MenuBarRadio

MenuBarRadio is a macOS MenuBarExtra app for streaming internet radio with rich, automatically enriched now-playing information. Beyond simple play/pause and station management, it parses live stream metadata, cross-references it against MusicBrainz, the iTunes Search API, and the Cover Art Archive to fill in artist, title, release year, and artwork, and can even fetch lyrics via LRCLIB — all shown directly in the menu bar popover.

Fully vibe coded / agentic coded using GPT-5.3-Codex.

---

Screenshots

Features

• Menu bar app with play/pause controls.
• Plays stream URLs (AAC/MP3/HLS and other AVPlayer-compatible endpoints).
• Timed metadata parsing from radio streams (including StreamTitle patterns).
• Optional metadata provider API polling per station (for richer song data/artwork).
• Automatic song enrichment on track change (debounced):
  • MusicBrainz search (primary)
  • iTunes Search API fallback
  • Cover Art Archive artwork lookup via MusicBrainz releases
  • cached results and rate-limited requests
• Now-playing content view in the menu popup:
  • artist
  • title
  • year (when available)
  • release date (localized)
  • bitrate / codec / votes (from directory metadata when available)
  • artwork image (when available)
  • lyrics popover (via LRCLIB)
• Configurable menu bar label:
  • show/hide artist
  • show/hide title
  • show/hide year
  • fallback to station name
  • max label length
• Tooltip on menu bar label with additional metadata fields.
• Settings UI:
  • add/edit/delete stations
  • import/export all stations as JSON
  • search stations via Radio Browser API
  • pre-listen stations before adding to your list
  • set stream URL
  • set optional metadata API URL
  • favorite stations
  • configure metadata refresh interval
  • configure recent track history length
  • show/hide Dock icon
  • launch at login
• Auto-play last station on app launch (optional).
• Restore artwork popup window on app launch (optional).
• Volume control (uses default macOS output device unless overridden).
• Output device selection (Automatic/system default or a specific device).
• Recent tracks history list in the menu popup.
• Right-click copy artwork to clipboard.
• Text selection enabled in metadata panel for easy copy.

---

Requirements

macOS	14.0 Sonoma or later
Architecture	Apple Silicon only

---

Installation

Build from source

1. Open MenuBarRadio.xcodeproj in Xcode.
2. Build and run the MenuBarRadio target.
3. The app appears as a menu bar item.
4. Open Settings from the menu popup to configure your streams.

Prebuilt DMG

A ready-to-run build is available as MenuBarRadio.dmg (ad-hoc signed, Apple Silicon only). Since it isn't notarized by Apple, macOS blocks it on first launch. Remove the quarantine flag before opening:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/MenuBarRadio.app

Alternatively, right-click the app in Finder and choose "Open".

---

Project Structure

• MenuBarRadioApp.swift: app entry, MenuBarExtra, settings scene.
• Service/RadioPlayer.swift: playback engine, metadata parsing, persistence orchestration.
• Models.swift: station, metadata, and app settings models.
• SettingsStore.swift: UserDefaults JSON persistence.
• View/ContentView.swift: menu popup layout.
• View/HeaderView.swift: station picker + play/pause.
• View/MetadataView.swift: now-playing metadata panel.
• View/VolumeView.swift: volume slider.
• View/SongHistoryView.swift: recent tracks history list.
• View/StationListView.swift: station list.
• View/FooterActionsView.swift: settings + quit row.
• View/SettingsView.swift: station and display configuration UI.
• Service/RadioDirectory.swift: provider-agnostic directory interface and Radio Browser implementation.
• Service/MusicMetadataEnrichmentService.swift: year/release-date/artwork enrichment with caching and throttling.
• Support/NowPlayingMetadata+ReleaseDate.swift: release date formatting helpers.
• View/ArtworkView.swift: now-playing artwork rendering (copy to clipboard).
• View/MenuBarLabelView.swift: menu bar icon + dynamic text label.

Notes

• Some URLs (for example App Store/iTunes pages) are not direct audio streams and cannot be played directly by AVPlayer.
• Direct stream URLs (like .../livestream-redirect/...aac or .../mp3-192/mediaplayer) are supported when the endpoint serves playable audio.

---

License

This project is licensed under the PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 — see LICENSE for details. Free for noncommercial use; commercial use requires a separate license from the author.