Continue with Mac Capture¶

Bob Mac Capture is an optional native menu-bar panel for macOS. It is a thin client of the CLI: it never parses capture grammar or writes the vault itself, it runs bob, renders the preview, and submits one bob capture call per draft. The automated tutorial replay runs on Linux and never exercises this app; follow the steps on a Mac by hand.

1. Build, bundle, and launch from source¶

git clone https://github.com/bobs-org/bob-mac-capture.git
cd bob-mac-capture
just build

just bundle

just bundle creates .build/bundle/Bob Mac Capture.app. Install it with:

just install ~/Applications

Then launch the installed copy:

open ~/Applications/"Bob Mac Capture.app"

Building needs macOS 26 with Command Line Tools for Xcode 26+ or Xcode 26+, with Swift resolved through ./Scripts/xcode-swift.sh rather than a bare swift on PATH. For the full toolchain, signing, and diagnosis steps, see Install, Build, and README › Signing.

2. Select Bob and the demo vault¶

which bob
echo "$BOB_DIR"

In Settings, under the Bob section, set Executable override to the installed bob executable and Vault path to the demo $BOB_DIR copy from the tutorial. Resolved path shows what the app actually uses. When no override is set, the app finds bob at ~/.cargo/bin/bob, ~/bin/bob, /opt/homebrew/bin/bob, or /usr/local/bin/bob; use Recheck Bob after changing either field.

Grant Accessibility only for Highlights tabs. The panel requests it once through the system prompt; capture and the ledger agenda work without it. Recovery is in Restore Mac Capture permissions.

3. Capture once and read the result¶

Submit this new draft in the panel (it uses a fresh ID the tutorial never creates):

Sharpen the shears @workshop^shears

bob capture 'Sharpen the shears @workshop^shears'

The fenced command shows the CLI semantics of the same draft: after the tutorial, ^seed-packet and ^seedlings already exist, so this fresh ^shears ID routes a new task to workshop.md. Type the plain text in the panel, read its preview, and submit. The panel hides only after bob reports success for the whole draft, and the task lands in workshop.md exactly as the CLI writes it. This Mac panel path was validated against the post-tutorial demo state from source; Linux replay never runs the Mac GUI.

Next¶

• Your first Bob day — the CLI path this panel submits to
• How Bob fits together — the capture round trip
• Mac Capture reference — install, keys, and protocol
• Fix Mac Capture when bob is not resolved