Applite
Dev tools
package manager gui
SHOW HN2023
280points
81comments
#171of 3,109 in 2023
Top 6%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
13 positive, 17 neutral or asking, 4 mixed, 7 critical, out of 41 comments about the project. Thread score +0.14.
Idea: 4 for, 2 againstDesign: 3 for, 3 againstExecution: 1 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 1 for, 0 againstPerformance: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clean, slick design
From 3 comments
Nice job! Looks really slick. I totally would’ve made good use of this when setting up a new Mac a couple months ago! Sometimes having browsable categories is perfect when you’re…
graypegg on HNThat looks great! I feel that SwiftUI apps seem to have a fairly “uniform” UI, but it’s actually perfect for this.
ChrisMarshallNY on HNLooks super clean!
koinedad on HN
Tracks no user data
From 2 comments
Applite developer here. No, Applite has zero tracking built in, it's a 100% free and open-source. Only Homebrew tracks the number of downloads.
milanvarady on HN> What information does Applite track? > None. Absolutely love this part of the page---we need more software with this philosophy. Kudos.
zapw on HN
Browsable categories useful for setting up new Macs
From 1 comment
Nice job! Looks really slick. I totally would’ve made good use of this when setting up a new Mac a couple months ago! Sometimes having browsable categories is perfect when you’re…
graypegg on HN
Objections
Requires macOS Ventura or newer
From 2 comments
I wanted to at least target Big Sur, but the problem is that Apple doesn't understand the term "backwards compatibility" when it comes to SwiftUI. Every new feature they add to…
milanvarady on HNI am on macOS Monterey and seems this app requires Ventura or higher. Does it use any APIs from the newer OS version? If not, could you please consider relaxing this and allow…
avinassh on HN
Does not pick up already installed brew apps
From 1 comment
I installed Applite but it didn't automatically pick up already installed brew apps (as shown by "brew list"). I don't really want to install/reinstall them manually. Has anyone…
tony-allan on HN
Only supports casks, not CLI tools
From 2 comments
Yes this is casks only
milanvarady on HNJust casks
milanvarady on HN
Scrolling feels unnatural
From 1 comment
This is quite neat! But is it just me or does scrolling in the app feel... unnatural? Specifically in comparison to the rest of macOS?
prxtl on HN
GUI for Homebrew is unnecessary for developers
From 2 comments
A GUI for homebrew is totally unnecessary.
malablaster on HNAgree, it's good for those that prefer a GUI. I'm not sure the intended audience since if you are using Brew, you are generally doing a lot of commandline stuff. Your mention of…
jmspring on HN
Requests
Support macOS Monterey or older
From 1 comment
I am on macOS Monterey and seems this app requires Ventura or higher. Does it use any APIs from the newer OS version? If not, could you please consider relaxing this and allow…
avinassh on HN
Brewfile import and export
From 2 comments
I applaud this, for people who prefer a GUI interface. I started to write something to better organize synchronizing my Homebrew installation across multiple machines, then…
Syzygies on HNOne feature I would love is an ability to export a list of downloaded apps so I can import and re-install from a new machine. Even better if you can sync with Mackup. I’ve been…
ccorcos on HN
Support MacPorts
From 1 comment
Neat project, can I swap out brew and use macports?
adamredwoods on HN
Popular apps section
From 1 comment
Feature suggestion: Add a 'popular' section. Should be easy enought to use the data from https://formulae.brew.sh/analytics/. I also noticed some of the app icons are a bit…
mikkelam on HN
Questions
What is the monetization strategy?
From 1 comment
What is your monetization strategy with this app?
kryptozinc on HN
Does it use the Homebrew CLI or reimplement it?
From 1 comment
Does it delegate to the homebrew CLI or is it a full reimplementation?
brundolf on HN
Where do the app icons come from?
From 1 comment
Where do the app icons come from?
efitz on HN
Alternatives named
Cakebrew
From 1 comment
There’s another decent application for this called Cakebrew, but not sure if it uses native Apple UI APIs
dimmke on HN
Munki
From 1 comment
There's a decent open source option: https://github.com/munki/munki I got to use it at work at Meta (as end user), and it seemed to work quite well. They delivered Android…
Ambroos on HN
brew bundle / Brewfile
From 2 comments
You can already accomplish this with Homebrew. If you type 'brew bundle dump' it creates a Brewfile (basically just bunch of install commands) containing all the apps you've…
yett on HNAssuming everyone's on a Mac, I'm actually surprised there isn't that much use of something like homebrew-bundle[1]. It's definitely nicer to have your tooling run natively…
ljm on HN
ColdBrew
From 1 comment
In a similar vein, I created a web tool that can take your cask selection, save it to a temporary link and let you install all apps without creating an account…
campfireshuffle on HN