Refocus

A native Apple silicon re-implementation of Hocus Focus (last version 1.3, Intel only).

What Hocus Focus does (and what Refocus reproduces)

• Menu bar app with no Dock icon. It hides applications that sat in the background longer than a timeout.
• Each app can follow the profile default, use its own timeout (slider; 0 = never hide → "Disabled" group), or be hidden as soon as it loses focus.
• Profiles (for example "Default" or "Focus Mode"), each with a default timeout and default "hide when focus is lost", plus per-app overrides. A global hotkey cycles profiles and shows "Switched to X profile".
• Global on/off switch, launch at login, and a running "apps hidden in total" counter.

Refocus also imports the original's settings: the Core Data store in ~/Library/Application Support/com.uglyapps.HocusFocus/HocusFocus.db and the com.uglyapps.HocusFocus defaults. This happens automatically on first launch, and later from Settings → General.

How it works

• NSWorkspace activation notifications track when each app was last in front. A 1 s timer hides apps whose time is up with NSRunningApplication.hide(). This needs no Accessibility permission.
• Only apps with a visible window on the current Space count down (CGWindowListCopyWindowInfo; owner PIDs need no Screen Recording permission).
• The hotkey uses Carbon RegisterEventHotKey, so it needs no Input Monitoring permission.
• Settings are stored as JSON in ~/Library/Application Support/Refocus/config.json.

Build

./build-app.sh
open build/Refocus.app

The app icon is drawn in code (Icon/make-icon.swift). After editing it, run Icon/build-icns.sh to regenerate Resources/AppIcon.icns.

Requires Xcode 16+ and macOS 14+. Quit Hocus Focus first so the two don't compete.

License

MIT, see LICENSE. Refocus is an independent project and is not affiliated with the developers of Hocus Focus.

Acknowledgment

Vibe-coded with Claude Opus 5.5 Medium.