What Belay has shipped, and what comes next.
Finished work links to the commit or release that closed it. If there is no date yet, it is still ahead.
1.8.1 is out on GitHub, Sparkle and Homebrew. The Mac App Store serves 1.8.0; 1.8.1 is being submitted (5 Sep).
| Milestone | Status | When, or what comes first | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🌱 | First commit |  |
11 Aug 2026 |
| 🔌 | Holds and releases a real power assertion | |
12 Aug 2026 |
| 🍎 | Signed, notarized and stapled by Apple | |
13 Aug 2026 |
| 🎉 | v1.0.0 published | |
14 Aug 2026 |
| 🌍 | Multilingual, including Simplified Chinese | |
14 Aug 2026 |
| 📄 | Its own licence: free to use, never for sale | |
14 Aug 2026 |
| ✨ | A welcome screen that shows instead of explaining | |
14 Aug 2026 |
| 🚀 | v1.1.0 published | |
14 Aug 2026 |
| 🍺 | Installable with Homebrew | |
15 Aug 2026 |
| 📁 | Watch any folder, and remember the ones you pick | |
15 Aug 2026 |
| 💻 | Verified on macOS 15 and 26 | |
16 Aug 2026 |
| 🎁 | A What's New screen after every update | |
16 Aug 2026 |
| ⬇️ | Belay installs its own updates | |
17 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.2.0 published | |
17 Aug 2026 |
| 🏪 | Live on the Mac App Store | |
17 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.2.1 published | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 🔔 | Show when an update is waiting | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 🔇 | Show when an agent goes quiet without finishing | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 🩺 | Local crash and freeze reports | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 💤 | Keep working with the lid closed, as an opt-in | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 🌙 | Dim the display at night while holding | |
18 Aug 2026 |
| 🖥 | Verified on macOS 14 | |
19 Aug 2026, clean install of the 1.3.0 build |
| 📦 | v1.3.0 published | |
19 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.3.1 published | |
19 Aug 2026 |
| 📥 | 100 downloads | |
19 Aug 2026 (8 days after launch) |
| 📦 | v1.3.2 published | |
20 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.3.3 published | |
20 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.4.0 published | |
24 Aug 2026 |
| 🦾 | Cline built in, Precise Detection for all three agents | |
24 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.5.0 published | |
24 Aug 2026 |
| Copilot CLI built in, the fourth agent | |
25 Aug 2026 | |
| 🗃 | Built-in agents watchable in any folder (#4) | |
25 Aug 2026 |
| ⏱ | The Always On timer survives an app relaunch | |
25 Aug 2026 |
| 🕓 | Last activity on every agent's tile | |
25 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.6.0 published | |
25 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.6.1 published | |
26 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.6.2 published | |
27 Aug 2026 |
| 🔌 | Precise Detection keeps its port across restarts and updates | |
28 Aug 2026 |
| ⌥ | The longer lists open on Option as well as Shift | |
28 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.6.3 published | |
28 Aug 2026 |
| 🔔 | One summary of what ran while you were away | |
31 Aug 2026 |
| 📋 | A sortable sessions table in Statistics, tokens included | |
31 Aug 2026 |
| 🩹 | The bridge heals itself after sleep and wake | |
31 Aug 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.6.4 published | |
31 Aug 2026 |
| 🏷 | Activity badges beside each session's name | |
1 Sep 2026 |
| 🧹 | Hooks park on quit and return on launch | |
1 Sep 2026 |
| 🌡 | The away summary remembers the heat | |
1 Sep 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.7.0 published | |
1 Sep 2026 |
| 📂 | Statistics drill into one project: sessions, agent time, tokens | |
4 Sep 2026 |
| 🎬 | Night dimming stays out of a video's way | |
4 Sep 2026 |
| 🐙 | One ask, once: a star or a review, after Belay earned it | |
4 Sep 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.8.0 published | |
4 Sep 2026 |
| 🌙 | Night dimming waits for a calm screen instead of flickering | |
5 Sep 2026 |
| 📦 | v1.8.1 published | |
5 Sep 2026 |
| 📦 | 500 downloads | |
5 Sep 2026, GitHub alone; App Store installs on top |
| 🧭 | Cursor and Windsurf, looked at properly |  |
After 1.6.x settles |
| 🗣 | Every translation checked by a native speaker | |
Finding those people |
| ⭐ | 32 stars, the belay party | |
Reached 1 Sep 2026, the day 1.7.0 shipped |
| ✨ | 64 stars, the first pitch | |
One good discussion somewhere |
| 💫 | 128 stars, the second pitch | |
Someone else writing about Belay |
| 📈 | 1 000 downloads | |
A good write-up or a thread that travels |
| 📰 | First independent write-up | |
Something worth writing about |
| 🎛 | Our own update window instead of Sparkle's |  |
SPUUserDriver, if Sparkle's window starts getting in the way |
| 🌠 | 256 stars, the summit | |
Something that gives people a reason to look |
| 🏅 | 10 000 downloads | |
Nothing to schedule. It follows from the work above |
| 📣 | First large outlet | |
Small ones first |
The full ledger of directories and lists Belay has been submitted to. The milestone table above keeps only the big ones.
| Where | Status | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Mac App Store | |
Live since 17 Aug 2026 |
| AlternativeTo | |
Listed 17 Aug 2026 |
| macmenubar.com | |
Listed 18 Aug 2026 |
| DirHub | |
Published 19 Aug 2026 |
| findmacapps.com |  |
Submitted 19 Aug 2026 |
| MacUpdate | |
Submitted 30 Aug 2026, human-reviewed |
| jaywcjlove/awesome-mac | |
Pull request opened 18 Aug 2026 |
| jqueryscript/awesome-claude-code | |
Pull request opened 17 Aug 2026 |
| awesome-native-macosx-apps | |
Pull request opened 19 Aug 2026 |
| iCHAIT/awesome-macOS | |
Pull request opened 19 Aug 2026 |
| linsa-io/macos-apps | |
Pull request opened 19 Aug 2026 |
| SoloUnity/macos-apps-and-enhancements | |
Pull request opened 19 Aug 2026 |
| phmullins/awesome-macos | |
Pull request opened 19 Aug 2026. The list is barely maintained |
| Mac-Menubar-Megalist | |
Issue opened 19 Aug 2026, their preferred channel |
| hesreallyhim/awesome-claude-code | |
Resubmitted; the recommendation issue is open in their queue |
| awesome-claude-code-toolkit | |
Pull request opened 1 Sep 2026, Companion Apps table |
| awesome-ai-devtools | |
Pull request opened 1 Sep 2026; honest caveat: Belay reacts to agents, is not AI itself |
| menubarlist.com | |
Listed 5 Sep 2026 |
| macosmenubar.com | |
Listed 2 Sep 2026, a day after submission |
| Softpedia | |
Submitted 1 Sep 2026; their review takes up to 30 days |
| OpenAlternative | |
Submitted 1 Sep 2026, in the free queue |
| SaaSHub | |
Listed 5 Sep 2026 |
| Homebrew/homebrew-cask | |
Needs Homebrew's notability bar first |
| serhii-londar/open-source-mac-os-apps | |
Their list is open source only; Belay is source available |
| jaywcjlove/awesome-swift-macos-apps | |
Added by the maintainer 19 Aug 2026, found while auditing the list 30 Aug – nobody here submitted it |
Shipped in 1.3.0 for direct builds. Off by default.
Belay can keep a Mac awake while the lid is closed using a small privileged helper. The helper only holds while Belay keeps checking in, and lets go automatically when the work ends, the time limit is reached, Belay disappears, or the Mac gets too warm.
Tested on a MacBook Pro M3 Max on battery with no external display. With closed-lid holding enabled, the Mac stayed awake; without it, clamshell sleep behaved normally.
This feature is not available in the Mac App Store build because sandboxed apps cannot install the required helper.
Implementation details: docs/04-POWER.md.
Shipped in 1.3.0. Off by default.
If Belay is keeping the display awake while you are away during the hours you choose, it can dim the screen and restore the brightness when you return.
It only applies while Belay is holding and the Mac has been idle long enough. No Accessibility permission or private API is needed, and the display returns to normal if Belay exits.
You choose the time window and dim level in Settings.
Implementation details: docs/04-POWER.md.
BLOCKERS.md (git history) (now only in git history) tracks work waiting on an account or a decision.
docs/09-MILESTONES.md (git history) (now only in git history) keeps the engineering history.
Done means there is a date and a link behind it. Everything else is still a plan.