“Desktop history, openly rebuilt for Mac.”
Taskintosh is a native macOS retro desktop and taskbar recreation platform. It lets Mac users replace or supplement the traditional Dock with faithful, clean-room recreations of Windows-era taskbars, Start menus, system trays, window behaviors, animations, and interaction patterns from desktop-computing history.
Built with Swift, SwiftUI, AppKit, and Core Graphics, Taskintosh currently includes distinct Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11 experiences. Each era is packaged independently so the project can be explored as both a practical Mac utility and an open-source study of desktop interface history.
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Taskintosh is not a superficial skin engine. Different computing eras introduced fundamentally distinct geometries, interaction models, and feedback paradigms.
An Era defines:
- Geometry & Position: Heights, margins, screen edge docking, multi-monitor alignment.
- Start Button & Menu: Tactile 3D bevels, branding banners, hierarchical cascades, and search.
- Task Management: Dynamic button sizing, active/sunken states with authentic dither patterns, window minimization, and activation.
- System Tray & Live Clock: Sunken bevel status areas, volume popovers, and real-time clock updates.
- Auto-Hide Mechanics: Precision mouse-tracking edge triggers with configurable slide animations.
- Package Architecture: Self-contained
.taskintosh-erapacks that can be installed without recompiling the application.
Taskintosh ships with six original, legally clean reference Eras: Windows 95 Classic, Windows XP Luna, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, and Windows 11. Earlier experimental era packs are retained in ArchivedEras/ and are not bundled.
For a smaller, delightfully fake side project, Taskintosh also includes ProceduralWindowsUpdate: a deterministic, theatrical Windows Update simulator that never touches the real system. Its centerpiece is an era-authentic Windows 95/98/ME update dialog, complete with compact Win32 geometry, classic navy title bars, chunky recessed progress bars, generated KB details, stalls, pacing, and optional Taskintosh easter eggs. The self-contained Swift package includes a clean interactive preview and test suite, so it can be explored independently of the main taskbar app.
Explore the Procedural Windows Update side project →
- Authentic 3D Bevels: Pixel-accurate raised, sunken, and etched CoreGraphics rendering with genuine light highlight, shadow, and dark shadow borders.
- Classic Start Button: Tactile button with original 4-quadrant geometric retro emblem and bold typography.
- Start Menus: Era-specific layouts ranging from the Windows 95 Programs cascade to XP's two-column menu, Windows 7's glass menu, Windows 8 tiles, Windows 10's hybrid menu, and Windows 11's centered launcher.
- Dynamic Task Buttons: Reflects actual running macOS regular GUI applications. Active applications feature the iconic 50% checkerboard sunken dither pattern; clicking the active button minimizes the app.
- System Tray: Sunken bezel clock updating every second, volume indicator, and Era Switcher shortcut.
- Functional Retro Dialogs: Genuine Run... dialog (opens apps, URLs, paths, terminal commands) and Shut Down... dialog (handles macOS sleep, restart, and shutdown).
Double-click Launch Taskintosh.command in the project root. It will compile, package Taskintosh.app, and launch it immediately.
# Clone or enter directory
cd TaskinTosh
# Build release package
./scripts/package-app.sh
# Launch the app bundle
open build/Taskintosh.appswift run Taskintosh- Operating System: macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later (Apple Silicon & Intel).
- Zero-Permission Default (App-Level Mode): Out of the box, Taskintosh tracks all running applications (
activationPolicy == .regular), app focus changes, activation, and minimization viaNSWorkspacenotifications with zero special permissions. - Optional Window-Level Tracking: If macOS Accessibility permissions are granted, Taskintosh can inspect individual windows, perform targeted window raises, and track minimized states per window. If not granted, Taskintosh falls back gracefully.
- macOS Dock Coexistence: Taskintosh includes a one-click helper in the Era Manager to toggle auto-hiding of the native macOS Dock (
defaults write com.apple.dock autohide -bool true && killall Dock).
TaskinTosh/
├── Package.swift # SwiftPM manifest (Taskintosh, TaskintoshKit, TaskintoshTests)
├── Launch Taskintosh.command # Double-clickable Finder launcher
├── scripts/
│ ├── build.sh # Build executable
│ ├── run.sh # Run in debug mode
│ └── package-app.sh # Assemble Taskintosh.app bundle
├── Sources/
│ ├── TaskintoshKit/ # Reusable native engine & Era runtime
│ │ ├── Engine/ # RunningAppWatcher, DisplayManager, AppCatalog, SystemMonitor
│ │ ├── Era/ # EraPackage, EraManager, EraModels
│ │ ├── Graphics/ # BevelRenderer, ProceduralIcons
│ │ ├── Models/ # TaskItem
│ │ └── Resources/Eras/ # Bundled .taskintosh-era packages
│ │ ├── Windows95.taskintosh-era/
│ │ ├── WindowsXP.taskintosh-era/
│ │ ├── Windows7.taskintosh-era/
│ │ ├── Windows8.taskintosh-era/
│ │ ├── Windows10.taskintosh-era/
│ │ └── Windows11.taskintosh-era/
│ │ ├── manifest.json
│ │ ├── layout.json
│ │ ├── theme.json
│ │ ├── behaviors.json
│ │ └── assets/
│ └── Taskintosh/ # Native AppKit UI application
│ ├── AppDelegate.swift # Application lifecycle & menu bar status item
│ ├── main.swift # Entry point (accessory activation policy)
│ └── UI/ # TaskbarPanel, TaskbarView, StartMenuWindow, RunDialog, etc.
├── Tests/TaskintoshTests/ # Unit tests (EraPackageTests, BevelRendererTests, etc.)
├── ARCHITECTURE.md # Detailed architectural design
├── ERA-SPEC.md # Complete .taskintosh-era format specification
├── DEVELOPMENT.md # Development workflow & testing guide
├── ROADMAP.md # Vision & planned historical eras
├── LEGAL-ASSET-NOTES.md # Clean-room legal compliance & asset strategy
└── CHANGELOG.md # Release history
Taskintosh is released under the MIT License. It is an original, clean-room recreation and does not contain or redistribute any proprietary Microsoft artwork, copyrighted trademarks, commercial sound files, or binary extracts. See LEGAL-ASSET-NOTES.md for full compliance details.
