Meno
/ˈmeː.no/ — Italian for “less”, one letter away from “menu”.
Meno tucks away the menu bar icons you rarely need and brings them back with a click, a hover, a swipe or a shortcut.
Illustration. The icons are placeholders for your apps’ menu bar items.
Visible, Hidden, and a Stash
Meno adds small dividers to your menu bar. Icons left of the single chevron are hidden until you ask; icons past the double chevron go in the Stash, for things you almost never need — they appear only in the Shelf, Quick Open or with ⌥-click.
- Reveal with a click on Meno, a click or hover on empty menu bar, a scroll or swipe down, or a shortcut
- Re-hides after a delay, when you switch apps or when the pointer leaves
- When an app restarts and macOS moves its icon, Meno puts it back
Hidden
Revealed
Shelf and Quick Open
The Shelf is a glass bar below the menu bar that shows hidden items — handy next to the camera housing, where the menu bar runs out of room. Quick Open is a Spotlight-style palette that finds any item from the keyboard, pinyin and initials included.
- ↩ opens, ⌘↩ opens the secondary menu, ⌘1–⌘9 pick a result
- Also runs Meno’s own actions: apply a scene, turn on Zen
- Liquid Glass on macOS 26; frosted glass on macOS 14 and 15
A menu bar that reads the room
Rules change the menu bar for you: when a microphone or camera is in use, a display is plugged in, you’re on battery, on a certain network, or at a certain time. Scenes save arrangements like Work, Home or Presenting.
- Actions reveal or hide sections, apply a scene, turn on Zen or move one item
- Moves wait until you’re not using the mouse and keyboard
- Pause all rules from Meno’s menu or a shortcut
Small things that add up
Zen
One shortcut clears every app icon and leaves only system status — for screenshots, recordings and talks.
Layout editor
Drag items between Visible, Hidden and Stash. Rename them and give them a symbol.
Groups
Put related items behind one icon; click it to show them in a Shelf right below.
Show when it changes
A hidden item appears for a moment when its icon or text changes, like a failed sync.
Item shortcuts and links
Open Wi-Fi, a VPN or a timer from anywhere. meno:// links work in Shortcuts and scripts.
Insights, on device
How often you reveal, your most used items, and suggestions to keep or stash — never leaves your Mac.
Requirements
- macOS
- 14 Sonoma or later; Liquid Glass on macOS 26
- Mac
- Universal: Apple silicon and Intel
- Permissions
- Accessibility (required). Screen Recording optional, for the real artwork of hidden items.
- Language
- English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese
- Download
- About 5 MB (
Meno.zip) - License
- GPL-3.0
Install and update
- Download
Meno.zipfrom the latest release and unzip it. - Move Meno.app to Applications and double-click it. From 0.10.0 on, releases are signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.
- Grant Accessibility when asked, then ⌘-drag icons across the dividers or use the Layout editor.
Check for updates in Settings › About, or turn on a daily check in General. “Install and Relaunch” downloads the release from GitHub, verifies its checksum, version and code signature, replaces Meno and opens it again.
Questions
Is it free?
Yes. Meno is free and open source under GPL-3.0, with no account and nothing to buy.
Why does it need Accessibility?
Meno reads menu bar items through each app’s accessibility tree, opens them from the Shelf, Quick Open and shortcuts, and arranges them by performing ⌘-drags for you. macOS allows all three only with Accessibility access.
What is Screen Recording for?
It’s optional. With it, the Shelf shows the real artwork of hidden items and Meno notices when their icons change (macOS 14–26). Only menu bar items are captured, and nothing is recorded or saved. Without it, Meno shows app icons.
Does Meno go online?
Only to ask GitHub for the latest release — when you check, or once a day if you turned that on — and to download a release you chose to install. No analytics, no accounts. See the privacy policy.
An icon is missing on macOS 26.
macOS only shows items of apps allowed in System Settings › Menu Bar. Meno’s own icon can also be turned off in Settings › Appearance; open Settings again from Quick Open or by opening Meno.
Meno doesn’t respond after an update.
Open Settings › Permissions and click “Reset and Grant Again”. Releases from 0.10.0 on share one Developer ID certificate, so later updates keep the permission.
Does it work on macOS 27?
Yes. macOS 27 changed how the menu bar handles wide items, so Meno uses a “stepped” hiding engine there; you can choose the engine in Settings › General › Advanced.
More help: Meno issues on GitHub · Support · Meno privacy policy
