FlowShelf: free macOS shelf app with on-device AI, no subscription

FlowShelf is a macOS menu-bar utility built by solo developer Mahin Kadery that bundles clipboard management, screenshot tools, window controls, and on-device AI into one lightweight application. The core offering includes a self-cleaning shelf that auto-captures everything you copy—text, screenshots, files, and links—and clears itself after 24 hours to prevent clutter. Users can pin items they want to keep longer.

The app's most distinctive feature is the floating shelf, summoned by shaking your cursor or pressing a hotkey, which appears at your pointer location. This allows drag-and-drop file transfers between applications without opening multiple windows. A notch shelf (Dynamic-Island-style on MacBook Pro) and a menu-bar popover provide additional access points. Window snapping via Control+Option+arrow keys lets users snap focused windows to halves, quarters, or fullscreen—a feature Kadery notes typically costs money in dedicated apps like Magnet. Live window previews appear when you hover over Dock icons or hold a modifier key to see all open windows fanned out as thumbnails.

Screenshot tools are comprehensive: users can grab regions or entire windows, then annotate with arrows, shapes, a real highlighter, numbered steps, text, blur/pixelate overlays, spotlights, magnifier callouts, pixel-based rulers, and gradient backdrops. Screenshots can be pinned on top, scanned for QR codes, or stitched before/after. Text extraction (OCR) is available via ⌘⇧O, turning any screen region into copyable text on the shelf.

On-device AI features—summarize, rewrite, translate, and smart-search—run via Apple's on-device models with no accounts, cloud access, or cost. All data remains on the user's Mac; there are no servers and no tracking. The app includes app-cleaner functionality (drag an app to uninstall it completely, removing caches and preferences), reusable text snippets for signatures and canned replies, and a private mode to pause clipboard capture when handling sensitive information.

FlowShelf is distributed free with no subscription. It is Developer ID signed and notarized by Apple, weighs approximately 7 MB, runs on macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, and is source-available on GitHub. The current version is 1.6.1, with updates installed daily via Sparkle, the standard macOS auto-updater. Kadery emphasizes that the app is made by one person, not a corporation—there are no investors, no growth team, and no data collection.

FlowShelf emerges from a common developer frustration: the fragmentation of Mac utilities. Mahin Kadery, a solo developer, consolidated five separate paid applications—clipboard managers (Paste/Maccy at $29.99/yr), window snappers (Magnet at $4.99), screenshot tools (CleanShot X at $29), and app uninstallers—into a single free offering. This consolidation strategy appeals to users tired of managing subscriptions and scattered preferences across multiple menu-bar apps.

The privacy model is central to FlowShelf's positioning. By running 100% on-device with no cloud servers or tracking, the app sidesteps the data-handling concerns that cloud-based clipboard and screenshot managers face. On-device AI features—powered by Apple's own models—add value without requiring user accounts or external API calls, a meaningful distinction in an era of increasing privacy scrutiny.

The open-source availability and Apple Developer ID notarization signal both transparency and legitimacy. Users can inspect the code themselves, and Apple's notarization means the app passes security checks and opens normally on macOS. These design choices position FlowShelf as trustworthy infrastructure rather than a consumer product dependent on corporate incentives.

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