Configure Macos Menu Bar Icon

Configure macOS Menu Bar Icon

Workflow

1. Inspect the repository and its local instructions.

2. Locate the real menu bar entry point before editing assets:

   • SwiftUI: search for MenuBarExtra.
   • AppKit: search for NSStatusItem, statusItem, or button.image.

3. Locate the target's .xcassets directory and confirm it is compiled by the app target.

4. Do not modify AppIcon.appiconset, Icon Composer resources, CFBundleIcon, or ASSETCATALOG_COMPILER_APPICON_NAME unless the user explicitly asks for the application icon.

5. Prepare the source:

   • Preserve every transparent and partially transparent pixel from the source.
   • Never add a white, black, or colored background.
   • Never flatten or composite the source before resizing.
   • Rasterize SVG sources with the bundled Python renderer (resvg_py), never Quick Look.
   • Use solid monochrome artwork for a template image.
   • Keep all meaningful artwork inside the canvas.
   • If editing SVG strokes, increase the inset by half the stroke-width increase so the outer edge is not clipped.

6. Generate the menu bar imageset with:

   <skill-dir>/scripts/make_menu_bar_imageset.sh <source.svg-or-image> <path/to/Assets.xcassets/MenuBarIcon.imageset>
   

   Always use 18 points. The wrapper runs render_menu_bar_icons.py with resvg_py and Pillow. It first uses the system python3 when both dependencies are available. Otherwise, it creates scripts/.venv and installs the pinned dependencies from scripts/requirements.txt; the first such run requires package-index access. For both SVG and raster input, it creates menu_18.png, menu_18@2x.png, and menu_18@3x.png at 18×18, 36×36, and 54×54 pixels and writes a template Contents.json.

7. Wire the image into the menu bar UI.

SwiftUI

Use the image at its intrinsic 18-point size from the 1x/2x/3x imageset:

MenuBarExtra {
    MenuBarContent()
} label: {
    Image("MenuBarIcon")
}
.menuBarExtraStyle(.menu)

Use the asset without image modifiers. The imageset already supplies the template-rendering intent and intrinsic 18-point size. Replace an existing systemImage: initializer rather than creating a second menu bar item.

AppKit

Load the asset directly:

statusItem.button?.image = NSImage(named: "MenuBarIcon")

Reuse the existing NSStatusItem. Do not assign image.size or image.isTemplate; the imageset already supplies both properties.

Validation

1. Confirm the imageset contains:

   • menu_18.png at 18×18
   • menu_18@2x.png at 36×36
   • menu_18@3x.png at 54×54

2. Inspect at least the 2x or 3x PNG visually for clipping and legibility.

3. Confirm the menu bar image has no manual sizing or template-rendering modifiers in SwiftUI or AppKit.

4. Build the relevant target without signing when practical.

5. Verify the diff contains no application-icon changes.

6. Report the source format, intrinsic 18-point logical size, generated 18/36/54 pixel sizes, and build result.

Run the wrapper instead of invoking the Python renderer directly. If dependency installation needs network access in the current environment, request approval and rerun the wrapper. Do not vendor Python packages, invoke uv, or fall back to Quick Look.