Changelog

Every release of Clamshell, newest first.

1.4.172026-08-22

Added

  • Clamshell now follows the Mac's language in German, Spanish, French, and Brazilian Portuguese across both direct and Setapp editions.

Changed

  • Arming while external displays are connected now pauses Clamshell instead of rejecting the request. A yellow menu bar icon shows the paused state, and Clamshell arms automatically after every external display disconnects.

1.4.162026-08-19

Fixed

  • Changing between battery and external power while the lid is closed no longer interrupts an armed session.

1.4.152026-08-17

Added

  • Settings now offers three optional lid-close sounds. Sound feedback remains off by default and previews when enabled or changed.

Changed

  • Arming from the menu bar, right-click, keyboard shortcut, or automation now stays active across lid reopenings until you turn Clamshell off. Holding Option while closing the lid remains a one-close action.
  • The menu bar uses the simpler "Arm Clamshell" action while the armed status still distinguishes a one-close gesture from a persistent session.

1.4.142026-08-07

Added

  • Clamshell can keep the built-in display black while coding agents continue working with the lid closed. The Mac still locks when the lid opens.
  • Settings can use either the original frosted appearance or an exact black background.

Changed

  • General Settings now groups armed-session behavior and app preferences into two clearer sections.
  • Clamshell now refuses to arm while an additional display is connected because macOS already handles closed-lid external-display setups, and immediately explains the refusal in a clear warning popup.

Fixed

  • Opening the lid now restores the captured brightness, retracts the closing sheet, and presents one clean macOS Lock Screen without launching the screen saver.
  • The status menu now stays attached to the menu bar icon and no longer shows the recurring wait cursor on recent macOS versions.

1.4.132026-08-05

Added

  • Clamshell now restores normal lid sleep when macOS reports serious thermal pressure and refuses to arm again until the Mac has cooled.

Fixed

  • Incoming calls and other display-only interruptions now restore the armed lid policy both when the display wakes and when it goes dark again, preventing a closed Mac from falling asleep after the interruption ends.
  • Power-source changes and system sleep no longer look like a physical lid-open event, so Momentary mode stays armed until the lid actually opens.

1.4.122026-07-19

Fixed

  • Clamshell now keeps retrying and clearly warns you if macOS fails to restore its normal lid-sleep setting, instead of silently reporting a safe disarm.
  • Lid sensor read failures no longer look like a real lid-open event, so a transient sensor problem cannot unexpectedly end an armed session.
  • Low-battery protection now fails toward sleep when battery telemetry remains unavailable, and display-sleep commands are checked and retried.
  • Crash recovery preserves its recovery marker until the normal lid-sleep setting is confirmed restored.

1.4.112026-07-13

Added

  • After another app or automation directly puts an armed Mac to sleep, Clamshell now explains why the session stopped and points to the charging, scheduling, and automation settings that may have caused it.

1.4.102026-07-12

Fixed

  • Leaving the status menu open no longer shows a wait cursor on recent macOS betas. The menu now opens from the original click instead of a synthetic second click that macOS could treat as an unresponsive action.

1.4.92026-07-03

Added

  • Settings now warns when the arming keyboard shortcut is already taken by another app, instead of the switch silently doing nothing.

Fixed

  • Right-clicking the menu bar icon no longer arms and instantly disarms on recent macOS betas that deliver one click twice.
  • The status menu now opens through the system's native menu path, which should cure the clipped or detached menu on recent macOS betas; opening it also no longer switches focus away from the app you are working in.
  • Settings now asks you to reconnect to the internet when a license needs re-verification, instead of showing the new-install free-trial offer.
  • Gesture diagnostics no longer log a bogus failed-close line after every successful arming gesture.

1.4.82026-07-02

Fixed

  • The arming gesture now recovers from a lid-sensor dropout even with "Play close animation" turned off; previously the gesture could silently stop working there until relaunch.
  • A Mac clock running slightly behind no longer risks deactivating a valid license during the background license check.
  • A brief network hiccup no longer delays the license re-check by a full day.
  • Deactivating this Mac during a background license check can no longer re-activate the freed license.
  • Rapidly cancelling and redoing the arming gesture no longer skips the close animation.
  • Arming with a lapsed license now always shows the regular purchase window, never the first-run setup screen.
  • More reliable cleanup of the sleep setting when quitting and when disarming via Shortcuts.
  • Hardened the emergency force-quit path so a hung process can always be cleaned up.

1.4.72026-07-01

Fixed

  • Right-clicking the menu bar icon no longer flashes on and off (arming, then instantly disarming) on recent macOS betas. It now toggles reliably.
  • The menu no longer opens clipped or detached from the icon on recent macOS betas; it opens attached and fully expanded.

1.4.62026-06-28

Fixed

  • The menu bar icon no longer changes width when armed, so the icons next to it no longer shift sideways each time you arm or disarm.

1.4.52026-06-28

Changed

  • Right-click (two-finger click) on the menu bar icon now arms and disarms Clamshell by default. Left-click still opens the menu; you can switch right-click back to opening the menu in Settings > Gesture.

Fixed

  • The right-click action on the menu bar icon could do nothing on recent macOS betas, where the system routes the click away from the app. It now works reliably.

1.4.42026-06-19

Fixed

  • The "hold Option, close the lid" gesture could arm by accident on recent macOS betas, where the system briefly reports the Option key as held when it is not, leaving the Mac awake unexpectedly. Arming now requires a closing motion (opening the lid wider never arms) and a steady, deliberate Option hold.

1.4.32026-06-16

Fixed

  • The closing animation could fail to appear, or freeze partway, on Macs where the lid-angle sensor briefly stops responding (seen on recent macOS betas). It now recovers cleanly: if the sensor drops out mid-close the animation steps aside instead of freezing, Clamshell still arms when the lid actually shuts, and the menu bar always shows the true armed state.

Changed

  • The lid-angle sensor is now read only while you are performing the close gesture, not continuously. This avoids a background wake-up loop on affected Macs and is gentler on the battery.

1.4.22026-06-14

Fixed

  • The armed menu bar icon was hard to see against light or colorful (for example, blue) wallpapers and menu bars. The blue clam now keeps a clear contrast outline, so it stands out wherever it sits.
  • The closing animation could leave a hairline of wallpaper showing along the left and right edges of the screen. It now covers the edges fully.

1.4.12026-06-14

Added

  • The Arm, Disarm, Toggle, and Status actions now appear in the Shortcuts app and Spotlight, so you can run them by name or build them into a Shortcut without using the URLs.

1.4.02026-06-14

Added

  • Control Clamshell from scripts and AI agents: clamshell://arm, clamshell://disarm, and clamshell://toggle URLs let you arm before a long task and disarm when it finishes, so an agent can keep running with the lid closed and turn the setting back off when it is done.
  • An Arm command in the menu bar menu, so you can arm without the lid gesture (handy on Macs without the lid-angle sensor).
  • A one-time reminder on the final day of your free trial.

Fixed

  • Clamshell re-applies its keep-awake setting when the Mac wakes, so arming can no longer silently lapse if you put the Mac to sleep while it was armed.
  • The lid-angle gesture now recovers on its own if the sensor stops responding after sleep and wake, instead of needing a restart.
  • The closing animation stays on the built-in display if you dock or change displays in the middle of the gesture.
  • Clamshell's safety notifications (low battery, or a screen that could not be turned off) now appear even when a Clamshell window is open.
  • Buying no longer pops a "paste your license key" prompt on top of the checkout page before you have a key.

Changed

  • The purchase screen now states the 14-day money-back guarantee.

1.3.42026-06-13

Fixed

  • Option+close arming no longer occasionally fails to fire when the lid starts from a wide resting angle. The decision to arm no longer depends on the closing animation's progress, which removed a dead zone above roughly 119 degrees.
  • A brief lid-angle sensor glitch can no longer flash the black closing animation while the lid is actually open.
  • The closing animation is never drawn on an external display; it stays on the built-in screen that is about to go dark.
  • If macOS briefly refuses the request to turn the internal display off, the panel no longer stays lit behind a closed lid.
  • The low-battery auto-disarm now also triggers right after you unplug from power while already low on battery, and it only notifies you that it disarmed when the Mac was actually released to sleep.
  • A valid purchase can no longer be deactivated by a routine background license check; only a genuine cancellation or refund clears it.
  • Your license stays tied to this Mac across a preferences reset.
  • A manual check for updates no longer suppresses the automatic background download that runs while the lid is closed.
  • The low-battery threshold is always kept within its 5 to 50 percent range.

Changed

  • Cracking the lid open by a small amount (under about 15 degrees) no longer cancels an active arm. Fully opening the lid still disarms.

Added

  • Always-on, no-personal-data gesture diagnostics, so any future "it did not arm" report can be diagnosed from the support diagnostics.

1.3.32026-06-12

Fixed

  • A failed arm no longer plays the closing animation. The animation is the confirmation that arming worked; it now only plays when it actually did.
  • Disarming always works, even if the trial or license lapsed while armed: the menu keeps the disarm row and the quick-toggle disarms instead of opening the purchase window.
  • The safety net that keeps Clamshell armed across power-source changes (and the low-battery check) no longer pauses while a menu or slider is open.
  • A lid-angle sensor failure mid-gesture can no longer leave the black closing animation stuck on screen; it now retracts itself.
  • Accidentally launching a second copy of the app no longer disarms the running one.
  • "Deactivate on this Mac" now keeps the license on this Mac when the server cannot be reached (instead of stranding the seat), and confirms success.
  • Activating through the purchase link now shows a confirmation instead of finishing invisibly; license activation buttons show a busy state, and Return in the key field activates.
  • Adjusting the screen angle with Option held no longer cancels an arm made from the menu or keyboard shortcut.
  • The closing animation renders at full sharpness on Retina displays.
  • Settings panes keep their license-related disabled states after tab switches, and the clamshell.dev link is always clickable.
  • Onboarding edge cases: a deactivated license no longer routes into the non-closable welcome tour, the welcome guide no longer opens duplicate windows, and the menu-bar pointer follows the final card correctly.

Changed

  • Low-battery safety: arming below your set threshold is now honored as deliberate; the auto-disarm fires only when the battery falls through the threshold while armed, and posts a notification explaining why.
  • The armed menu row reads "Armed" when "Stay on after opening the lid" is enabled ("Armed for Next Close" otherwise).
  • Cmd+W closes the Settings window; the menu bar icon shows a tooltip, and presses highlight it like a native status item.
  • VoiceOver announces onboarding steps and the low-battery slider's purpose.

1.3.22026-06-12

Changed

  • The menu's "Armed for Next Close" row now appears only while Clamshell is actually armed, in every arming mode; the "Not Armed" row is gone. When not armed, the menu starts straight at Settings.

Fixed

  • The armed row's clam glyph now renders in the same blue as the armed menu bar icon instead of grey.
  • The armed row stays readable while highlighted: its text and glyph flip to white over the selection highlight instead of disappearing blue-on-blue.

1.3.12026-06-11

Fixed

  • The menu bar icon now turns the intended blue while armed; it previously rendered as a dark silhouette that was invisible against a dark menu bar.
  • Right-click quick-toggle now works on macOS versions that misdeliver menu bar right-clicks (including current betas).

Added

  • Control-click or Option-click the menu bar icon as quick-toggle equivalents of the right-click gesture.

Changed

  • A refreshed app icon.
  • A simpler, tidier About pane.

1.3.02026-06-11

Added

  • Optional low-battery safety: when armed on battery power, Clamshell can disarm at a level you choose (5-50%) so your Mac sleeps before the battery runs flat. Off by default, in Settings > General.
  • "Copy diagnostics for support" in Settings > General copies the app version, macOS version, Mac model, and the recent local diagnostic log to the clipboard for support emails. Nothing is sent anywhere.

1.2.12026-06-11

Changed

  • The download is now under 2 MB (it was 4.5 MB, and 8.3 MB two releases ago). The app icon ships in the classic Mac format, which on macOS 26 shows the standard icon style instead of the Liquid Glass treatment.

1.2.02026-06-11

Added

  • Clamshell now recovers automatically if it ever crashes or is killed by the system: a tiny built-in watchdog relaunches the app, so the menu bar icon can no longer be left behind dead and unresponsive. Quitting normally is unaffected - quit stays quit, and nothing keeps running in the background.

Changed

  • The app is about a third smaller on disk, and the download is nearly half its previous size. Nothing was removed and nothing looks or behaves differently.
  • First launch is snappier: the welcome window appears about half a second sooner, before the app finishes its behind-the-scenes setup.
  • The onboarding videos are ready the moment you reach their card - no more brief blank box while a clip loads in.

1.1.12026-06-10

Fixed

  • The shell-closing animation is sturdier on flaky hardware/OS combinations: corrupt lid-angle sensor readings are filtered out (one bad reading could flash or jump the black sheet), frame timing hiccups can no longer distort the motion, and the arming gesture keeps working if the OS changes how the Option key is reported.
  • The animation overlay now re-fits the built-in display on every arm, so it cannot end up missing or misplaced after plugging in or unplugging a display.

Changed

  • The shell-closing animation is dramatically cheaper to draw: only a thin strip at the moving edge is redrawn instead of the whole screen, frames where nothing moved are skipped entirely, and a steady close composites with no redrawing at all. Identical look and motion, less GPU and battery.

1.1.02026-06-10

Added

  • Clamshell now keeps itself up to date. Updates download automatically in the background (arming is used as the ideal download moment) and install when the app quits or relaunches; nothing interrupts your work. Turn automatic updates off in Settings > General, or check manually in Settings > About.
  • "Deactivate on this Mac" in Settings > License: frees your license so it can be activated on another Mac (licenses cover one Mac at a time).

Changed

  • Clamshell is now a single one-time purchase. Onboarding and the purchase screens were simplified: start the free trial, or buy outright with one click; no plan choice.
  • Settings got a full redesign in Clamshell's dark "void" look: a solid blue-black window, grouped toggle rows, a cleaner icon + text tab row, and clearer License and About panes.
  • The menu bar clam now tints blue while armed, so the armed state is visible at a glance.

1.0.02026-05-29

Initial release.