Changelog
Every release of Kepler, newest first.
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Kepler 0.9.0 brings fast file search powered by FSearch, smarter app matching, and a launcher that keeps up as you type while using less memory. Licenses are gone too, so every update channel is open to everyone.
- File Search now runs on FSearch, the open-source file search engine by Noah Dunnagan (github.com/noahdunnagan/fsearch). Its index is built and stored on your Mac. Full Disk Access is optional: grant it only if you want results from protected folders.
- Prefer another file search? Pick one from your installed plugins and keep your shortcuts, file actions, and Quick Look previews.
- Plugins can connect to local tools, but only after you allow it.
- Plugins can show images from the web, but only from sites you've allowed.
Changed
12- Files now show up in the main launcher. If you hid them before, they stay hidden.
- File Search works right away, with no folders to set up.
- Short searches find the right app:
vscfinds Visual Studio Code. - Apps stay on top in everyday searches, while searching for a filename still brings up the right file first.
- Kepler finds new apps on its own, so there's no index to rebuild.
- Typing feels smoother, and Kepler uses less memory.
- Every update channel is open to everyone, no license needed.
- Quick Links, Custom Bangs, aliases, and plugin lists are easier to edit. Double-click to edit, press Delete to remove.
- Shortcut settings are clearer and easier to record.
- Clipboard images are kept reliably, and Clipboard history settings are back.
- Turning a plugin back on restores its Look Ahead setting.
- Wick timer and stopwatch controls are more reliable.
Fixed
17- Results no longer jump under your pointer when you hover.
- The launcher responds to clicks again after you reopen it.
- Look Ahead cards and Wick timer controls respond to clicks again.
- Paste goes to the right app and no longer crashes right after launch.
- Kepler tells you when it can't copy a clipboard image.
- Results update as you type in Japanese, Chinese, and other input methods.
- Kepler no longer hangs when another app or Shortcuts stops responding.
- Plugin settings warn you when a shortcut is already taken.
- No more duplicate results, and Apple's background helper apps stay out of your app list.
- Plugin results show up more reliably, including file results from plugins.
- Favorites and aliases work again after upgrading, and Kepler repairs its own data if it gets damaged.
- System Settings search stays fast, and icons look sharper.
- Bang suggestions appear when you type
!, and Apple Music searches your country's store. - Weather tells you more clearly what went wrong.
- Currency conversions show results right away.
- Quick Links has a fresh green icon.
- Quitting Kepler through AppleScript works again.
- Plugins that freeze are stopped automatically, so Kepler stays responsive.
- Plugins can only do what you've allowed them to.
- Installing a plugin from a link asks you first, and only installs plugins from the catalog.
- If a plugin install or update fails, your current version stays intact.
- Each plugin is kept separate from the others.
Thursday Update: File Search tidy-up
A small File Search update: simpler settings, more useful defaults, and a fix for searches opened with a shortcut.
- Search folders now show folder icons, names, and paths so they're easier to tell apart.
- Add multiple search folders in one go.
- Moved exclusions and Rebuild Index into an Advanced section, with clearer guidance on exclusion patterns.
- File Search now defaults to Desktop, Documents, and Downloads instead of just Documents. Existing folder selections stay as they are.
- Fixed File Search not returning results when opened with its keyboard shortcut.
Saturday Update: First look at quick links & bug fixes
- Introduced Quick Links, currently supporting websites and custom web searches.
- Fixed duplicate slash-command results when multiple aliases activate the same command.
- Fixed file search omitting valid partial filename matches.
- Fixed pixel-to-point conversions being mistaken for translation requests.
- Fixed the launcher obscuring confirmation dialogs for system actions and application uninstallation.
- Fixed issue with window bar buttons
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Saturday Update: Small Improvements
A little Saturday polish: a launcher that feels more at home on your Mac, roomier settings, and two new ways to clear your workspace.
- Clear your workspace with two new SystemActions:
Quit all appsandQuit all apps but foremost. - Set Kepler to switch to your preferred keyboard input language automatically when it opens.
- Clearer errors and better error handling when browsing plugins or viewing their details.
- Refined the launcher for a more native Mac feel.
- Reworked the Shortcuts settings page.
- Gave the settings window more breathing room.
- Window controls now sit comfortably inside the window on every settings page.
- Tidied up the settings layout. Again.
Wednesday Patch: Banger Improvements
- Option to set one currency unit as default
- A shortcut for everything
- Add Kepler to Homebrew
kplr-app/tap/kepler@beta - Added option to use bangs in web search
- Added option to use bangs with urls in apps
- Added option to use bangs for apple shortcuts
- Added option to use bangs for applications
- Visual overhaul for Shortcuts page
- Removed all result section headings.
- Option to enable grouped results.
- Search: apps no longer rank below files that merely share a name prefix (e.g.
PowerLog.frameworkabove PowerPoint for "power"). Files still lead when the query looks like a file or path, or the name matches exactly. (#66) - Settings Search:
Menu Barwas calledControl Center. - Accent color changes are now directly reflected in Keplers UI.
Wednesday Patch: A Little Bit of Everything
This release brings a smoother Look Ahead, a more capable Clipboard, easier plugin activation, a new DMG installer, and a collection of smaller improvements and fixes.
- Clipboard now has a compact list view.
- Search can now find text inside images with on-device OCR.
- A DMG installer is now available.
- Plugins can now be activated with an empty prefix.
- Look Ahead animations slow down during fast scrolling for a smoother feel.
- The Look Ahead active-card indicator now handles multiple cards more reliably.
- Corner radii are now perfectly concentric.
- Improved speed, performance, and resource usage.
- Try new logic for ranking results
- The action bar is gone. Press
cmd+kon an entry to open the native context menu. - Support for legacy contribution-based plugins has been removed.
- Useless navigation buttons in the settings
- Clipboard previews now dismiss correctly.
- Pinning and unpinning now restores search focus without selecting the query.
- Clicking a Wick Look Ahead card now opens the correct timer.
- Fixed shortcut fields keeping the wrong background color when switching between light and dark mode.
- Kepler recognizing bangs as calculation
Saturday Drop: Quality of Life
This release makes Look Ahead feel smoother, simplifies the action bar, and fixes features that kept running after you turned them off.
- Search actions directly from the action bar.
- Kepler now uses Sparkle for app updates again.
- Look Ahead cards no longer use Liquid Glass.
- Tooltips now explain unfamiliar settings where needed.
- Look Ahead sources transition more smoothly while you drag.
- Look Ahead indicator dots now crossfade between states.
- Look Ahead changes now animate more smoothly.
- Keyboard shortcuts no longer appear in the action bar.
- Removed the
Expand Animationssetting.
- Turning off Clipboard History now stops all clipboard monitoring.
- Turning off Look Ahead now stops source refreshes and clears cached items.
- Turning off Apple Shortcuts now stops shortcut discovery and clears cached shortcut names.
- Disabled plugins no longer appear in launcher search results.
Wednesday Release: Public Beta
Kepler is now in public beta.
- Plugin catalogue entries can now display custom icons.
- Convert units and currencies with
<amount> <unit> <target unit>. - Move files to the trash from the action bar.
- Choose which calendars Kepler uses, even with Look Ahead turned off.
- Spellcheck now opens in a contextual panel.
- The plugin catalogue refreshes when you select
Browse Plugins. - Spellcheck now uses your globally selected AI model.
- Removed the plugin bar and its setting.
- Plugins installed from npm now load their assets correctly.
Saturday Drop: Ready for Beta
This release lays the groundwork for the public beta.
- Spellcheck can use on-device Apple Intelligence models on macOS 27.
- Added onboarding to guide new users through the app's features.
- AI settings have moved from Features > Spellcheck to Features > AI.
- Licensing now uses Cloudflare-based infrastructure.
- The active item in the Settings sidebar now matches your system accent color.
- Background colors for every icon in Settings, giving each section and feature a more intentional, distinctive look.
- Kepler beta builds are now free to use and receive updates without a license. Existing licenses will be removed, due to the migration.
- Caffeination displays a coffee mug in the menu bar while active. Right-click the mug to turn it off.
- Settings are reorganized for easier navigation.
- The plugin installation sheet has a cleaner layout.
- Removed the option to download and run models directly from Hugging Face.
- Pressing the space bar no longer opens a preview for the top file in search results.
Stable release
0.8.0 is now stable.
- Global Relevance ranking mode mixes apps, settings, files, and plugin results into one list sorted by relevance. (new default over grouping)
- Option to install pages directly from npm
- Option to install plugins directly from website (using link)
- You can now favorite every entry in Kepler.
- Pressing Space in the Emoji Picker no longer opens a Quick Look preview.
- Plugin settings page not closing after uninstall a plugin
- Spell check no longer overflows when you open selected text with the shortcut.
- Some files could not be dragged from Kepler into other apps.
- Deleted files no longer appear in File Search.
Smol Saturday Drop
This is still a pre-release of 0.8.0. You will encounter more bugs than usual.
Smol Saturday Drop: Menubar Issue
This is still a pre-release of 0.8.0. You will encounter more bugs than usual.
- Workaround for crashes caused by macOS 27 in correlation with the menubar item
- Expression plugins using wrong conversions with different units
Saturday Drop: Emojis, Shortcuts and more
Emoji Picker is now available.
Shortcuts are now available in beta.
This is still a pre-release of 0.8.0. You will encounter more bugs than usual.
- Emoji Picker
- Shortcuts (beta)
- Wick integration now supports adding timers
- Web Search can be activated via Tab to see suggestions
- Calculation and conversion results are now selectable and can be copied
- System Settings icons now have the same size as other icons
- Cold-start appearance time of the LookAhead widget
- Menubar item crashes
Saturday Drop: Let's plug it in
Plugins are regular npm packages. The store itself is a curated list of approved packages. Kepler loads that list, then checks npm for the latest version, description, and package download.
The catalog is cached locally, so you can still open the store while offline. Kepler will warn you that the list may not be up to date.
Before installing a package, Kepler verifies its SHA-512 checksum against the value published by npm. It also rejects archives containing symlinks, unsafe paths, or files that exceed configured size limits.
Kepler only extracts the files it needs: the plugin manifest and its entry point. Installs and updates are atomic, with the previous version restored if an update fails or crashes halfway through.
Updates that request additional permissions or network access require approval. Other updates can be applied automatically.
Later: install plugins directly from Git repositories, browse plugins and screenshots on the Kepler website, and install plugins from the website with one click.
- Plugin Store: browse and install plugins without leaving Kepler
- Delta Updates: download only the parts of an update that changed
- Menu Bar Interaction: left-clicking the menu bar icon opens its menu; right-clicking opens Kepler
- Search Ranking: exact matches now rank above fuzzy matches
- Space Switching: Kepler remains on the Space where it was opened
- Licensing: end-to-end licence checks through the new licence server
- Crash when connecting or disconnecting a dock during a display change
- Launcher position after a display change or disconnected display
- Wick wake-up behaviour when Wick is not active
Kepler x Wick
What is Wick? Wick is a beautifully designed clock app for Mac with timers, stopwatches, and alarms integrated into the menu bar and lock screen. Wick is made by Nate.
Takeaway: Going forward, this is the way I want to do Kepler: integrating with other apps to build a better experience, rather than trying to replace existing apps.
v0.7.1
2026-07-15Midweek Patch: First Look at Clock
v0.7.0
2026-07-04- Context menu actions to move app and command results up or down
- Context menu action to reset a result's ranking
- CMD+Q is now blocked in the regular launcher window
- Expressions: split and full-result view breakpoints
- Smoother handoff between Expressions and the Currency Converter plugin
- Right-clicking a launcher entry now opens its context menu
- Background and menu bar apps now show as running and can be quit
- Expressions: duplicate heading in full-result view
v0.6.1
2026-06-28- Use any OpenAI-compatible API
- Use any model from Hugging Face
- Set a custom search bar placeholder for plugins
- Shortcut to open selected text directly in spellcheck
- Native system actions plugin for locking, logging out, shutting down, and restarting
- Clear clipboard history while keeping pinned entries
- Marquee scrolling for long LookAhead titles now starts after one second of hovering
- Updated the default local LLM to bartowski/google_gemma-3n-E4B-it-GGUF
- Calendar lookahead shows 17:00 instead of 17
- Weather lookahead shows H/L instead of High/Low
- Calendar LookAhead now shows "+ x more" for events at the same time
- Calendar time spacing in LookAhead
v0.6.0
2026-06-20- AI-powered spell checking (runs on-device, fully offline)
- Active App Indicators with context menu actions to Quit or Force Quit applications
- KeplerSystem integration with dedicated settings entry
- Manual action to check for updates
- Migrated to latest version of Clave for faster license verification
- Refined LookAhead UI for long event titles with compact time formats
- Improved context menu placement
- Search index recognition for Visual for Visual Studio Code
- Search engine input field update upon selecting item
- Liquid glass bug affecting toolbar and back-to-top button
v0.5.3
2026-06-16- Quick actions toolbar at bottom of list
- Panel expands to full height even with no apps
- Logging for important errors
- Refined Liquid Glass appearance
- LookAhead now uses glassy design
- Moved LookAhead indicator dots inside card
- LookAhead scrolls only text instead of entire card
- Improved weather integration for LookAhead
- Improved calendar integration settings
- Liquid Glass adapting to background color
- App indexing for apps inside subfolders
- Scaling issues with plugin-provided icons
- Padding in widget cards and section titles
- Missing settings icons
v0.5.2
2026-06-11- Entering first letter caused slow feeling
v0.5.1
2026-06-10- Back to Top button in clipboard gallery
- Keyboard shortcuts to jump between result sections
- Quit applications from Kepler
- Find macOS System Settings entries
- Option to disable the active plugin row
- Redesigned Settings menu to match macOS System Settings
- Google set as default search engine
- Smoother LookAhead result cycling
- Clipboard history moves copied items to front
- Improved padding and spacing consistency
- Removed debounce causing delayed searches
- Alignment of Open text
- Tab cycling through LookAhead no longer triggers haptics
- PluginHost automatic crash recovery
- Inline autocomplete navigation with arrow keys
- Maximum clipboard item count limits
v0.5.0
2026-06-07Added
10- Plugin system for community plugins
- Plugin SDK (NPM package)
- Built-in clipboard manager
- Gallery-style view for clipboard and plugins
- Drag and drop support for File Search
- Web Search plugin
- AppleScript execution support
- Weather plugin in Lookahead
- Pinning clipboard entries feature
- Multi-select and insert functionality
- Completely redesigned settings UI
- Improved Lookahead settings
- Resolved views (translations, conversions) now inline
- Rewrote AppIndex/FileIndex in Swift
- License settings displaying masked email
- Padding issues throughout app
- Incorrect icon sizes
v0.4.6
2026-05-28- Choose the launcher's starting screen, main or active
- Safe area around screen edges to prevent off-screen dragging
- Preview uses toggle option by default
- Built-in plugins no longer show plugin header
- Launcher dragging improved (excluding text area)
- Preview window losing focus
- Preview opening on different screen than panel
- File Search now allows direct paths like ~/Downloads/
v0.4.5
2026-05-27v0.4.4
2026-05-25- File Search plugin activation via /f shortcut
- Adapted liquid glass for macOS 26
- Removed ActivePill in favor of sleeker bar
- Native plugins no longer show plugin header
- Improved dragging with haptic feedback
- LookAhead shows date for non-same-day events
- Settings typos
- Item size alignment
- Padding consistency
v0.4.3
2026-05-24- File Search plugin with indexing capabilities
- Expression Evaluation (using Soulver Core)
- Search aliases for faster app launching
- Window drag and snap functionality
- Migrated to custom keyboard shortcut implementation
- Improved License page UI
- Made launcher window smaller
- Separated plugin/feature settings
- Border radius jumping on first character
- Separated background appearance in Settings