Browse Code
Arras (formerly Tableau) is a free, open-source native macOS desktop photo widget application built with Swift and AppKit. Unlike Apple's fixed WidgetKit grids, Arras places borderless photos, Polaroid and Gallery frames, transparent PNGs, and hardware-accelerated animated GIFs/APNGs directly on your desktop at their true aspect ratio without cropping.
Features include:
- True aspect-ratio placement with magnetic snapping and alignment guides
- Custom styling: Polaroid & Gallery presets, mats, double shadows, rounded corners, shape masks, and tilt
- 4 Desktop Depth Levels: Behind Icons, Desktop, Above Widgets, and Floating reference overlay
- Multi-photo folder & selection slideshows with per-Space and multi-display memory
- Drag-and-drop, Clipboard paste, Screenshot region capture, PDF page import, and Apple Shortcuts support
- Built-in automatic updates and portable .arras layout backups
Official Website: https://arras.yashashwi.me
https://github.com/yashashwi-s/Arras
Features
- True Aspect Ratio: Dynamically calculates window dimensions to match your image exactly with zero cropping.
- Unrestricted Placement: Drag and drop photos anywhere on your screen without snapping to an invisible grid.
- Independent Persistence: The app remembers the exact position, size, and lock state of every individual photo across relaunches.
- Native App Integrations: Pick images directly from your native Apple Photos.app library.
- Smart Canvas (Folder Mode): Point a widget at any folder to automatically load and cycle through images.
- Custom Rotation Intervals: Rotate photos on double-click, every 30 seconds, 5 minutes, hourly, daily, or set an exact custom interval down to the second.
- GPU-Accelerated Fades: Hardware-accelerated Core Animation crossfades between images.
- Cyclic Spatial Memory: Remembers the unique size and coordinate position of every single image inside a rotating folder.
- Floating Mode: Pin any photo so it floats persistently above all your other active windows.
- Linked Click-Through: Lock a photo so mouse clicks pass right through it, ensuring it never steals your focus.
- Global Modifier Override: Hold the Option (⌥) key globally at any time to temporarily move or interact with a click-through photo.
- True Mission Control Integration: Photos are uncoupled from the rigid wallpaper layer, meaning they smoothly fly away during Mission Control and App Exposé.
- Custom Corner Radii: Smoothly adjust photo corners from 0px (sharp square) to 50px (pill shape).
- Drop Shadows: Toggle native macOS window shadows with controls for blur radius and opacity.
- Adjustable Borders: Add custom-colored borders with adjustable thickness.
- Edge Fade (Vignette): Apply a subtle fade-to-transparent effect at the photo edges so they blend into your wallpaper.
- Multi-Select Support: Import up to 20 images at once via the file picker.
- Ultra Lightweight: Consumes ~20MB RAM and uses 0% CPU when idle.
Project Samples
Follow Arras (formerly Tableau)
User Reviews
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Greatest app for photo widgets on mac. tryarras.tech
