Roadmap

What’s next for the year ahead.

Thaw 3.0 for macOS 27 is in beta, with a new design, and Thaw 2.1 for macOS 26 is out. Thaw 2.2, also in beta, brings back macOS 15. Thaw 2 gets no more new features, only bug fixes, performance work and security updates. Thaw is getting smaller: the larger features are becoming modules you add only if you want them. That plan came from the discussion in #1353. This is the plan as it stands, not a promise, and your reports decide the order.

Shipped 138

Everything that has shipped, by release, newest first. The changelog has the detail.

2.2.0-beta.2

26 November 2026
  • Thaw 2 has its own Homebrew tap
  • Settings has fewer pages

3.0.0-alpha.13

55 November 2026
  • Modules: Scripts, Triggers and Widgets switch on and off in Settings › Extras
  • Settings is rebuilt on ThawUI, with a new sidebar
  • A Black theme for Settings, besides System, Light and Dark
  • Every Search style can rename and move items
  • A Template tab in Displays, for new displays

3.0.0-beta.6

43 November 2026
  • Show on hover works on Thaw’s icon too
  • Choose how large items are in the Thaw Bar
  • A list of every file Thaw keeps, for a dotfiles repo
  • Updates reach Macs in stages

3.0.0-beta.5

11 November 2026
  • Capture hidden items on request

3.0.0-alpha.12

230 October 2026
  • Items move without Thaw moving your pointer
  • thaw:// links are stricter about who they trust

3.0.0-alpha.11

228 October 2026
  • A black Settings background in dark mode, for OLED displays
  • Skip menu bar visibility recovery when a removed app blocks it

3.0.0-beta.4

626 October 2026
  • Profiles can keep your layout changes
  • Four more glass finishes, as an experiment
  • More section divider styles
  • Shape corners from square to round, on a slider
  • Show apps an older version hid
  • Simple Mode fits on one page

3.0.0-beta.3

1219 October 2026
  • Move several items at once in Layout
  • Layout shows where a drag will land
  • Choose how items are hidden, in one place
  • Choose which Apple items to replace
  • Stand-ins for Apple items no longer need a switch in Experiments
  • Show every item on wide displays
  • Thaw’s Time Machine icon shows backups
  • Restart the menu bar from Settings
  • Move items with a thaw:// link
  • Use Thaw without Accessibility, as an experiment
  • Arrange your layout in its own window, as an experiment
  • Moving an item from its menu says where it went

3.0.0-beta.2

57 October 2026
  • Triggers can show items while an app runs
  • Launchers can open menu bar items and apply profiles through thaw:// URLs
  • Restore missing menu bar items, in Troubleshooting
  • Gradients at any angle
  • Layout shows when macOS won’t let an icon follow its section

3.0.0-beta.1

92 October 2026
  • Rounded screen corners, carried over from the 2.x roadmap
  • Open an item by letter, planned as “item hints”
  • Folders for item groups, each with its own icon and colour
  • The app’s own icon where Thaw has no picture of an item
  • Choose the icon Thaw shows for any item
  • One menu for every item in Layout, search and the Thaw Bar
  • Live Activities and the camera indicator stay visible while apps are hidden
  • Open hidden items in the menu bar, under their own icon
  • Replace Input Menu, with your keyboard layouts

3.0.0 alphas

22
  • A rebuilt menu bar core for macOS 27
  • Time Machine can be hidden
  • Focus, AirDrop, Now Playing and Fast User Switching stay reachable while hidden
  • The Layout editor works from the keyboard: Tab, Home and End, Option-arrows, Space
  • Swap bar
  • macOS 27’s limits shown in the Layout pane
  • App zoom
  • A custom status icon built from three slots
  • A separate appearance for the Thaw Bar
  • Reapply Spacing
  • Move and hide the Game Mode indicator
  • The Thaw Bar works from the keyboard
  • Command-Z undoes profile changes
  • VoiceOver announces every move in Layout
  • A plain click on the Thaw icon can swap
  • Layout points out items behind the notch
  • Control Center widgets for hidden items and Zen Mode
  • thawctl, a command-line client
  • Actions in Shortcuts and Spotlight
  • A Privacy pane with a capture inspector
  • Restore layout backups from inside Thaw
  • A profile shows what applying it would change

Pre-3.0.0

7
  • Hiding, showing and reordering items on macOS 27
  • Hiding system items
  • Settings search
  • Reset layout
  • A new onboarding walkthrough
  • Deep links
  • Support for macOS 27’s own overflow icon

2.2.0-beta.1

227 October 2026
  • macOS 15 Sequoia is back
  • Keep Thaw out of the Dock while Settings is open

2.1.0

2214 October 2026
  • Item triggers: an item moves when something happens
  • Image-change triggers, with comparison modes and a preview
  • Menu bar item groups
  • Individual spacer items
  • Zen Mode
  • Simple Mode
  • Per-Space profiles and per-Space appearance
  • Wallpaper changes re-tint the bar right away
  • Items that ask for attention surface themselves
  • A Thaw Bar with its own shape and tint
  • Hidden icons refresh at the slider rate
  • One Per display section in place of repeated blocks
  • App icons where captures can’t go, so Screen Recording is optional
  • A hotkey to enable and disable auto-rehide
  • Opened items can stay a while after their menu closes
  • Diagnostic logs that rotate by size and time
  • Sort a section A to Z
  • Layout opens in its own window
  • Triggers that follow an external drive
  • Keep Thaw out of the Dock while you show and hide items
  • Remove a display you no longer use
  • A Tools pane for the troubleshooting helpers

2.0.0

1630 August 2026
  • Built for macOS 26, with Liquid Glass throughout
  • Reading and writing settings through thaw:// URLs
  • Per-item hotkeys
  • Script hooks before and after a profile is applied
  • Adaptive background and tint, per screen
  • Configurable background and a glass effect
  • Notch shape, a notch margin slider and tint opacity
  • Per-display menu bar spacing
  • A reworked menu bar item spacing
  • Thaw Bar layout options, alignments, a grid and dynamic resizing
  • Hold to preview
  • Option-click for the always-hidden section
  • Double-click the Thaw icon
  • Restart Thaw, from the menu
  • Game Mode support
  • A refreshed Settings window and onboarding

1.3.0-beta.1

716 April 2026
  • Settings Profiles
  • Profiles that switch with the display
  • Focus mode integration
  • Profile hotkeys
  • A badge for new items
  • Icon overflow for notched displays
  • Keep the search panel open

1.2.0

913 April 2026
  • Icon positions saved and restored across restarts
  • Custom names for menu bar items
  • Menu bar item tooltips
  • The thaw:// URL scheme
  • A hotkey to toggle application menus
  • Hover highlight in the Thaw Bar
  • Conflicting apps detection
  • Per-display settings
  • A Reset Thaw button

1.1.0

417 February 2026
  • Localised in 12 languages
  • Double-click the menu bar to reveal the always-hidden section
  • The active menu bar detected on each screen
  • The Thaw Bar for displays with a notch only

1.0.0

15 February 2026
  • The first stable release of Thaw

Now 3

You are here

What is being built, for the next releases of Thaw 3 and Thaw 2.

macOS 27

  • Thaw 3.0.0. In beta. It is a rebuilt menu bar core for macOS 27. The latest beta is 3.0.0-beta.6 and the latest alpha is 3.0.0-alpha.13.
  • Modules. Optional parts of Thaw that run only if you use them. The first three are in 3.0.0-alpha.13: Settings › Extras switches Scripts, Triggers and Widgets on and off, and one that is off doesn’t run or show in the sidebar.

macOS 15 and 26

  • Thaw 2.2.0. In beta. Since 2.2.0-beta.1, Thaw 2 runs on macOS 15 Sequoia again. From here the Thaw 2 line gets only bug fixes, performance work and security updates.

Up next 5

These follow Modules.

Layout

  • Undo for drags
    Command-Z already undoes keyboard moves, and drags within a section in the experimental editor window. Layout’s own drags come next.

From 2.1, as modules

  • Scripts
    Scripts that make their own menu bar items, tested by macOS 26 users on 2.1.0, come to 3.0 as a module you can add.
  • The full trigger engine
    In 2.1 an item can move on battery level, the frontmost app, a network, a Focus and more. 3.0 has part of it: 3.0.0-beta.2 added showing items while an app runs. The rest comes as a module.
  • Widgets
    One is in 3.0 so far: a custom status icon with three slots for meters, added in 3.0.0-alpha.3. Since 3.0.0-alpha.13 it is the Widgets module.
  • Rotating diagnostic logs
    Keeping and cycling through diagnostic logs will appear in a later 3.0 build.

Blocked by macOS 27 3

These run into limits in macOS 27 itself. The team is looking for ways around them and can’t promise them for the beta.

Hiding

  • Separate items from the same app
    macOS 27 hides and shows an app’s items together, so one of an app’s items can’t yet go in Hidden while another stays in Visible.

Layout

  • Even spacing
    Each app adds its own padding around its items, so the same spacing setting can still leave uneven gaps.
  • A Timer stand-in
    Thaw can’t remove Apple’s Timer, so it can’t put one of its own in its place.

Further out 9

These come after the move to modules. The team intends to build them, and none has a date.

Integrations

  • An Alfred workflow
    One you can install, on top of the thaw:// links that already work with Alfred.
  • Import from another menu bar manager
    Bring your setup with you, so switching to Thaw doesn’t mean starting over.
  • More with Droppy and Floe
    Both already drive Thaw through thaw:// links: they open menu bar items and apply profiles. The plan is to take that further.
  • OmniWM
    Work alongside the OmniWM window manager on macOS 26 and 27, so Thaw stays out of the way of its workspaces. It came up on OmniWM’s issue tracker.
  • MCP support
    A server for AI assistants, so one you already use can read your menu bar and rearrange it when you ask.

Installing

  • A Nix flake
    So Thaw can be installed and pinned from a Nix configuration. The other half of the request, a list of where Thaw keeps its settings for a dotfiles repo, came in 3.0.0-beta.6. #1363Closed

Across your Macs

  • iCloud backups
    For profiles, appearance and preferences, as a few options in the panes they belong to, not a new pane. Anything tied to one Mac’s displays stays local.

Menu bar items

  • Your own menus in the menu bar
    Make an item yourself and fill its menu with actions: open a link, run a Shortcut, run a script. Thaw puts it in the menu bar and treats it like any other item.
  • Isolation mode
    Show just one item for a while, with everything else out of the way. #970Open

Ideas 3

Things we have written up and not decided on. None is planned.

Integrations

  • Stream Deck and other controllers
    Keys that hide and show sections, switch profiles and stay lit while a mode is on.
  • Items hosted by Thaw
    Another app hands Thaw an icon and a menu, and Thaw shows it as a menu bar item that follows your sections and profiles like any other.

Displays

  • OLED saving mode
    The menu bar sits on the same pixels all day. Thaw could turn it true black, shift the items a point or two now and then, and dim them when the Mac is idle.

Asked for 6

The feature requests open on GitHub. A thumbs-up on one tells the team it matters to you, and the ones with the most are looked at first. Ask for something that is missing, or see the ways to contribute.

  1. #1083Promote a revealed item to Visible by Command-drag
  2. #1301Full Arabic Language and RTL Support Across the Entire App
  3. #970"Isolation" ModeOn the roadmap
  4. #1086Show menu bar only in selected fullscreen apps
  5. #1378Some suggestions to improve the iPhone Duo-inspired indicator's UX (currently too limited, derivative and uninspired)
  6. #1160Why we just can't hide it again after scroll? just like v1.x version does

Last brought up to date on 6 November 2026.