# Gamely

> Gamely is a free, open-source macOS menu bar utility. The moment macOS Game Mode turns on, it automatically disables all four Hot Corners so a stray mouse can't trigger Mission Control, Desktop, Quick Note or the Screen Saver during a fullscreen game, then restores your exact original settings when the game ends. Games that never turn on Game Mode (Steam, CrossOver, Whisky) can be added as Forced Apps.

- Platform: macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
- Price: Free, open source (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0: free for non-commercial use)
- Languages: Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese
- Author: rocavence (https://github.com/rocavence)
- Install with Homebrew: `brew install --cask rocavence/tap/gamely` (removes the quarantine flag; update with `brew upgrade`)
- Download: https://github.com/rocavence/Gamely-app/releases/latest
- Source code: https://github.com/rocavence/Gamely-app
- Website: https://gamely.rocavence.com/en/ (English), https://gamely.rocavence.com/ (繁體中文), plus /ja/, /ko/, /es/, /pt/
- Current version: 0.9.0 (October 2026)

## What it does

When you play a fullscreen game, sliding the mouse into a screen corner can trigger Mission Control, Desktop, Quick Note or the Screen Saver. Gamely fixes exactly that:

- macOS Game Mode turns on → temporarily sets all four Hot Corners (wvous-{tl,tr,bl,br}-corner) to "no action".
- Game Mode turns off → restores your original Hot Corner settings exactly, including modifier keys. A corner you changed yourself in the meantime keeps your new setting.
- Forced Apps: games that never turn on Game Mode (CrossOver, Whisky, some Steam titles) can be added to a list; while one is the frontmost app, Hot Corners are paused too.
- Restores even after a crash or forced quit: the next launch settles it right away.
- Menu bar icon (a gamepad, filled while paused) with: status line, Pause / Restore Hot Corners Now, a master switch, the Forced Apps list, Launch at Login, Settings, Quit (restores first).
- Settings window (General, Forced Apps, Status, About), a first-run guide, and a daily check for new versions on GitHub.
- No Dock icon and no notifications.

## How it works

- Game Mode detection: macOS has no public Game Mode API. Gamely reads the system unified log via `log stream`; the `gamepolicyd` / `GamePolicyAgent` process prints "Game mode is on, with N user game processes" / "Game mode is off" on each transition. At startup it also uses `log show` to read the most recent transition as the initial state (which doubles as crash recovery).
- Hot Corners: stored in Dock preferences. Gamely saves your current four-corner settings into its own defaults, sets all four to 0 (no action), and applies with `killall Dock` (invisible because the game is fullscreen). When the game ends it writes the originals back.
- Launch at login: registered via `SMAppService.mainApp`.

## FAQ

- Why not just turn Hot Corners off in System Settings? You'd have to remember to turn them off, back on, and what each corner was set to. Gamely does it automatically, following Game Mode.
- Why doesn't it react to my Steam or CrossOver game? macOS only turns on Game Mode for fullscreen apps categorized as games (LSApplicationCategoryType ending in `.games`). Windows games through a translation layer usually don't qualify. Add them as Forced Apps.
- Why is the first launch blocked? Gamely is self-signed, not notarized by Apple. Run `xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Gamely.app && open /Applications/Gamely.app` once, or install with Homebrew, which handles it.
- What if it crashes mid-game? Originals live in Gamely's own preferences, so the next launch restores them. Quitting normally also restores them first.

## Tech stack

Swift 6, AppKit, unified log (`log stream` / `log show`), `UserDefaults(suiteName: "com.apple.dock")` + `killall Dock`, `SMAppService`, XcodeGen, Swift Testing.

## Links

- Download (latest release): https://github.com/rocavence/Gamely-app/releases/latest
- Source code & docs: https://github.com/rocavence/Gamely-app
- License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0