The desktop app on a Mac
The wsp app on a Mac is the same app you get in a browser tab, in a window of its own. It adds a menu bar menu, system notifications and sounds, it keeps the Mac awake while threads work, and it updates itself.
wsp itself runs in the background as a service on your Mac. The window is a view of it. Closing the window, or quitting the app, does not stop your threads unless you ask it to. But the menu bar menu, the notifications and keeping the Mac awake are the app's, so they stop when you quit it.
The menu bar
On a Mac, the app stays in the menu bar when you close its window. The icon shows how many threads work. It turns into a question mark while a thread waits for you.
The menu has:
- A line such as 2 working, 1 waiting on you, or No threads working.
- One row for each thread that works or waits, and for each thread that failed and that you have not opened since. Each row names the thread's state and its computer.
- Open wsp and Quit wsp.
Each thread's row has Open and Stop. While the thread waits on a permission prompt, the row also has Allow and Deny, so you can answer it from the menu. A failed thread has Open only.
If wsp is not running, the menu says wsp is not running and offers Start wsp.
If the window shows a host on another computer, the menu shows that host's threads and names it.
Notifications and sounds
While the wsp window does not have focus, the app tells you when something happens. Settings > General > Notifications has two rows for threads:
| Row | When | Default |
|---|---|---|
| When a thread needs you | A question, a permission prompt or a sign-in. | Notify and sound |
| When a thread finishes | A thread that you or the command line started finishes or fails. | Notify |
Each row takes Off, Notify, Sound or Notify and sound. A thread that an agent started reports to that agent, not to you.
Click a notification to bring the window up on what it is about. While no window is open, the Dock icon counts the threads that need you.
The third row, the When a plan window runs low switch, sends a notification with no sound. It does so when an account used 70% and 90% of a plan window, and when the account reaches its limit. See Usage.
Keep the Mac awake
While a thread works on your Mac, the app keeps the Mac from going to sleep by itself. It keeps the system awake, not the display.
The app does this, not wsp in the background. So the app must be running, and its window must show the host on this Mac. After you quit the app with Keep threads running, the threads go on, but the Mac can sleep.
Only a thread that runs on this Mac counts. A thread on another computer does not, and a thread that waits for you does not. To turn this off, use Keep name awake in Settings > General, where name is your Mac's name.
Quit
Click Quit wsp in the menu, or press Cmd+Q. What happens next is set by When you quit in Settings > General:
| Choice | What a quit does |
|---|---|
| Ask each time | Asks Quit wsp? with Quit, Quit and stop wsp and Cancel. This is the default. |
| Keep threads running | Quits the app. wsp keeps running, so threads go on and the wsp command still answers. |
| Stop wsp too | Stops the threads on this Mac, then stops wsp, then quits. |
Start wsp at login, beside it, starts wsp when you log in, with no window open.
A window on a host on another computer quits without asking. That host keeps running.
Updates
wsp looks for a new release 30 seconds after it starts, then every 6 hours. Settings > General > Version shows the version of wsp. If the app and the host run different versions, it shows both, as App and Host. While a newer release is out, the card says version is out. Click What's new to read the release notes.
If the app is in your Applications folder, it updates itself:
- When a release is out, the app downloads it in the background. It makes sure that the sha256 and the signature of the download are right.
- A notice says wsp version is ready to install.
- Click Restart. Running threads go on. Open terminals close.
Click Later to skip it for now. To update later, click Get version in the Version card. When the download is ready, the button says Restart to update.
If the app runs from a disk image or from a temporary copy that macOS made, it cannot replace itself. Move it to Applications and open it again. Until then, Get version in the Version card downloads the disk image and makes sure that its sha256 is right. Then Quit and open opens it, and you drag the new app over the old one.
The builds are not signed with an Apple Developer ID. When you open an app that you downloaded this way for the first time, macOS asks you to allow it. Click Open Anyway in System Settings > Privacy & Security.
