Mac-Rat

Hey. I’m Mac-Rat. I live in your Mac now. Don’t worry, I’m clean. Mostly.

Every so often I pop up and say something. Out loud. A joke, a roast, an opinion about your forty-seven browser tabs. It shows up in a speech balloon too, so you can read along, or pretend you didn’t hear me.

I’m from Colby, Wisconsin. Like the cheese. My family invented it. Mostly. I did a few years in a pawnshop on Chicago’s South Side, and now I’m here. With you. Lucky you.

Free · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Native on Apple Silicon and Intel

What I do

• I talk. I show up, say my piece, and leave. Or turn on Always on Screen and I’ll hang around, watch your pointer, and sniff my cheese.
• You pick how rude. The cheddar dial goes from Fresh Curds (safe for kids and coworkers) to Extra Sharp (aged twelve years, no mercy). Medium’s the default. Medium is me being polite.
• I’ve got material. Over 3,000 lines: cheesy jokes, roasts, cheese opinions, Wisconsin, Mac gripes, and the cats. Don’t get me started on the cats. Don’t like a set? Switch it off. I’ll pretend I’m not hurt.
• Clasp drops by. He’s a binder clip with googly eyes and he wants to help. He’s not a paperclip. He’ll tell you. At length.
• I know when to zip it. Music playing, a video on, your mic or camera in use? I keep it to myself. Click me if you want me anyway.
• I dress up. A Santa cap at Christmas, a mouse costume on Halloween (scariest thing I could think of), and a hat for most of the holidays in between. In color, or black and white like the old days. Looks slimming.
• Private. No account, no internet, no data collected. When you empty the Trash, I know you emptied it. Not what was in it. I don’t want to know.

The cast

• Me. Tough talk, soft heart, cheese snob. White Sox and Packers fan. Yeah. I get beat up a lot.
• Clasp. Binder clip. Laid off from a 1997 office suite. Still looking for someone to help. Keep walking.
• Colby and Muenster. Two orange cats, both named after cheese. You’ll never see them.
  That’s how they get you.
• The Moose. My family’s old rival. Went Windows-only. We don’t talk about the Moose.

Early reviews

Mac-Rat is not affiliated with Apple.