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Bytebud
Adopt · $9
One-time purchase · macOS 14+

Your Mac has
feelings now.

A tiny creature lives in your menu bar. When your Mac runs hot, low on memory or out of battery, it shows. Feed it by quitting the apps that are hogging your Mac.

Adopt for $9Download

Download free; it needs a license to wake up. 14-day refund. Apple silicon and Intel. Nothing leaves your Mac.

PixelHappy

Quiet day. I like quiet days.

KidGrown in 15 days9-day care streak24bond
Memory62%
Heat11%
Battery71%
Space144 GB
ReportShare

The demo plays by itself and pauses while you hover over it, so you can take over: every button works, and you can pet Pixel. The figures are simulated, because a web page cannot read your Mac and should not.

Five moods

Read the whole Mac from one face.

Activity Monitor lists a thousand processes. Stats apps draw graphs nobody reads. Bytebud folds memory pressure, heat, battery and disk into one creature you notice at a glance. The worst signal wins.

  • Sick

    Memory pressure critical for two minutes. The fix: quit the biggest memory app, after you confirm.

  • Sweaty

    Thermal state serious, or CPU over 85% for five minutes. The fix: quit one of the three busiest apps.

  • Sleepy

    Battery under 20% and not charging. The fix: plug in, Low Power Mode, or quit the app draining it.

  • Stuffed

    Startup disk under 10% free. The fix: see what's in the Trash and Downloads, and empty the Trash on confirm.

  • Happy

    Everything normal. Pet it, and it does a trick. Streaks unlock more.

Small, quiet and private

0.17%
Idle CPU
Release build, measured over a minute on an M4 MacBook Air
17 MB
Memory
Footprint while idle, as Activity Monitor shows it
0
Analytics or tracking
The only network calls are the license check, which sends your key, and the update check
14
Day refund
Then sales are final

The full report

When you want the whole story.

Press R in the Den. Today's mood timeline, every vital over time, one row per app with Quit and Restart, who made your creature feel bad this week, apps that keep growing, plus swap, battery health, CPU temperature, local servers and developer leftovers.

Pixel's report

Fine 87% of the time · sweaty for 33 min

Mood today

● Sick 29 min● Sweaty 33 min● Happy 6 h 57 m
Memory used62%
CPU91%
Battery71%
Disk free31%

Apps right now

  • Chrome6.2 GB
  • Docker2.7 GB
  • Slackgrowing3.6 GB
  • Xcode1.8 GB
  • Spotlight801 MB

Who made Pixel feel bad

Docker●2× · 52 min

Chrome●1× · 30 min

Developer leftovers

node_modules12 GB

npm and Yarn caches9.7 GB

And the rest

Small things that make it yours.

  • “It's supposed to be busy”

    Building, rendering, exporting? Tell Bytebud Docker is allowed to be busy for an hour, today or always, and it stops counting.

  • Quiet on calls

    Nudges wait while your camera or mic is on, or something is full screen, and go out afterwards only if the problem is still there.

  • Leaks, caught

    “Slack has grown from 0.9 GB to 3.6 GB since this morning.” One click restarts it: it quits normally, saves, and opens again.

  • Developer leftovers

    See how much DerivedData, simulators, node_modules, package caches and Docker images take, with the command to clean each. Bytebud never deletes them for you.

  • Talks to your agents

    Turn on local sharing and Claude, Cursor or any MCP client can ask how your Mac is doing. Read-only, and it never leaves your Mac.

  • One shortcut away

    Press ⌃⌥B from anywhere to open the Den.

  • Three to choose from

    Bud, Pip or Nib, picked at hatching. Hats, scarves and a crown appear as your care streak grows.

  • Fix it from the notification

    Nudges carry a Fix it button that runs the same confirmed action as the Den.

  • A one-line recap at night

    “Fine 92% of today. Docker made Pixel sweat once. Streak 5.” Pick the hour, or turn it off.

  • Battery drain, named

    On battery it ranks apps by real power in watts, so Sleepy can point at the one draining you.

  • Forgotten servers

    The report lists everything listening on a port, who started it and how long ago, with a polite Stop.

  • Never-quit list

    Terminals are protected by default. Add any app and Bytebud will never offer to quit it.

It grows

Days, not minutes. Never punishing.

You name it when it hatches. It grows on days you actually use the Mac, and a day is well cared for when no mood stayed bad for more than 30 minutes. It never dies and never guilt-trips.

Eggday 0
Hatchlingday 1
Kidday 7
Grownday 30

Mood cards, one click to share

Adoption fee

One payment. Yours.

All 1.x updates included. No trial: the demo above shows everything. Refunds within 14 days of purchase, then sales are final.

  • Personal
    $9once · early bird, 100 of 100 left, then $19
    • One Mac
    • All 1.x updates
    • License key by email, with the adoption certificate
    • Refundable for 14 days
    Adopt one Bytebud
  • Family
    $29once
    • Three Macs
    • All 1.x updates
    • Move seats between Macs any time
    • Refundable for 14 days
    Adopt three

Secure checkout by Dodo Payments, merchant of record; taxes handled and INR pricing for India. Read the refund policy and privacy policy.

Questions people ask.

Troubleshooting, the way a care manual would do it.

RunCat shows one signal, CPU, as running speed. It has no moods, no diagnosis and no buttons. Keep it if you like the runner. Bytebud is for people who want to know why, and fix it in one click.

There's no trial. The demo at the top of this page shows every mood and every button. Bytebud downloads free and hatches, then sleeps until it's adopted with a license key. If it isn't for you, email hello@bytebud.fyi within 14 days of purchase for a full refund. After that, sales are final. See the refund policy.

Memory pressure was critical for two minutes, which usually shows up as slowness a little later. Press Why? to see the culprit. If an app is busy on purpose, tell Bytebud it's supposed to be busy. If it still feels wrong, use “This is wrong” in the Den to send us the numbers.

You didn't. The app was asked to quit normally and would have offered to save. If an app skipped its own save prompt, that's a bug in that app: tell us, and put it on your never-quit list.

Emptying the Trash goes through Finder, which triggers macOS's one-time Automation prompt. Allow it, or press “Show Trash in Finder” and empty it yourself. Nothing else uses that permission.

Settings → License → Deactivate this Mac, then activate on the new one. Personal is one Mac, Family is three.

The full report shows the hottest CPU core and fan speeds when your Mac shares them. They never set a mood: Bytebud reads macOS's own thermal state for that.

No. Bytebud is a Mac creature.

Still have a question? Email hello@bytebud.fyi

Give your Mac a bud.

Hatch it in under a minute. It lives in your menu bar and tells you when something's wrong.

Adopt for $9Download