TahoeElectronFix

A lightweight macOS menu bar app to control Chrome's headless mode

Features • Installation • Usage • Building • Support

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Overview

TahoeElectronFix is a SUPER-light and extremely simple macOS menu bar utility that allows you to easily toggle the CHROME_HEADLESS environment variable. This is particularly useful for users of MacOS Tahoe running Electron apps that haven't been updated to the bug fixed Electron version.This setting saves a lot of load on the system and therefore preserves battery life.

Features

• 🎯 Simple Toggle - One click to enable/disable Chrome headless mode
• 🔄 Persistent State - Remembers your preference across restarts
• 🚀 Launch at Login - Optional automatic startup
• 💻 Menu Bar Integration - Unobtrusive menu bar icon
• ⚡ Instant Effect - Changes take effect immediately for new processes
• 🎨 Visual Feedback - Icon changes based on current state

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 (Ventura) or later
• No App Sandbox (the app needs to set global environment variables)

Installation

Download

1. Download the latest .dmg file from the Releases page
2. Open the .dmg file
3. Drag TahoeElectronFix to your Applications folder
4. Launch the app
5. ⚠️ IMPORTANT First time only: Right-click the app and select "Open" to bypass Gatekeeper or run in terminal : xattr -cr /Applications/TahoeElectronFix.app

Build from Source

See Building from Source below.

Usage

Basic Operation

1. Launch the app - An atom icon (⚛️) will appear in your menu bar
2. Left-click the icon to toggle CHROME_HEADLESS on/off
   • Solid icon = Headless mode ON (CHROME_HEADLESS=1)
   • Greyed icon = Headless mode OFF (CHROME_HEADLESS=0)
3. Right-click to access the menu:
   • Start at Launch - Enable/disable automatic startup
   • Offer a coffee to the dev... - Support the developer ☕
   • Quit - Exit the application

Hover Tooltip

Hover over the menu bar icon to see the current value: CHROME_HEADLESS 0 or CHROME_HEADLESS 1

Verification

To verify the environment variable is set correctly, open Terminal and run:

launchctl getenv CHROME_HEADLESS

Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Xcode 15.0 or later
• macOS 13.0 SDK or later

Build Steps

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/realAbitbol/TahoeElectronFix.git
   cd TahoeElectronFix

2. Open in Xcode:

   open TahoeElectronFix.xcodeproj

3. Configure signing:

   • Select the project in Xcode
   • Go to "Signing & Capabilities"
   • Choose your development team
   • Important: Remove "App Sandbox" if present

4. Build:

   • Select Product → Build (⌘B)
   • Or run directly with Product → Run (⌘R)

5. Create distributable app:

   • Product → Archive
   • Distribute App → Copy App
   • Save to desired location

Creating a DMG

You can create a DMG manually using the provided script or wait for the automated GitHub Actions build.

How It Works

TahoeElectronFix sets the global CHROME_HEADLESS environment variable using launchctl setenv. This makes the variable available to all GUI applications launched after the variable is set.

The app:

1. Maintains state in UserDefaults
2. Runs launchctl setenv CHROME_HEADLESS <value> on toggle
3. Restores the last saved state on app launch
4. Initializes to ON (1) on first run

Troubleshooting

The environment variable isn't being set

• Make sure App Sandbox is disabled in Xcode (Signing & Capabilities)
• Verify the app is running (check menu bar for atom icon)
• Check Terminal: launchctl getenv CHROME_HEADLESS

"App is damaged" error

If you downloaded the app:

• Right-click the app → "Open" (first time only)
• Or run: xattr -cr /Applications/TahoeElectronFix.app

Menu bar icon not showing

• Try running the built app directly (not from Xcode)
• Check System Settings → Control Center for hidden icons

Support

If you find this app useful, consider buying me a coffee ☕

License

MIT Licence

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Credits

Created by realAbitbol

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Made with ❤️ for the MacOS community