Three steps, and the second one is a conversation

Clone and open

Clone the private repository and open the folder in the tool you code with: Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Codex or Xcode's coding assistant.
Say what you want to build

The agent reads AGENTS.md, asks about your idea and shapes it with you: which surface, which permissions, how you sell it. It asks before anything that costs money, goes online or cannot be undone.
Ship

Thirteen phases from the first question to a notarized 1.0.0 on your own site. Progress lives in SHIP.md, so you can stop and continue another day, or with another agent.

Terminal

What do you want to build?

A menu bar app that reminds me to stand up every 45 minutes.

Menu bar it is. It needs no permissions, so first run can be one screen. Do you want to sell it or give it away?

Sell it. One payment, not a subscription.

Then a license key with three seats, and Polar for checkout unless you prefer another provider. I'll call it Stand until you pick a name. Shall I shape it and show you the plan?

Yes.

Writing SHIP.md…

Pick the shape of your app

Three surfaces are built and tested. Keep one, two or all three; the agent removes the rest.

YourApp

Your app here

Window

A glass window with a sidebar and a standard menu. Liquid Glass on macOS 26, the usual material before it.

Finder 9:41

Menu bar

A panel under a status item, opened by a click or a global shortcut. Launch at login, Settings and Quit are already in the menu.

Finder9:41

Your app here

Notch

A panel that grows out of the notch when you hover. On Macs without a notch it becomes a pill at the top of the screen.

What is inside

Everything a paid Mac app needs around the part that is yours. Built from three apps that are already on sale, then tested.

Licensing

License keys with seats, a trial or a free tier, offline grace, and one-click activation from the thank-you page.

Payments

Polar or Creem out of the box, a recipe for Paddle and others. Checkout on your site, the key in the buyer's inbox.

Updates

Sparkle with signed updates, an appcast your site serves, and a What's New window after each one.

First run

Onboarding with permission steps, Settings, a global shortcut and launch at login. The parts people judge an app by.

Permissions

Eleven macOS permissions, from Accessibility to Screen Recording: checked, requested and explained to the user.

AI

Through your site with your key, with the user's own key, or both. Streaming, and only for licensed users.

Feedback

A feedback window that emails you, with the app version and the Mac's details attached.

Site

Landing page, What's New, privacy, terms, a download that always serves the latest release, and the small API the app needs. Static, deploys to Vercel.

Signing and notarization

A setup script that finds your Developer ID certificate and stores your notary credentials, and a doctor that says what is missing before you spend an hour finding out.

Scripts

A doctor for your Mac, an app icon in every size and a social card (drawn for you, or from one image), signing setup, release, and a reset that puts the app back to its first run.

Tests

For the app, the site and the scripts. The release script is rehearsed against fake Apple tools, so the first real one is not a surprise.

The agent layer

AGENTS.md, a skill with twenty references covering every phase, and SHIP.md for progress. Written for agents, readable by people.

One command to a notarized release

Archive, sign with Developer ID, notarize, staple, build the DMG, sign it for Sparkle, write the appcast and put it all on the site. The script checks every step and writes nothing to your config until the whole release succeeded, so a failed notarization leaves nothing half-done.

Before the first one, scripts/doctor.sh --release tells you what this Mac still lacks.

$ scripts/release.sh 1.0.0
✓ Archived with Developer ID
✓ Notarized: Accepted
✓ Stapled
✓ YourApp-1.0.0.dmg
✓ Signed for Sparkle
✓ Appcast and site updated
Released 1.0.0. Deploy the site and it is live.

Works with the agent you already use

One AGENTS.md is the canonical instruction file; CLAUDE.md, Cursor rules and Copilot instructions point to it. Every tool that reads a Markdown file can run the thirteen phases.

Claude Code
Cursor
GitHub Copilot
Codex
Xcode
Any agent that reads AGENTS.md

Defaults, not lock-in

Polar, Vercel, Resend and Open Analytics are the recommended defaults because they are the quickest path to a release. Tell the agent what you use instead and it will use that. The code is yours to change.

Pricing

$49 one-time, not a subscription

The full source: app, site, scripts, tests and the agent layer
Unlimited apps, for yourself or for clients
Access to the private GitHub repository, with every update
Three surfaces, licensing, payments, updates, onboarding, permissions, AI, feedback
Support by email

Get ShipCat · $49

Needs macOS 15 and Xcode 26. To ship outside your own Mac you need an Apple Developer Program membership; no account yet? See the FAQ. The terms are in the license.

Questions

What exactly do I get?

Access to a private GitHub repository with the full source of ShipCat: the Xcode project, the site, the scripts, the tests and the instructions for your coding agent. You clone it, and your agent starts from there. Every new version of ShipCat lands in the same repository.

Do I need an Apple Developer account?

To run the app on your own Mac, no. To give it to anyone else, yes: shipping a Mac app for download needs a Developer ID certificate, and the Apple Developer Program costs 99 USD a year. If you do not have an account, or you want to publish on the Mac App Store, Voprex's specialists can help: write to support@voprexlabs.com with the email address you bought with and your app's name. Your agent can draft that email for you.

Which AI coding agents does it work with?

Any agent that reads an AGENTS.md file: Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code with Copilot, Codex, Xcode's coding assistant and others. The whole path to a release was rehearsed end to end with Claude Code. If your tool does not pick up the instructions by itself, you tell it: "read AGENTS.md".

I use Lemon Squeezy, Netlify, or something else. Is that a problem?

No. Polar and Creem are wired in, Paddle has a recipe, and the licensing code is written so that another provider is one adapter away. The site is static files and a few serverless functions; Vercel is the default host, not the only one. Tell your agent what you use.

Can I build more than one app with it?

Yes. One purchase, as many apps as you like, for yourself or for clients. What you may not do is redistribute or resell ShipCat itself, or keep it in a public repository. The license says it in plain words.

Is it a framework? Will I depend on it?

No. It is source code in your own repository, written in plain Swift, SwiftUI and AppKit, with Sparkle as the one dependency. Your agent deletes what you do not need and you change the rest like any code you own. There is nothing to upgrade unless you want to pull a later version.

What does it need?

macOS 15 or later and Xcode 26. Python 3 comes with Xcode's command line tools; Node.js is only needed to run the site's tests. The apps you build run on macOS 15 and later, with Liquid Glass on macOS 26.