focus that exact window.
• Instant & fluid — no entry animation; the ring is there the moment you summon it. Hover highlight, halo, and thumbnails are all cached and redrawn only over the region that changed, so the sweep stays at 60fps.
• Full keyboard control — ← → to move, ↑ ↓ into the window fan, Enter to commit, Esc to cancel. Or just use the mouse.
• Menu-bar only — no Dock tile, no window. Lives quietly in the menu bar.

Screenshots

The ring at your cursor	Window fan (browser)	Window fan (Finder)

Requirements

• macOS 12.0+ (universal binary: Apple Silicon + Intel)
• Accessibility permission — required to intercept Cmd+Tab / side button.
• Screen Recording permission — required for the live window thumbnails. Without it, the fan still works but shows title-only cards.

AppRing prompts for both on first launch; grant them in System Settings → Privacy & Security.

Install

Prebuilt — download AppRing.zip from the latest release, unzip, and open it. On first launch, allow the two permissions above.

AppRing is ad-hoc signed, not notarized. If Gatekeeper blocks it, right-click the app → Open, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine AppRing.app.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/lrylnx/AppRing.git
cd AppRing
./build.sh          # → produces AppRing.app (arm64 + x86_64)
open AppRing.app

Usage

1. Launch AppRing — a small ring icon appears in the menu bar.
2. Press Cmd+Tab (or click a mouse side button) to summon the ring at your cursor. The previous app is already highlighted — release now to flip back to it.
3. Hover an app icon and release / click to switch to it.
4. For a multi-window app, keep hovering until the window fan blooms, then click a window.
5. Open 设置… from the menu-bar icon to remap the shortcut, enable launch-at-login, or toggle the side button.

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中文

AppRing 用一个环形毛玻璃切换器替代传统的线性 Cmd+Tab。圆盘在你光标所在位置 出现，正在运行的应用按「最近使用」顺序排成一圈；鼠标指到哪个、松开即切换。对于有多 个窗口的应用，继续停留还会向外绽放出一排实时窗口缩略图，一步到位选中你想要的那 个窗口。

功能特性

• 光标处呼出 —— 按 Cmd+Tab 或鼠标侧键，圆环直接出现在指针位置，而非屏幕中央。
• 默认 ⌘Tab，零学习成本 —— 开箱即用接管与系统切换器完全相同的按键，肌肉记忆直接 平移；想还给系统？设置里一键恢复默认。
• 设置面板 —— 内置快捷键录制器，可把呼出键改成任意组合（⌃⌥Tab、⇧⌘Space、 裸 F8 等），支持开机自启开关与鼠标侧键开关。
• 环形 MRU 布局 —— 应用按最近使用排序，顶部为当前应用、顺时针排列；圆盘大小随 打开的应用数量自动缩放。
• 窗口级切换 —— 在多窗口应用上停留，会绽放出一排真实窗口卡片，每张带实时缩略图、 标题栏和红黄绿交通灯，点一下即可聚焦到那个具体窗口。
• 瞬时流畅 —— 无开场动画，呼出即完整显示；悬停高亮、光晕、缩略图全部走缓存，且只 重绘发生变化的区域，扫动时稳定 60fps。
• 完整键盘操作 —— ← → 切换应用，↑ ↓ 进入窗口扇形，Enter 确认，Esc 取消。 也可以全程只用鼠标。
• 仅菜单栏 —— 无 Dock 图标、无主窗口，安静地待在菜单栏。

环境要求

• macOS 12.0+（通用二进制：Apple Silicon + Intel）
• 辅助功能权限 —— 拦截 Cmd+Tab / 侧键所必需。
• 屏幕录制权限 —— 实时窗口缩略图所必需；未授予时扇形仍可用，但只显示标题卡片。

首次启动会自动提示授权，请在系统设置 → 隐私与安全性中勾选。

安装

预编译版 —— 从 Releases 下载 AppRing.zip，解压后打开， 按提示授予上述两项权限。

AppRing 为临时签名、未做公证。若被 Gatekeeper 拦截，右键应用 → 打开， 或执行 xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine AppRing.app。

从源码构建

git clone https://github.com/lrylnx/AppRing.git
cd AppRing
./build.sh          # 生成 AppRing.app（arm64 + x86_64）
open AppRing.app

许可

MIT