A macOS utility that automatically freezes (suspends) applications after they become inactive for a configurable period.

This helps reduce cpu usage by pausing applications you're not actively using with no delay when un-freezing them.

Quite useful for applications that tend to be CPU hungry even when in the background, like Firefox or Rekordbox.

• Automatic Process Freezing: Suspends applications after they become inactive
• Configurable Delays: Set different freeze delays for different applications
• Pattern Matching: Use glob patterns to match application names
• Status Bar Integration: Easy access to controls via the menu bar
• Graceful Shutdown: Automatically unfreezes all processes when quitting
• Settings GUI: Visual interface for managing application patterns and delays

MacFreeze monitors application activation/deactivation events and automatically freezes applications that match your configured patterns after the specified delay. When you switch back to a frozen application, it's immediately unfrozen.

• macOS 10.14 or later
• Xcode Command Line Tools (for Swift compilation)

# Build the app bundle
make app

# Build and run the app
make run-app

# Build and install to Applications
make install-app

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

1. Build the app: make app
2. Install to Applications: make install-app
3. Launch MacFreeze from Applications

MacFreeze uses a JSON configuration file located at ~/.macfreeze_blacklist.json:

{
  "blacklist": [
    {
      "pattern": "Chrome",
      "delay": 30
    },
    {
      "pattern": "Safari",
      "delay": 60
    },
    {
      "pattern": "*.app",
      "delay": 120
    }
  ]
}

• pattern: Glob pattern to match application names (e.g., "Chrome", ".app", "Safari")
• delay: Time in seconds to wait before freezing the application

• "Chrome" - Matches applications named exactly "Chrome"
• "*.app" - Matches any application ending with ".app"
• "Safari*" - Matches applications starting with "Safari"
• "*" - Matches all applications

• Enable/Disable Freezing: Toggle the freezing functionality on/off
• Unfreeze All Processes: Immediately unfreeze all currently frozen processes
• Settings: Open the preferences window to manage patterns and delays
• Quit: Exit MacFreeze (automatically unfreezes all processes)

The settings window allows you to:

• Add new application patterns
• Set freeze delays for each pattern
• Remove existing patterns
• Save changes to the configuration file

• Uses SIGSTOP/SIGCONT signals to freeze/unfreeze processes
• Monitors workspace notifications for application activation/deactivation
• Stores configuration in JSON format in the user's home directory
• Runs as a status bar accessory application

• Automatically unfreezes all processes when:
  • MacFreeze is disabled
  • MacFreeze is quit
  • System receives termination signals (SIGINT, SIGTERM)
• Graceful handling of signal interrupts
• Prevents accidental termination when windows are closed

• Check that the application name matches your pattern exactly
• Verify the delay setting is appropriate
• Ensure MacFreeze is enabled in the status bar menu

• Ensure the JSON file is valid syntax
• Check file permissions on ~/.macfreeze_blacklist.json
• Restart MacFreeze after configuration changes

• Ensure Xcode Command Line Tools are installed: xcode-select --install
• Check that all source files are present
• Verify the Makefile is in the project root

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.