1.5.1

Fixes

• Fix scroll lag when script editors are visible

1.5.0

Features

• Add "Calendar event ended" trigger
• Modern sidebar-based Settings window

Inverse events

Events that have an inverse (monitor connected/disconnected, app launched/quit) can now be configured with actions for both states in the same rule.

The debounce/throttle mechanism now also takes the inverse into account, and only fires the action when the event settles on one of the states.

1.4.2

Fixes

• Fix Shortcuts selector not being populated on high shortcuts count

1.4.1

Fixes

• Fix performance regression on app launch time

1.4.0

Features

• Glassy style on macOS 26

Fixes

• Fix trial not starting correctly on some systems
• The check for updates window now appears in front as it should
• Fix menubar menu disappearing mid-usage sometimes

1.3.3

Improvements

• Deleting a profile now asks whether to delete its rules or move them to the default profile

Bug Fixes

• Fixed rules from inactive profiles still firing when they shared a trigger type with an active rule
  • the shared trigger pool introduced in 1.3.2 was delivering events to all subscribers regardless of whether their handle was started or stopped
  • switching profiles now correctly silences rules that aren't part of the selected profile

1.3.2

Improvements

• Action History entries are easier to scan at a glance, with rule names front and center
• Multiple rules using the same trigger type now share a single system listener, reducing resource overhead and avoiding duplicate event subscriptions

1.3.1

Features

• Screen recording app detection: new sub-events under the Privacy trigger that identify which apps are recording your screen
  • recording started: fires when screen recording begins, with a text condition to match by app name (e.g. "when Zoom starts recording")
  • recording stopped: fires when all recording stops
  • recording app changed: fires whenever the set of recording apps changes (app added or removed while recording is already active)
  • exposes {recordingApp}, {recordingApps}, {recordingAppBundleID}, {recordingAppBundleIDs}, and {isInUse} for use in scripts, notifications, and URLs
  • the existing privacy indicator sub-event (screen recording on / off) is preserved for simple detection without app-level detail

Improvements

• Exporting rules now includes profiles and group assignments
  • importing a backup fully restores your organization, not just the rules themselves
  • old exports without profile data are still supported

1.3.0

Improvements

• Added option to hide the menu bar icon for fully headless operation (Settings > General). You can always get back by opening Crank from Finder or Spotlight.
• Syntax highlighting in all script editors (shell, AppleScript, and trigger scripts)
• Script runner picker for shell script actions and trigger scripts: choose between zsh, python3, ruby, perl, swift, or a custom binary path
• Swift scripts are automatically compiled and cached for fast execution. Recompilation only happens when the script changes. A dedicated Compile button lets you check for errors before running.
• Compilation errors during background execution trigger a notification that opens the rule for inspection

Fixes

• Fixed a bug where opening Crank while already running could create duplicate main windows
• The main window now correctly remembers its last size and position between launches

1.2.5

Improvements

• Disable smart quotes, autocorrect and autocomplete in script editors
• The app now launches quietly into the menubar after the first run, without showing the main window or dock icon. Opening the app again from Finder or Spotlight will bring up the main window as expected.
• Added Expand All and Collapse All toolbar buttons for rule groups
• Actions are now suppressed while the MacBook lid is closed (can be toggled in Settings > Rules)
• New "After wake buffer" setting to drop or delay events for a configurable duration after waking from sleep
• Boolean conditions (like "has text", "charging", "is focused") now show a clearer true/false picker instead of the generic operator and text field
• New "Activate Profile" action to switch profiles automatically when a trigger fires
• Shell script exit code is now shown at the end of the output panel (blue for success, red for failure)
• Open URL action now has an "Activate App" setting to control whether the target app is brought to the foreground. Defaults to off for Raycast and BetterTouchTool URLs.

1.2.4

Features

• Custom tags for Finder file events

Improvements

• Allow more compact window sizes

1.2.3

Features

• Message from myself: new sub-event for the Messages trigger. Fires when you send a message to yourself, whether to your phone number or email.
• Message receiver: message events now include a {messageReceiver} variable. "Message Sent" matches against the receiver by default.
• Custom Finder tags: the Spotlight "Tagged" trigger now shows all your Finder tags, not just the 7 default colors.

1.2.2

Features

• Rule names: rules can now have a custom name at the top of the row. Click to edit, leave empty to hide.
• Connection state changed: new sub-event for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and LAN triggers that fires on both connect and disconnect. Includes a {connectionState} variable ("connected" or "disconnected") so you can handle both in one rule.

Improvements

• Scrolling performance: fixed lag when scrolling the triggers view while script editors were visible.

1.2.1

Fixes

• Imported rules now appear in the active profile: rules imported via URL scheme or file were added to the rule list but not assigned to the active profile, making them invisible in the triggers view

1.2.0

Features

• Resource usage triggers: 6 new trigger types for monitoring system resources using native macOS APIs (Mach kernel, IOKit, proc_pidinfo)

  • CPU Usage: system-wide or per-app CPU threshold monitoring
  • GPU Usage: system-wide GPU utilization threshold
  • RAM Usage: system-wide or per-app memory threshold (percentage or MB)
  • Thermal State: react to thermal state changes (nominal, fair, serious, critical)
  • Swap Memory: detect swap activation/deactivation or usage thresholds
  • Disk Usage: storage usage threshold per volume

• Spotlight trigger: monitor files system-wide using live Spotlight queries — all matching runs in the Spotlight daemon, not in Crank

  • file tagged: react when a file gets a Finder color tag (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Gray)
  • content type: match files by UTI content type with string comparisons (equals for UTI conformance, contains, starts with, ends with, like)
  • file size: detect files exceeding a size threshold
  • file name: match files by display name with string predicates
  • query restarts are debounced (2s) so typing in the condition field doesn't spam Spotlight
  • initial results are suppressed — only newly matching files fire events

• App not responding detection: two new sub-events for the Application trigger

  • not responding fires when an app becomes unresponsive (beach ball)
  • responding again fires when it recovers
  • uses WindowServer notifications for instant, zero-overhead detection

• Audio trigger: react to audio device changes using CoreAudio property listeners (no polling)

  • output device changed: fires when the default output device switches
  • input device changed: fires when the default input device switches
  • output device connected: fires when a new output device appears
  • input device connected: fires when a new input device appears
  • exposes {deviceName} so actions can match or reference the specific device

• App Windows trigger: monitor window lifecycle events across all apps using the Accessibility API

  • window opened: fires when a new window appears
  • window closed: fires when a window is destroyed
  • window focused: fires when a window receives focus
  • window defocused: fires when a window loses focus
  • optionally filter to a single app
  • exposes {windowTitle}, {appName}, {bundleID}, {windowBoundsX}, {windowBoundsY}, {windowBoundsWidth}, {windowBoundsHeight}

• Webhook trigger: subscribe to ntfy.sh topics and fire when a message arrives

  • persistent streaming connection with automatic reconnect and exponential backoff
  • exposes {ntfyMessage}, {ntfyTitle}, {ntfyTopic}, {ntfyPriority}, {ntfyTags}

• Privacy trigger: detect when macOS privacy indicators are active by reading the Control Center menu bar icon's accessibility label (replaces the old Camera trigger)

  • camera on / off: fires when the camera indicator appears or disappears
  • microphone on / off: fires when the microphone indicator appears or disappears
  • screen recording on / off: fires when the screen recording indicator appears or disappears
  • location on / off: fires when the location indicator appears or disappears
  • polls the Control Center status item every 2 seconds via the Accessibility API
  • exposes {privacyIndicator} with the indicator name (Camera, Microphone, Screen Recording, or Location)

• LAN trigger: detect Ethernet cable connect/disconnect using SCDynamicStore link state monitoring

  • connected: fires when an Ethernet interface gets link
  • disconnected: fires when link is lost
  • exposes {interface} with the BSD interface name (e.g. en0)
  • 5-second polling fallback for reliability

• Visual Change trigger: fire when a Pipiri PiP window detects that the captured content has changed or gone idle

  • two sub-events: change detected and idle detected
  • exposes {bundleID}, {windowID}, and {windowTitle} template variables
  • requires Pipiri with idle detection enabled on the PiP panel
  • if Pipiri is not installed, the sub-events are disabled and a link to the app is shown in the menu

• Process trigger: watch any process, not just .app bundles

  • launched: fires when a new process appears
  • quit: fires when a process disappears
  • filter by process name (e.g. coreaudiod, Dock, mds_stores) using the standard text condition
  • exposes {processName}, {processPath}, and {pid} template variables
  • polls the process list every 2 seconds via proc_listallpids/proc_pidpath

• Notifications trigger (macOS 15+): fires on any incoming notification

  • watches the system notification database for new entries
  • filter by app name using the text condition
  • exposes {appName}, {bundleID}, {notificationTitle}, {notificationSubtitle}, {notificationBody}

• Messages trigger: iMessage and SMS, incoming and outgoing

  • reads the Messages database (chat.db) for new rows
  • two sub-events: message received and message sent
  • filter by sender (phone number or email)
  • exposes {messageSender}, {messageText}, {messageService}, {isFromMe}, {messageAttachments}

• Mail trigger: fires when Apple Mail receives an email

  • watches Mail's envelope index database for new messages
  • filter by sender email address
  • exposes {mailSubject}, {mailSenderAddress}, {mailSenderName}, {mailBody}, {mailToAddress}, {mailAttachments}

• Volume trigger: fires when an external drive or disk image is mounted or unmounted

  • uses NSWorkspace.didMountNotification / didUnmountNotification, no polling
  • two sub-events: mounted and unmounted
  • filter by volume name using the text condition
  • exposes {volumeName} and {volumePath} template variables

• Periodic task trigger: fire on a cron schedule using standard 5-field expressions (minute, hour, day-of-month, month, day-of-week)

  • supports *, */N steps, N-M ranges, and N,M lists
  • computes the next matching time and schedules a single timer instead of polling every minute
  • shows the next fire time in the rule row
  • exposes {hour} and {minute}

• Boot trigger: fires once after system boot if Crank launches within 5 minutes of startup

  • checks ProcessInfo.systemUptime on start
  • persists the boot timestamp to UserDefaults so restarting the app within the same boot session won't re-trigger
  • useful for mounting network drives, launching apps, or running setup scripts on login

• Rule profiles: organize rules into named profiles (e.g. "Work", "Home") and switch between them from the toolbar or menu bar

  • a Default profile is created automatically with all existing rules
  • creating a new profile starts empty; add rules from the sidebar as usual
  • switching profiles stops triggers for hidden rules and starts triggers for visible ones
  • each profile has a customizable icon (50 SF Symbols to choose from)
  • right-click any rule to move it to a different profile
  • rename or delete the active profile from the toolbar profile menu
  • profiles are also accessible from the menu bar extra when more than one exists

• Gemini API key stored in Keychain: the API key is now saved in the macOS Keychain instead of UserDefaults; existing keys are migrated automatically on launch

Improvements

• Separate lock/unlock and sleep/wake events: the old login / wake / unlock and sleep / standby / lock sub-events are now four independent sub-events (screen locked, screen unlocked, sleep, wake) so you can target each one individually
• Recursive file watching toggle: the File Watcher trigger now has a Recursive setting (on by default) that controls whether subfolders are included, turn it off to watch only the top-level directory
• Current values: all triggers now report their current state in the rule row, so you can see live readings (CPU %, battery level, thermal state, etc.) without waiting for an event to fire
• Event log value badges: fixed cursor flickering and scroll jitter when hovering over event value badges

1.1.0

Features

• System Appearance trigger: react to macOS dark/light mode changes
  • three sub-events: Appearance Changed, Dark Mode, Light Mode
  • exposes {isDarkMode} and {appearanceName} template variables for actions
• Script trigger: run a custom shell script on a configurable polling interval (1s minimum) and fire events based on the result
  • exit code 0 triggers the event, non-zero skips it
  • stdout key=value lines are parsed into template variables available in actions
  • built-in help text explains the contract directly in the editor
• User activity trigger: detect if the user was idle or active for more than x seconds
• Rule sharing via web link: shared rules now use https://crank.lowtechguys.com/rule/… URLs that redirect to the crank:// scheme, making them shareable on platforms that don't allow custom URL schemes

Improvements

• Delete rule button now asks for confirmation (with a Don't ask again option)
• Script editors (shell script, AppleScript, script trigger) are capped at 600 px height to keep the UI manageable
• Tool availability detection now always searches common paths (/opt/homebrew/bin, ~/.local/bin, ~/.cargo/bin, etc.) so tools installed via Homebrew or Cargo are found reliably
• All bundled shortcuts are re-signed for compatibility
• Added Get Text from PDF shortcut

1.0.1

Fixes

• Fix Apple Events permissions

1.0.0

Initial release