Mac menu bar app

macOS

On the Mac, MeowX lives in the menu bar. It has no Dock icon and no main window. Click the cat icon to open the panel; click anywhere outside it to close it.

The icon has two states: the plain cat silhouette when disconnected, and a winking cat with sparkles when connected. With Show speed in menu bar on (the default), the current upload and download speed is shown next to it while connected.

The only separate window is HTTPS Decryption, opened from the panel’s Settings. It is covered in HTTPS Decryption.

The panel at a glance

From top to bottom:

1. Header: logo, “MeowX”, a status line with the local proxy address, and four buttons.
2. Tabs: Nodes, Rules, Connections, Logs, Settings.
3. The selected tab’s content.
4. Footer: the core version and the app version. Short notices (such as “Imported and switched to …”) appear just above it.

Header

Control	What it does
Status line	A colored dot (green = connected) and the local proxy address, such as 127.0.0.1:7890. Click it to copy the local address or, if available, your LAN address
Pin	Keep the panel open when you click elsewhere (“Pin panel”). Click again to unpin. Handy while you work in another app and watch connections or logs
Refresh	Refresh the current subscription (and your account nickname / avatar)
Quit	Quit MeowX. The system proxy is restored
Power button	Connect or disconnect. Fills with pink while connecting, like on iOS

Nodes tab

The default tab, with four parts.

Traffic overview. Upload and download rate, session totals, the number of connections and the memory used, over a speed chart. Click it to open the speed test.

Subscription card. The current subscription with usage and expiry, and the Switch subscription menu (import from URL, scan a QR code on screen, refresh, delete, account subscriptions). See Account and subscriptions.

Outbound mode. The Rule / Global / Direct switch. It sits here rather than in the header so you do not hit it by accident.

Quick toggles:

Row	What it does
System proxy	Whether MeowX sets macOS’s system proxy while connected. On by default. Turn it off if you only want TUN mode, or if you want to point apps at the local proxy yourself (for example while another proxy client manages system settings). If setting the proxy fails, the reason appears under the row
TUN mode	Switch between system proxy mode (off) and TUN mode (on). You can switch while connected: MeowX disconnects, changes mode and reconnects. If the network extension still needs approval, an Allow button appears
Copy terminal command	Copies export https_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890 http_proxy=http://127.0.0.1:7890 all_proxy=socks5://127.0.0.1:7890 (with your actual port). Paste it into a terminal so command-line tools use MeowX
Open terminal with proxy	Opens a new terminal window with those variables already set: Terminal (plain shell), or a terminal that immediately starts Claude, Codex, Gemini or Grok CLI tools. The terminal app used is set in Settings › General › Default terminal

The last two need MeowX to be connected.

Proxy groups. Every group with its type, current member, latency and member count. The bolt button in the header tests all nodes.

• Hover over a group to open its member list in a flyout beside the panel. Moving to another group swaps the content in place.
• Click a member to select it (in select groups) or pin it (in url-test / fallback groups). Click a member’s latency to re-test only that one.
• url-test and fallback groups show the Auto select switch at the top of the flyout. A pinned member shows a pin; click it again to return to automatic selection. See Nodes.
• With Node statistics on, hover over a member to see its statistics as a tooltip.

Rules tab

Lists the rules of the running configuration, with the policy each one sends traffic to and a hit count (how many connections it matched since connecting).

• Category chips: All, Domain, IP, Rule set, Other.
• A policy filter (All policies or a specific group) and a search field (“Search target, type, policy…”).
• A summary of how many rules and rule sets are loaded, and a button to re-fetch rule providers.
• Your custom rules are listed first, labeled User rule.
• At most 500 rules are drawn at once; use the filters to narrow down.

Connections tab

The live connection list, refreshed while the panel is open.

• Search (“Filter domain, IP…”) and Close all.
• Filters: protocol (All protocols, TCP, UDP), sort order (Default, Duration, Upload, Download, Host), proxy group and node.
• Hover over a connection to open its details: Proxy chain, Rule, Started (time and duration), Traffic, and, if relevant, HTTPS decryption status with Decrypt this host.
• The details include the same Route this domain: Direct / Proxy / Reject buttons as on iOS, to create a custom rule in one click.

The iOS type filter chips (APNs / DNS / Direct / Proxy) are not available on the Mac; use the group and node filters instead.

Logs tab

• Source chips: All, MeowX (the app) and Engine.
• Level chips: All, Info, Warning, Error, plus a search field.
• A recording level menu, info or warn. This is the same switch as Settings › Record logs: at info every connection is logged; at warn only warnings and errors.
• Copy puts the currently filtered lines on the clipboard, in the form 12:00:01 [Engine] [info] message. Useful when reporting a problem.
• Clear empties both the app’s and the engine’s logs.

Settings tab

The account card is at the top (see Account and subscriptions). Below it are the General, Network settings, Overrides, Local proxy, Wi-Fi, Tools, System status and About sections. Each option is explained in Settings overview; the Mac-specific ones are listed in Mac-only settings.

Sub-pages (DNS hijack, bypass list, custom rules, Wi-Fi rules, speed test, disclaimer) open inside the panel with a back button. HTTPS decryption (MITM) opens its own window.

System proxy mode and TUN mode

A summary; the full explanation is in Concepts and the approvals in Installation.

	System proxy mode	TUN mode
Toggle	TUN mode off	TUN mode on
Engine runs in	The MeowX app	The network system extension
Captures	Apps that respect the system proxy	All traffic except local network addresses
Needs	System proxy helper approval	Network extension approval
User-space TCP stack setting	Not used	Used
IPv6 setting	Not used	Used

Note

After turning TUN mode off, macOS may take up to about 30 seconds to release the local proxy port. The TUN row says “Waiting for the system to release port …” during that time, and MeowX continues once the port is free.

Wi-Fi rules

Settings › Wi-Fi › Switch by Wi-Fi. While MeowX is running, it watches the network and connects or disconnects according to your rules:

• One rule per Wi-Fi name (SSID): On, Off or No change, and optionally a subscription to switch to (“Don’t switch profile” by default).
• Other Wi-Fi and Wired network rules.
• Read current fills in the current Wi-Fi name. macOS requires Location Services permission for this; if it is denied, use Open location settings.
• If you toggle the connection by hand, MeowX leaves it alone until the network changes.

Scanning QR codes on screen

The Mac has no camera scanner. Instead, MeowX can read a QR code that is visible on your screen:

• Subscription menu › Scan QR code on screen to import / sign in
• Settings › account card › Scan to sign in
• The Scan QR code on screen button in the Import from URL popover

MeowX captures a single still image of your displays, finds the QR code and acts on it: a provider login code signs you in; a subscription URL or clash:// link is imported. The first time, macOS asks for Screen Recording permission (System Settings › Privacy & Security › Screen Recording, called “Screen & System Audio Recording” on newer macOS versions). Nothing is recorded or uploaded.

Quitting and restoring

Quitting MeowX (header button or Settings › About › Quit MeowX) disconnects and restores your previous system proxy settings. The helper also restores them if MeowX crashes.