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Vortex for Mac

Notch app with a focus timer, clipboard history, a file shelf that catches new builds, screen-to-task capture with OCR, and keys Claude Code can use without seeing them.

By OrtexIsArtem. Free and open source, MIT licence.

Get it with OpenDMG View source on GitHub

Vortex at a glance

Version
0.1.2
Released
6 November 2026
Download size
7.3 MB
Works on
Apple silicon and Intel
Licence
MIT
Category
Menu Bar and Notch
Developer
OrtexIsArtem
GitHub stars
13

About Vortex

Free, open-source notch app for Mac: a focus timer, clipboard history, a file shelf, screenshot-to-task with on-device OCR, and keys Claude Code can use without seeing them.

Screenshots

Vortex screenshot 1Vortex screenshot 2Vortex screenshot 3Vortex screenshot 4

How to install Vortex on a Mac

  1. Get OpenDMG. It is a free app store for open source Mac apps. Download OpenDMG.
  2. Search for Vortex and press Get. OpenDMG downloads version 0.1.2 from OrtexIsArtem's own GitHub release.
  3. Open it. The download is checked against its SHA-256 fingerprint and its signature is checked on your Mac before it lands in Applications.

Updates to Vortex show up in OpenDMG and install with one button. No account is needed.

Prefer to do it by hand? The developer's file is on GitHub: Vortex-v0.1.2.zip (7.3 MB).

What is new in Vortex 0.1.2

## Updates keep your permissions
- Every release from now on is signed with the same certificate, so macOS keeps Vortex's Accessibility, Screen Recording and browser permissions when you update. Only the keychain asks again, once per key: click **Always Allow**.
- Updating from 0.1.0 or 0.1.1, macOS asks one last time for Screen Recording and Accessibility: switch Vortex off and on in System Settings. Vortex opens Screen Recording's page by itself; Accessibility's opens from Home's keyboard button.

## New
- **Install or update in one command**, with no "Open Anyway" step:
 ```sh
 curl -fsSL https://vortex-notch.web.app/install.sh | sh
 ```
 It installs only Vortex signed with its certificate. [Read the script](https://github.com/OrtexIsArtem/vortex/blob/main/site/public/install.sh).
- **Vortex offers to move itself to Applications** when you open it from anywhere else, such as Downloads; an older Vortex there goes to the Trash.
- **After an update, Vortex opens the page of a permission macOS dropped**, such as Screen Recording for tasks, instead of only showing a yellow warning.
- **Check for Updates** in Settings › General opens the latest release in your browser. Vortex itself still never goes online.
- **An app icon:** the Vortex spiral, white on black.

## Install or update
…

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