Your menubar’s tiny, unofficial ChatGPT tenant

What it does

This is an unofficial menubar app for macOS, Windows, and Linux that wraps the ChatGPT web interface inside a Tauri and Rust shell. It also bundles a forked open-source chatbot UI for an API Mode that talks directly to OpenAI using your own key. The resulting binaries are under 5 MB.

The interesting bit

The author is admirably upfront that the app is “just a wrapper for the popular Chat AI website,” which is refreshing. The API Mode repackages a fork of McKay Wrigley’s chatbot UI, offering an alternative when you’d rather bring your own API key instead of logging into the web app.

Key highlights

• Sits in the menubar on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
• Two modes: web wrapper for ChatGPT, or API Mode using a forked open-source chatbot UI with your own OpenAI key.
• Tiny footprint: Windows installer is 4.11 MB, macOS DMG is 3.8 MB.
• Built with Tauri and Rust.
• The README notes no data is transferred within the app itself; it acts as a thin shell.

Caveats

• macOS binaries are unsigned, so expect system warnings that the developer cannot be verified.
• Linux packages lag behind: the listed .deb and .rpm builds are version 0.2.0, while Windows and macOS releases are at 0.5.0.
• The app is explicitly a web wrapper; deep OS integration is not the goal here.

Verdict

Grab it if you want a featherweight, menubar-dwelling ChatGPT companion and either trust the web wrapper or have an OpenAI API key handy. Skip it if you need signed Mac binaries, a Linux build matching the latest release, or anything more than a thin shell around existing web UIs.