felixhageloh/uebersicht
Uebersicht
Übersicht is a desktop widget engine for macOS that renders JavaScript-based widgets as live content directly on the desktop background. Widgets are authored using JSX syntax with inline CSS styling, enabling a React-like component model and automatic code reload without manual refreshing. The engine provides built-in bridges for executing arbitrary shell commands asynchronously, accessing device geographic location with street-level detail, and routing outbound HTTP requests through a local proxy to bypass cross-origin restrictions when fetching external data.
Distinctively, widgets can be automated via AppleScript commands for refresh, hide, and list operations, and each widget runs in its own WebKit view served by a lightweight Node.js HTTP server within the application. A file-based discovery system automatically loads all widgets placed in a designated directory. The shell command API returns stdout and stderr as promises, and the proxy-based API routing allows widgets to access external services without CORS errors.
Beyond these core capabilities, Übersicht supports live data display from APIs, shell commands, and device sensors, enabling system monitoring widgets that show real-time metrics such as CPU, memory, and network usage. Widget definition includes access to a server-side module system, and the geolocation bridge returns detailed address data including street, city, state, and country. The documentation covers widget creation, API usage, and AppleScript automation commands for advanced control.