Release Notes
1.0.1
A reliability release: an independent review of the scanning and stopping core, with every finding fixed.
Stopping the right thing, every time
- "Stop by folder" now stops managed listeners the right way. A Docker container or Homebrew service living under your project folder is stopped via
docker stop/brew services stop— not by signalling a helper process that launchd or Docker would immediately respawn. - Scans no longer lose data when one process is off-limits. A single system process that refused inspection could silently blank out every listener's folder and identity details — which also made "Stop by folder" find nothing. Scans now keep everything the system reports.
- Stricter identity checks before any signal. If a process can't be positively re-identified at the moment you click Stop (PIDs get recycled), Localhost Explorer refuses and asks for a refresh instead of guessing. Docker restarts now target the container's immutable ID, never its reusable name.
- Honest results. The folder-stop summary now distinguishes "stop sent", "failed", and "skipped because the process changed since preview" — and doesn't claim a process exited when it can only know the signal was delivered.
Smarter identification
- Gunicorn, Rails, Puma, and Sidekiq now get their framework badge; a project folder named "mongodb-*" is no longer mistaken for the MongoDB database; instrumentation preloads (
--require=./instrument.js) no longer masquerade as the app's entry point; andpython-config-style tools are no longer read as Python itself. - Docker port ranges (
8000-8010) are attributed to their container across the whole range.
Window polish
- Fixed a window/popover collision. Clicking the menu bar icon while a standalone window was open used to show the popover and yank the window forward — two copies of the panel at once. Now a live window always wins: the icon focuses the open window (restoring it if it was minimized) instead of stacking a popover over it.
- Detaching to a window sticks. Opening a window from the popover's detach button no longer silently reverted on the next settings change and slammed the window shut.
- Unified "liquid glass" surface. The popover and the standalone window now share one translucent canvas, so a resized window no longer frames a translucent panel with an opaque background band.
1.0.0
The 1.0 release. Localhost Explorer graduates from a listener viewer into a small suite of localhost-aware utilities — now with signed in-app auto-updates, so it keeps itself current.
New: Tools panel
- Added a Tools panel mode alongside Explore, Stats, and Settings.
- Added Keep awake: wraps
caffeinate -di, with timed durations or "Until process exits" — pick any listener and the Mac stays awake exactly as long as it lives. - Added Open when ready: polls
lsoffor a port and openshttp://localhost:PORT/the moment it starts listening. - Added Wait for port: sends a macOS notification when a busy port becomes free.
- Added Hold port: binds a sentinel
NWListeneron127.0.0.1so nothing else can grab the port until you release. - Added Restart listener: bounces Homebrew- or Docker-managed listeners via their real owner —
brew services restartordocker restart. - Added Notify on exit: macOS notification the moment a chosen listener dies.
- Added Kill by folder: picks a directory, lists every listener whose working directory lives under it, sends
SIGTERMto all of them. - Added one-shot wrappers: Flush DNS, Restart Dock, Restart Finder, Sleep display.
Menu bar + status item
- Menu bar icon swaps to a cup glyph while caffeinate is running.
- Right-click the menu bar icon for quick-fire tools: Caffeinate 15 min / 1 hour / Stop, Flush DNS, Restart Finder, Sleep display.
Standalone window + Settings
- Window mode setting (popover, window, both) — switch live without relaunching.
- Real NSToolbar on the standalone window with segmented mode tabs.
- macOS-native Settings: NSVisualEffectView sidebar,
Form { Section { … } }.formStyle(.grouped)right pane, native NSSwitch toggles.
Brand + auto-update
- Monochrome menu bar template glyph that recolors for light and dark menu bars.
- Sparkle auto-update integration with Ed25519 signing. Check for Updates… in Settings → About and the status menu.
Explore + search
- Live free-text search across name, folder, port, command, and PID — promoted to its own toolbar page.
- Smarter empty states: a PID hint that tells "no such process" apart from "that PID exists, it's just not listening."
Website
- Light/dark mode with manual toggle.
- Centered 1080 px reading column.
- New Tools section.
- "The month I got used to the fan" — origin-story blog post.
0.1.3
- Added cached process intelligence so source, profile, risk, and category decisions are computed once per scan.
- Added source badges for Terminal, Homebrew, Container, Framework, IDE, macOS, App, and Unknown listeners.
- Added Free a Port flow to jump straight from a port number to the owning process row.
- Added container lifecycle support for simple Docker-compatible published ports.
- Added Control Sources to the stats dashboard.
0.1.2
- Added Settings mode with live preview.
- Added row display controls and expanded detail controls.
- Added safety settings for stop confirmation and smart scrolling.
- Added popover layout presets.
- Added local-only trust copy, privacy page, and support page.
0.1.1
- Added ProcessProfile v1 intelligence.
- Added detection for Redis, MongoDB, Postgres, MySQL, MariaDB, Ollama, Node, Python, MkDocs, editor helpers, Homebrew services, and wildcard listeners.
- Added profile badges, risk, stop strategy, confidence, restart hints, and richer stop confirmations.
0.1.0
- Initial direct-download macOS build.
- Menu bar scanning, filters, stats, folders, endpoints, and stop controls.