I’ve just released Syndi, a lightweight macOS menu bar application that notifies you when your favorite RSS feeds have new content.

Why Syndi? Link to heading

I wanted a simple, no-frills way to stay updated on RSS feeds without having to open a browser or a dedicated RSS reader. Syndi lives quietly in your menu bar and sends native macOS notifications when new articles are published.

Features Link to heading

  • Menu Bar App - Lives in your macOS menu bar, stays out of the way
  • Native Notifications - Get macOS notifications for new posts
  • Quick Access - Click recent items to open posts directly in your browser
  • Simple Configuration - Easy JSON-based configuration for your feeds
  • Auto-Check - Periodically checks feeds in the background
  • Smart Tracking - Remembers what you’ve seen to avoid duplicate notifications
  • Standalone - Bundles into a native .app with no Python installation required

Tech Stack Link to heading

Syndi is built with Python and uses:

  • rumps - For the macOS menu bar integration
  • feedparser - For RSS/Atom feed parsing
  • py2app - To bundle everything into a native macOS application

Installation Link to heading

The easiest way to get started is to download the pre-built app from the GitHub Releases page:

  1. Download Syndi-vX.X.X-macos.zip
  2. Unzip and drag Syndi.app to your Applications folder
  3. Right-click → Open on first launch (to bypass Gatekeeper)
  4. Configure your feeds in ~/.syndi/config.json

Configuration Link to heading

The configuration is straightforward - just edit ~/.syndi/config.json:

{
  "feeds": [
    {
      "name": "Hacker News",
      "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/rss",
      "enabled": true
    },
    {
      "name": "GitHub Blog",
      "url": "https://github.blog/feed/",
      "enabled": true
    }
  ],
  "check_interval_seconds": 300,
  "notification_enabled": true,
  "max_recent_items": 10
}

Open Source Link to heading

Syndi is open source and available on GitHub under the MIT license. Feel free to contribute, report issues, or fork it for your own needs!

GitHub Repository: github.com/Eliezergh/Syndi