Telltale// For nerds by nerds
One app to supercharge your Mac.
Your Mac’s vital signs, in the menu bar: CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, battery and weather, live and one click away. Native, lightweight, and built to feel like it shipped with macOS.
Free forever · Pro is a one-time €4.99 upgrade
Eleven modules. One glance.
Each module is its own menu bar item with its own dropdown. Turn on the ones you want, hide the rest.
Overview
Everything at a glance. Click a tile to open that module in place.
CPU
User and system load, every performance and efficiency core, load average and top processes.
GPU
Utilisation with renderer and tiler, memory in use, temperature and power.
Memory
Pressure, an app, wired, compressed and cached breakdown, swap and page activity.
Disks
Every volume with free and purgeable space, read/write graph, top processes by I/O.
Network
Bandwidth, public IP, ping, router, DNS, VPN and Wi-Fi signal, noise, channel and rate.
Sensors
Temperatures by group, fans and power rails. Detailed mode lists every SMC sensor.
Battery
Charge history, power draw, health and cycle count, plus Bluetooth device batteries.
Weather
Current conditions, UV, wind and precipitation, with a 3, 7 or 14-day forecast.
Sun & Moon
Sunrise, sunset, golden and blue hour, twilight, moon phase and the next full moon.
World Clock
Clocks for the cities you care about, and a calendar with week numbers.
Alerts that matterPRO
Rules like “CPU above 90% for 60 s”, plus events such as charger unplugged, Wi-Fi changed or internet lost.
Keep Mac AwakePRO
Stop idle sleep for 30 minutes, an hour, two, or until you say so. Optionally keep the display on.
Your menu bar, your way
Drag to reorder, pick a style for each item (text, graph, icon), and see a live preview as you go.
Private by design
Readings are taken on your Mac from public system interfaces. No analytics, no root, and no account unless you get Pro.
Ask your Mac what’s going on.
Telltale has a built-in MCP server, the open standard AI apps use for tools. Connect it in Settings › AI Agents and your assistant can read live stats, top processes, sensors, battery health, network speed tests and 30 days of history, then explain them in plain words.
- Read-only. Eight tools that look, never touch. An agent can't quit apps or change settings.
- Runs on your Mac. Your AI app starts Telltale in the background when it needs an answer.
- One click to connect. Telltale edits the app's config for you, keeps the rest of the file and backs it up first.
Free to use. Pro when you want more.
Everything you need to watch your Mac.
- All 11 modules: CPU, GPU, memory, disks, network, sensors, battery, weather and more
- Menu bar styles, reordering and live preview
- Light, Dark and monochrome menu bar
- Apple silicon and Intel
No account needed.
Everything in Free, plus:
- Graph history beyond the last hour: 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days
- The insight line: what's using your Mac, in plain English
- AI agents: ask Claude, Cursor, VS Code and others about your Mac
- Notifications and threshold alerts
- Keep Mac Awake
- Detailed sensors: every SMC sensor, pinnable to the menu bar
- iPhone and iPad battery health and device info
- 14-day weather forecast
Create a free account, then pay securely with Stripe.
Questions
Which Macs does it run on?+
Any Mac with macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It's a universal app, so it runs natively on Apple silicon (M1 and newer) and Intel.
Does it need admin rights or a helper?+
No. Every reading comes from public or stable system interfaces that don't need root, and sensors are read-only.
What does it send over the internet?+
Only what the weather and network modules need: the forecast from Open-Meteo, a rough location from your IP (unless you set a city), and your public IP address. System readings never leave your Mac.
macOS says it can't verify the developer. Is that expected?+
Yes, for now. Telltale isn't notarized yet, so macOS asks you to confirm once. Open System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. The download page walks you through it.
What's the difference between Free and Pro?+
Free gives you every module in the menu bar, for as long as you like. Pro (€4.99, once) adds alerts, Keep Mac Awake, the detailed sensor list, iPhone and iPad details and the 14-day forecast.
Which AI apps can use Telltale?+
Any app that supports MCP tools. Settings › AI Agents connects Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, LM Studio, Gemini CLI, Codex CLI with one click, gives Claude Code a Terminal command, and shows a config snippet for anything else. The AI app's answers come from its own model, so the readings it asks for go to that app's provider.
Why do I need an account for Pro?+
Your purchase is linked to your account, so it isn't lost if you change Macs or reinstall. The free download doesn't need one.