MenuBarExtraAccess

Gives you Extra access to SwiftUI MenuBarExtra.

• Programmatically hide, show, or toggle the menu (by way of a Bool binding)
• Programmatically enable or disable the menubar extra (by way of a Bool binding)
• Access to the underlying NSStatusItem
• Access to the underlying NSWindow (when using the .window style)
• Works with one or multiple MenuBarExtra
• Works with both menu and window based styles (see Known Issues)

Why?

There is no 1st-party MenuBarExtra API to get or set the menu presentation state, disable the menubar extra, access the NSStatusItem, or access the popup's NSWindow. (Still as of macOS 26 beta 4)

Library Features

• A new .menuBarExtraAccess(isPresented:, isEnabled:) { statusItem in } scene modifier with
  • a binding to hide/show/toggle the menu
  • a binding to enabled/disable the menubar extra
  • direct access to the NSStatusItem if needed
• A new .introspectMenuBarExtraWindow { window in } view modifier passing in the NSWindow reference
• Window-based menu extra status items now remain highlighted while the window is open so it feels more like a native menu
• No private API used, so it's Mac App Store safe

Getting Started

The library is available as a Swift Package Manager (SPM) package.

Use the URL https://github.com/orchetect/MenuBarExtraAccess when adding the library to a project or Swift package.

Check out the Examples folder for a demonstration of the package's usage.

Future

The hope is that Apple implements native versions of these features (and more) in future iterations of SwiftUI!

Until then, a radar has been filed as a feature request: FB11984872

Menu Builder

Check out MacControlCenterUI, a SwiftUI package built on MenuBarExtraAccess for easily building Control Center style menus.

Known Issues

• When using .menuBarExtraStyle(.menu), SwiftUI causes the popup menu to block the runloop while the menu is open, which means:
  • Observing the isPresented binding will not work as expected.
  • Setting the isPresented binding to false while the menu is presented has no effect.
  • The user must dismiss the menu themself to allow event flow to continue. We have no control over this until Apple decides to change the MenuBarExtra behavior.

Author

Coded by a bunch of 🐹 hamsters in a trenchcoat that calls itself @orchetect.

License

Licensed under the MIT license. See LICENSE for details.

Community & Support

Please do not email maintainers for technical support. Several options are available for issues and questions:

• Questions and feature ideas can be posted to Discussions.
• If an issue is a verifiable bug with reproducible steps it may be posted in Issues.

Sponsoring

If you enjoy using MenuBarExtraAccess and want to contribute to open-source financially, GitHub sponsorship is much appreciated. Feedback and code contributions are also welcome.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome. Posting in Discussions first prior to new submitting PRs for features or modifications is encouraged.