Acknowledgements

Pulse stands on the shoulders of giants. We're grateful to the maintainers of every project listed below — without their work, building a native macOS audio player of this quality would not have been possible.

Open-source software

• Sparkle — auto-update framework for macOS. sparkle-project.org · MIT License.
• SQLite & the FTS5extension — powering Pulse's instant search. sqlite.org · Public Domain.
• GRDB.swift — Swift wrapper for SQLite. github.com/groue/GRDB.swift · MIT License.
• Inter & JetBrains Mono — the two typefaces used across the website and inside the app. Both released under the SIL Open Font License.

Apple frameworks

Pulse is built directly on the macOS native stack: SwiftUI, AVFoundation (and AVQueuePlayer for gapless playback), CoreAudio, FSEvents for live library indexing, and MPNowPlayingInfoCenter for system-wide integration with Control Center, media keys, and the Touch Bar.

Keyboard shortcuts

• Space — Play / Pause
• ⌘ → / ⌘ ← — Next / Previous track
• ⌘ ↑ / ⌘ ↓ — Volume up / down
• ⌘ F — Focus search
• ⌘ N — New playlist
• ⌘ I — Show track info / inspector
• ⌘ R — Reveal file in Finder
• ⌘ , — Preferences

M3U import guide

Pulse imports standard .m3u and .m3u8 playlists with absolute or relative file paths. To import:

1. Open Pulse and select the Playlists sidebar section.
2. Drag your .m3u file onto the sidebar, or use File ▸ Import Playlist….
3. Pulse resolves each entry against the tracks currently in your library; missing files are highlighted so you can re-link them manually.

FAQ

Does Pulse stream music?

No. Pulse plays only files you have locally on your Mac. It's designed as the opposite of a streaming app.

Does Pulse modify my music files?

No. Pulse reads tags and audio data but never writes back to the original files unless you explicitly ask it to (e.g. via "Edit tags…").

Which formats are supported?

MP3, M4A, AAC, and WAV — decoded natively through Apple's CoreAudio. Additional formats (FLAC, OGG) are on the roadmap.

Where is my library data stored?

In ~/Library/Application Support/Pulse/. The SQLite index lives there; your actual music files are never moved or copied.

Release notes

1.0 — May 2026. Initial public release. Massive-library scanning via FSEvents, native 3-pane layout, instant FTS5 search, gapless playback via AVQueuePlayer, media keys + Control Center integration, M3U import, Sparkle in-app updates.

Thanks

Finally, thanks to the early testers who patiently fed Pulse libraries of tens of thousands of tracks and helped us tune every millisecond.