The Meadow
Stags, does, bucks, and moose wander through tall grass. They graze, look around, rest, and sleep according to their own circadian rhythm. Shadows lengthen as the sun sets.
erewh
takes you where you imagine.
first thingno. 01 · macOS
erewh horizon
A small living world along the bottom of your screen.
A native macOS app that brings living, autonomous worlds to the bottom of your screen. Wild animals, the open sea, and astronauts going about their day while you work.
brew install acabelloj/tap/desktop-petNot notarized by Apple, so the .dmg needs one extra step the first time. The Homebrew command skips it.
- NativeBuilt in Swift & AppKit
- FreeNo subscription, no ads
- Real skyFollows real solar & lunar time
- Zero effortNo feeding, no chores
living worlds
Three worlds that follow the real sky
All Four Seasons
Spring flowers and puddles, summer straw, autumn mist, and winter snow. The meadow follows the calendar, wherever you are in the world.
The Sea
Buoys rock with the swell while fins slice quietly through the water. Ships and gulls cross the horizon.
The Moon
Lunar landers, rovers, and astronauts exploring desolate craters while the real Earth passes through its true phases overhead.
It isn't another window fighting for your attention. It lives on the floor of your display, out of the way, somewhere you'd rather be.
out of your way
Lives alongside your work
- 01
Click straight through
The world rests in a transparent layer. Clicks pass to whatever window or app you are actually using.
- 02
Zero focus theft
It never interrupts your keystrokes, never steals window focus, and floats above or tucks below your Dock.
- 03
Autonomous ecosystems
Nobody begs for food or attention. The inhabitants have their own drives (rest, hunger, curiosity) and live their own lives.
- 04
Synced with reality
Day, dusk, night, and seasons follow your real local time and astronomy.
- 05
Choose where you go
Switch worlds from the menu bar: a quiet forest, the open sea, or the surface of the Moon.
- 06
Update detection
It notices on its own when a new version is out. Every update is verified with an Ed25519 signature.
from the maker
Why I made it
I wanted a breath of fresh air on my screen. A small window into another place while spending long hours coding. It ended up bringing so much peace during hard days that I decided to polish it into a real companion you can take wherever you go.
If having a small living world brings you a moment of calm, you can support its development on Ko-fi. It stays 100% free either way.
Support on Ko-fiGet erewh horizon
macOS 13+ on Apple Silicon. Homebrew or a one-liner.
Homebrew
brew install acabelloj/tap/desktop-petShell
bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/acabelloj/desktop-pet-releases/main/install.sh)Not notarized by Apple, so the .dmg needs one extra step the first time. The Homebrew command skips it.
First time opening the .dmg?
macOS checks un-notarized apps on first open. You only have to grant permission once. Homebrew and the curl command skip this step completely.
- Drag DesktopPet to Applications, then open it from there.
- When macOS asks to verify, click Done (don't move to Trash).
- Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, and scroll down to Security.
- Click Open Anyway next to DesktopPet, then confirm with Touch ID or password.
running right here, in your browser