Latest release on GitHub

The Mac desktop,
on your Windows PC

A Dock, menu bar, Dynamic Island, Finder, Widgets and Spotlight for Windows 11. Written in Rust, open source and free forever.

Download for Windows Star on GitHub

Free and open source. Runs on top of Explorer, nothing replaced.

A Windows 11 desktop running DockSide with a macOS-style menu bar, Dynamic Island, Dock, Finder window and widgets
  • RustNative
  • ~0%Idle CPU
  • FreeForever
  • OpenSource
  • LiquidGlass
  • Direct2DRendering
  • VsyncAnimations
  • HotReload config
  • Win 11Built for

The upgrade your PC deserves

Everything you love about the Mac desktop, rebuilt natively for Windows 11.

DockSide's Dock with icons magnifying under the cursor

The Dock

Real magnification, the launch bounce, running dots, drag to reorder and auto-hide.

The Dynamic Island expanded at the top of the screen

Dynamic Island

A pill that springs between music, timers, alerts and your files.

DockSide's menu bar with a menu open

The menu bar

File, Edit, View and Window that drive the app you're in.

Spotlight search open over the desktop

Spotlight

Alt+Space for apps, files, math and every Windows setting.

A Finder window with a glass sidebar showing files

Finder

Everything File Explorer does, in Finder's clothes.

Sonoma-style widgets on the desktop

Widgets

Sonoma-style cards that live on your wallpaper.

Liquid Glass refracting the content behind it

Liquid Glass

Glass that really refracts, with a GPU lens shader.

The Dynamic Island showing a virtual desktop switch

Desktops

Alt+1 to 9 jumps straight there, animated in the island.

Dynamic Island

It's there when you need it.

Music, files, alerts and anything you script show up at the top of the screen, then step aside when they're done.

The island's Now Playing player with artwork and controls

Now Playing, from anything. Spotify, your browser or Media Player. Artwork, a waveform tinted to match, scrubbing, swipe to skip and synced lyrics.

Files held on the island's shelf with Quick Action tiles

Drop files at the top of the screen. Hold them on the shelf, then drag them out where you need them. Convert, zip or pull the text out of pictures right there.

A Live Activity showing build progress in the island

Your builds, timers and downloads, live. Anything that can run a command can put progress, a countdown or a status in the island.

Notifications stacked by app in the island

Notifications, stacked by app. Banners drop from the island, then wait in a stack in step with Windows' notification center. Swipe one away to dismiss it.

The volume HUD with a per-app mixer

Goodbye, Windows volume popup. Volume and brightness show in the island. Drag the bar, scroll over the pill, or open a mixer for every app.

A Discord voice channel with speakers in the island

Discord voice, at a glance. See your channel and who's talking, with mute, deafen and leave one click away.

For builders

Put anything
in the island.

One command starts a Live Activity. Add progress, a countdown, a color or an icon, and click through to open a file, app or URL when it's done.

  • Up to 8 activities at once
  • Works from any script, CI job or app
  • Or send JSON straight from your own app
Terminal
> dockside activity start build --title "Build" --progress 0%
> dockside activity update build --progress 45% --value "45/100"
> dockside activity end build --subtitle "Finished"
Finder

File Explorer, in Finder's clothes.

Every shell location, every view and every shortcut you already know, with a glass sidebar like macOS Tahoe.

A full DockSide Finder window with tabs, sidebar and column view

Icon, list, column and gallery

Sort by any column, group by kind or date, preview pane and Quick Look with Space.

The whole Windows menu, too

macOS right-click items, plus "More Options" with 7-Zip, Git and every app extension.

Undo that actually works

Ctrl+Z moves, copies, renames and deletes, through Windows' own progress dialogs.

Everywhere Explorer goes

This PC, network shares, the Recycle Bin, phones, cameras and zip files.

Tabs and windows

Ctrl+T, middle-click a folder, Ctrl+Tab. Ctrl+N opens the folder you're in.

Search as you type

Filter with kind:image date:thisweek size:large right from the toolbar.

Some more highlights.

Inline calculator

Type 12*4.5+3 in Spotlight, press Enter and the answer is on your clipboard.

Also in SpotlightWeb search fallback

LaTeX lookup

Start with a backslash to search about 200 KaTeX commands, with previews.

Made forNotion equations

System commands

"brightness 60", "dark mode", "lock" or any Settings page, straight from Spotlight.

FindsEvery Windows Settings page

Mic and camera dots

An orange or green dot while an app is listening or watching, with its name.

Shows inThe Dynamic Island

Timers and stopwatch

Start one from the island or just type "timer 10m" into Spotlight.

Lives inThe island, counting down

Synced lyrics

The words follow the song, line by line, right in the expanded player.

Fromlrclib.net

Weather and world clocks

Current, hourly and 5-day weather, with up to four time zones beside it.

Powered byOpen-Meteo

Batteries

Your PC and every connected Bluetooth device, with a heads-up when one runs low.

Also showsDevices connecting

Meetings

Your next meeting from the Windows calendar, a few minutes before it starts.

ReadsWindows Calendar

Everything you love about the Mac, on the PC you already own. No new hardware, no subscription, nothing replaced. Just a faster, calmer desktop.

Free. Light. Yours.

DockSide is built to stay out of your way.

Free, forever.

No trial. No tiers.

Every feature, every update, for nothing. The code is on GitHub for anyone to read and improve.

Nothing replaced.

It runs on top of Explorer.

The Windows taskbar hides while DockSide runs and always comes back when it quits.

Feather-light.

About 0% CPU at idle.

Native Rust, Direct2D and vsync-paced animations. It sleeps until something moves.

Instant config.

Save the file, see the change.

A plain TOML file with hot reload, and only the part you changed redraws.

Light and dark.

It follows Windows.

Accent colors, per-monitor DPI and a menu bar that picks its text color from your wallpaper.

Made in the open.

Built with its community.

Ideas, bugs and builds happen in the open on GitHub and Discord.

DockSide's System Settings window
System Settings

Make it
truly yours.

A System Settings window for everything: Dock size and magnification, menu bar style, glass or solid, accent color, fonts, widgets and start at login.

  • Light, Dark or Auto
  • Custom icons for any Dock app
  • Every island source can be switched off

Get DockSide.

Download it, run it, and your desktop is a Mac. Quit any time and Windows is exactly how you left it.

Freeforever
  • Dock, menu bar, island, Finder, Widgets and Spotlight
  • Every future version included
  • Open source on GitHub
  • An active Discord community
  • Native, private and local-first
Download for Windows

Windows 11 · 64-bit

Questions, answered.

Does DockSide replace Explorer or change Windows?

No. It runs on top of Explorer. The Windows taskbar is hidden while DockSide runs and is restored when it exits. Nothing is installed into the system.

What do I need to run it?

Windows 11 with Transparency effects on (Settings › Personalization › Colors) for the blurred glass. Virtual desktop shortcuts use Windows 11 24H2 or newer.

The taskbar didn't come back. What now?

If DockSide is ever force-closed, run dockside.exe --restore-taskbar and the taskbar returns.

Is it really free?

Yes. DockSide is free and open source. There's nothing to buy and no account to make.

How do I change settings?

Open System Settings from the logo menu, or edit %APPDATA%\DockSide\config.toml by hand. Changes apply as soon as you save.

Can I start it with Windows?

Turn on "Start DockSide at login" in Settings › General.