Apps

The app list is small enough to remember and explicit enough not to drift.

Publishing the app roster matters because the repo doubles as documentation. The fastest way to keep it honest is to be explicit about both the tools that stay and the ones that are gone.

Keyboard Maestro handles the launcher and clipboard role. Rectangle Pro handles window management. BetterDisplay, Obsidian, Logseq, MailMate beta, Shottr, Kap, and Vivaldi stay in the everyday path.

Current App Groups

These match the generated Homebrew groupings in the repo.

Dev

OrbStack sits next to Go, Pandoc, Jira CLI, and Volta because local container work belongs in the rebuild.

Browsers + AI

Vivaldi, DuckDuckGo, VS Code, Codex, Claude, Antigravity.

Productivity

Keyboard Maestro, Rectangle Pro, Karabiner-Elements, BetterDisplay, Obsidian, Logseq, MailMate beta, KeePassXC, Spotify.

Backup

Kopia CLI plus KopiaUI for encrypted backups with Google Drive and NFS-friendly repository layouts.

Capture

Shottr, Kap, and ffmpeg.

Network

Tailscale, Little Snitch, RustDesk, NetSpot, and the CLI diagnostics that only need to appear on heavier rebuilds.

Replacements And Watchlist

The public list stays useful only if stale tools are called out explicitly.

KeeWeb → KeePassXC

KeeWeb stayed valid in Homebrew but its desktop releases have stalled. KeePassXC is the chosen replacement.

MailMate beta

The repo now chooses mailmate@beta on Apple Silicon so MailMate stays native and avoids Rosetta 2.

Kap

Kap stays. It still has a current Homebrew cask and remains a clean lightweight recorder.

Explicit Exclusions

Keeping the “no” list visible is part of keeping the rebuild stable.

  • App Expose is off.
  • Edge is out. Vivaldi is the browser path.
  • Alfred and Raycast are out. Keyboard Maestro covers that ground.
  • pnpm is out. Volta stays in.
  • Dropover, iBar, Whimsical, and Notion are out of the default rebuild.

New Additions

These tools are now part of the tracked setup instead of sitting on the sidelines.

Tailscale

Added in the network slice so NFS-backed machines, support boxes, and private services stay reachable without opening ports.

OrbStack

Added in the dev slice as the default local container and Linux path instead of Docker Desktop.

BetterDisplay

Added in productivity because external monitor scaling, DDC brightness control, and awkward display layouts keep coming up.

Little Snitch

Added in the network slice for tighter visibility into outbound traffic on a Mac that also does network and support work.