Semper View source

Everyday Mac utilities

Your Mac controls, within reach.

One native app for sound, wakefulness, displays, and your workspace. Start with Sound in v1.0.0, or explore the other modules in development.

Get Semper for Mac View the source Open Semper on GitHub

v1.0.0 · Sound macOS 15.4+

Meet the modules
AirPods Pro 100% max · boost unavailable
AutoEQ 76%
Applications ▶ Test Sound
Music System Output · AirPods Pro
Meet AirPods Pro · Routed
Safari System Output · AirPods Pro
semper.systems Quit ⌘Q

Sound · interactive demo Controls only this demo.

A growing set of Mac utilities

Small controls.
Useful every day.

Each module has a clear job. Sound is available today. Source builds include ten modules. Checks for a public release are still in progress.

Sound

Available · v1.0.0

Music at the right level. Calls in the right headphones. Volume, mute, routing, and EQ for individual apps.

Explore Sound

Awake

In development

Ask your Mac to stay awake for a session. Choose a duration, see what is active, and end it when you are done.

Scope and limits

Prevents idle sleep while a session is active. Closing the lid, low battery, manual sleep, and macOS policy can still interrupt work. Follow the implementation.

Displays

In development

Adjust the brightness of a supported external display from the same place you manage your sound.

Scope and limits

Controls depend on the display, cable, and connection path. A monitor being connected does not guarantee hardware brightness support.

Workspace Restore

In development

Save a layout of selected app windows. Preview where they will go, then restore the layout when you are ready.

Scope and limits

Designed for selected standard windows with Accessibility permission. Apps, full-screen windows, and changed display connections can limit restoration. Window moves are explicit, with results shown for each window.

File Shelf

In development

A temporary place for files, links, images, and text you add, ready to drag into another app.

In source builds, Resize a Copy saves one fully downloaded local JPEG or PNG at up to 1,024 or 2,048 pixels on its longest edge. It removes descriptive metadata without enlarging the image or changing the original. Saving requires a location that supports macOS file cloning.

Scope and limits

Designed to hold items for the current session unless you choose persistence. It does not watch your clipboard or folders, upload content, or move, rename, or delete original files.

Resize a Copy accepts one image at a time, up to 32 MiB, 40 million pixels, and 16,384 pixels per side. Animated images and cloud-only files are refused. Copies keep their format, displayed orientation, color profile, and PNG transparency. JPEG re-encoding can lose detail. Removing metadata does not remove information visible in the image. Existing destination files are never overwritten.

The Resize a Copy guide explains saving, cancellation, and recovery when a saved location or cleanup cannot be verified.

Safe Eject

In development

Select an eligible external or removable volume to eject, then see whether macOS completed the request.

Scope and limits

Each eject requires your selection. No force eject or silent retries. A visible volume is not proof that it is idle or ready to disconnect.

Scenes

In development

Bring a few controls together for focused work or a call, then restore the settings the session changed.

Scope and limits

Scenes are being built around reversible changes to supported Sound, Awake, and display controls. They do not promise to restore every app or window.

Away

In development

Cover your workspace with an app privacy curtain while requesting that your Mac stay awake.

Scope and limits

Away is not a macOS session lock. Use Lock Screen when you need system security. Idle wakefulness does not guarantee that every job keeps running.

Presentation

In development

Preview a set of sound, awake, display, and window changes before presenting, then restore what the session changed.

Scope and limits

Requires Awake. Changes to displays, sound, and selected windows are optional. Its scope depends on the controls each module can support and restore.

Window Layout

In development

Arrange one eligible app window with eleven manual actions: Left Half, Right Half, Top Half, Bottom Half, Top Left Quarter, Top Right Quarter, Bottom Left Quarter, Bottom Right Quarter, Maximize, Center, or Restore Previous Placement. Full-height windows and targets are excluded.

Scope and limits

Only standard, nonminimized windows with readable geometry and move/resize support qualify. The first layout action requests Accessibility access if needed. Actions support Home search, pins, and optional shortcuts, unassigned by default.

Maximize does not enter full screen. Ordinary full-height windows are also refused. Left Half, Right Half, and Maximize can be unavailable when both the Dock and menu bar auto-hide. Restore skips later manual changes, missing windows, and changed display arrangements.

After an excluded post-write result or an unverifiable write, review the window and confirm Keep Current Placement before another action. This discards the preceding placement record. Read the Window Layout guide.

The v1.0.0 download includes Sound only. Every other module listed here is in development. Availability changes only when a packaged release includes them. Source-build module guide · Read release notes

Your Mac is playing three things.

macOS gives all of them one slider.

♪
Music Too quiet
28
Meet Too loud
82
Safari Not needed
64
SEMPER MIXER 3 CHANNELS
Music 68
Meet 42
Safari 0

Changing the master level cannot fix the mix. Semper controls each audio process before it reaches the output.

Split the signal. Keep the context.

Semper identifies the process producing audio, gives it a level, and lets it follow the default output or take its own route.

01

App by app

Volume, mute, boost, EQ, and output live beside the app they affect.

02

Route with intent

Send a call to headphones and music to your speakers.

03

Stay where you are

Bind global shortcuts, use media keys, or drive the popup from the keyboard.

More than volume. Shape the sound, not the system.

A 10-band EQ works per app. AutoEQ can correct supported headphones per device. Loudness compensation follows ISO 226 contours at low listening levels.

APP EQ Music
Active
+120 dB-12
10 bands Final peak limiter at -1 dBFS

No pretend controls. Semper listens to the hardware, too.

A MacBook speaker, USB interface, display, and Bluetooth headset do not expose the same controls. Semper checks the active path and only shows what it can actually change.

Supported monitorIllustrative capabilities
Ready
  • DDC volumeAvailable
  • BalanceAvailable
  • Software gainOptional
Bluetooth headphonesIllustrative capabilities
Ready
  • Hardware volumeAvailable
  • AutoEQAvailable
  • BalanceHidden

Examples show how controls can differ, not a tested compatibility list. Volume, balance, and gain depend on the detected output path.

Choose by the job

Good tools have
different strengths.

Semper starts with per-app sound and is expanding into everyday Mac utilities. Here is how its scope compares with established tools.

Scroll the table sideways, or focus it and use the arrow keys.

Documented features, checked September 8, 2026. This is not a performance ranking.
The jobAn established optionIn Semper
Mix individual apps SoundSource

Per-app volume and routing, a 10-band EQ, and Audio Unit effects.

 SoundAvailable · v1.0.0

Per-app volume, routing, and a 10-band EQ.
Shape your audio eqMac

Free basic and 10-band EQ. App Mixer and Expert EQ are Pro features.

 SoundAvailable · v1.0.0

App EQ and device-specific AutoEQ headphone correction.
Control a display BetterDisplay

Scaling, brightness, DDC controls, and virtual displays. Some features require Pro or compatible hardware.

 DisplaysIn development

Supported external-display brightness. Not included in v1.0.0.
Keep your Mac awake KeepingYouAwake

Timed sessions and an option to deactivate at a low battery level.

 AwakeIn development

Explicit keep-awake sessions. Not included in v1.0.0.

Performance evidence

Measurements before rankings.

No controlled head-to-head results are published here yet. A feature list does not establish which app uses less memory, responds faster, or preserves audio more faithfully.

What a fair comparison needs
  1. Identify the Mac, macOS version, exact app builds, connected hardware, and enabled features.
  2. Run the same job, such as mixing the same audio apps to the same output, with one utility active at a time.
  3. Record warmup, sample duration, repeated runs, units, and raw samples. Report variation alongside summaries.
  4. Separate idle use from active work, and observational samples from controlled trials. Leave unmeasured products unscored.

Memory and CPU samples alone cannot establish audio latency, sound quality, display compatibility, or battery life.

Read the measurement protocol and measurement status.

Download

Start with Sound.

Current download · v1.0.0

Get per-app audio controls for macOS 15.4 or later. Download the disk image, drag Semper into Applications, and grant the audio permission on first launch. The development modules above are not included in this release.

Download Semper v1.0.0 Report a regression
  1. 01

    Download the DMG

    Get Semper.dmg from GitHub Releases or Homebrew.

  2. 02

    Drag to Applications

    Open the disk image and drag Semper into Applications.

  3. 03

    Grant audio access

    Approve Screen & System Audio Recording on first launch.

/usr/bin/curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/niharnm/Semper/main/scripts/update-local.sh | /bin/bash
Contributor source update Requires Xcode and a Developer ID or Apple Development identity.

Do not install a Semper DMG from an unofficial source. Public release notes will include the supported macOS version and test status.

Built in the open.

Read the source. Join the work.

Semper is actively looking for contributors. Help with Swift, SwiftUI, Core Audio, tests, accessibility, device compatibility, and technical writing. The source, tests, guides, and issue tracker are publicly available. See the repository's licensing information and notices.

Find a starter issue
semper / source Swift
├─Audio
├─ ProcessTapController.swift Process taps ├─ SoftLimiter.swift Output safety └─ AutoEQProcessor.swift Headphone EQ
├─Views
└─ MenuBarPopupView.swift Menu-bar UI └─ SemperTests Test suite
Public repository Native SwiftUI Unit tested
Contributing Roadmap Discussions

Semper facts

What to know before you try it.

What is Semper?

Semper brings Mac utilities together in one native app. The v1.0.0 download provides per-app sound controls. Awake, Displays, Workspace Restore, File Shelf, Safe Eject, Scenes, Away, Presentation, and Window Layout are in development. These additional modules are not included in that download.

Does macOS include per-app volume control?

macOS Sound settings provide output-device selection and overall output volume. Some apps have their own controls, but macOS does not provide one system mixer with independent sliders for every app.

Does Semper record or upload audio?

No. Semper processes tapped app audio in memory on the Mac. The project does not intentionally save that audio to disk or upload it to Semper maintainers.

Can I download a stable Semper release?

The current download is v1.0.0 for Sound. Get it from GitHub Releases or install it with Homebrew: brew install --cask niharnm/tap/semper. Semper requires macOS 15.4 or later.

Read the per-app volume guide or the Semper fact sheet.

Semper app icon

Made for the Mac you use.

Start with your sound.

Try the current Sound release, or help build the next set of useful Mac controls. The work happens in the open.

curl -fL https://github.com/niharnm/Semper/archive/refs/heads/main.zip -o "$HOME/Downloads/Semper.zip" && open "$HOME/Downloads/Semper.zip"
Source archive Downloads main as Semper.zip, then opens it.

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