Download StrataBar for macOS
_{Apple Silicon · macOS 15 or newer · signed and notarized · all releases}

StrataBar: a macOS menu bar app for Strata

StrataBar (this repository, Strata-UI) is a menu bar app and GUI for Strata, which runs the Qwen3.8-Flash-Next model locally, on an Apple Silicon Mac. In the style of Ollama's app: start, pause and stop the Strata server, and chat with it in a native window, without keeping a terminal open.

This is an unofficial companion app. It is not part of Strata and is not maintained by its authors. It does not change Strata: it starts Strata's own server with the run config Strata's setup wrote, and uses the server's existing HTTP API.

What it does

• Start Service / Stop Service run the Strata server as a launchd job. The server belongs to launchd, not to this app or a terminal: quitting StrataBar or closing a terminal leaves the model as it is.
• Pause / Resume unload and load the model through the server's POST /unload and POST /load. The memory is freed while paused, and the HTTP server stays up. Any API request while paused loads the model again (the server does that by itself). Stop Service is the hard off.
• Open Chat Window shows Strata's own web app in a native window. The API key is taken from the run config, so nothing needs to be typed. The window handles image uploads, downloads (into ~/Downloads) and links (opened in the default browser).
• Open API Monitor shows Strata's /api-monitor page in its own window: the last 100 requests that apps sent to the server, with their prompts and answers, kept in the server's memory only. It needs "api_monitor": true in the run config; without it the item is greyed out.
• Copy API URL copies http://127.0.0.1:<port>/v1 for other apps.
• Show Log opens the server's log in Console.
• The menu bar icon shows the state: all three layers filled when the model is loaded, the top layer hollow when it is paused, the layers filling up while it starts or loads, and the icon dimmed when the service is stopped.

StrataBar lives in the menu bar. Once one of its windows has been opened, it also shows in the Dock and in ⌘Tab until it quits, as Ollama does; a click on its Dock icon opens the chat window again.

Nothing starts at login: the service starts only when you choose Start Service.

StrataBar or the Strata app?

Strata has its own app (Option A in Strata's README), with the engine inside. StrataBar is for Strata installed in a folder with its ./setup.sh, as StrataBar's own Set up Strata does: it runs that install's server from the menu bar, as a launchd job, and opens its web app and API monitor in native windows.

The two do not share an install: the app keeps its own install and data folders and does not use a ./setup.sh install's run configs or packs.

What you need

• An Apple Silicon Mac with macOS 15 or newer, as Strata on a Mac needs (Strata's docs/MAC.md).
• Strata, installed with its ./setup.sh. StrataBar looks for it in ~/Strata; a different folder can be chosen in the menu. Without it, StrataBar offers to set it up (below).
• To build from source: the Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install), for swiftc. Strata's setup needs them too.

Download

Download StrataBar for macOS (Apple Silicon, macOS 15 or newer; signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple). Unzip it, move StrataBar.app into Applications and open it. macOS asks once whether to open an app downloaded from the internet.

Older versions and their notes are on the releases page.

Setting up Strata

When StrataBar finds no Strata, it opens Set up Strata (also in the menu as Set Up Strata…). It first checks this Mac, and installs nothing until Install Strata is chosen:

Check	Stops the install when
Chip	not Apple Silicon
macOS	older than 15
Command Line Tools	missing (a button opens Apple's installer for them)
Memory	under 32 GB, the smallest Mac Strata was measured on. From 32 to 63 GB it installs, with a note that part of the model is read from the SSD while it runs (slower)
Disk	less free space than the model download plus about 11 GB (Strata's own margin, its engine build and Python)

The window names the model Strata's setup is expected to choose for this Mac's memory (IQ3_S from 96 GB, IQ3_XXS from 74 GB, else Q2_0, as in Strata's docs/MAC.md) and the download size. Setup makes the choice itself.

Install Strata then clones Strata's latest release from GitHub into ~/Strata (the local branch main at the release tag, so Strata's own ./update.sh works later) and runs ./setup.sh --yes --no-start: Strata's setup with its recommended answers, which builds the engine and downloads the model into ~/Strata-data. That takes an hour or more on a slow connection. It runs as the launchd job io.github.fengzhyuan.StrataBar.setup, so closing the window or quitting StrataBar does not stop it; the menu shows its step. Its log is ~/Library/Logs/StrataBar/setup.log. When it fails (a lost connection, for example), Retry runs it again and Strata's setup continues where it stopped.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/fengzhyuan/Strata-UI.git
cd Strata-UI
./build.sh                       # builds /Applications/StrataBar.app
open /Applications/StrataBar.app

On an account that cannot write to /Applications (a standard, non-administrator account), it installs into ~/Applications instead and says so; ./build.sh <folder> installs into another folder. The app is signed ad hoc, which is enough for a build made on the same Mac. Run ./build.sh again after pulling changes: it replaces the app, and a running model is not affected.

Release builds

./release.sh builds the app for a GitHub release: signed with a Developer ID, notarized by Apple and stapled, so a downloaded copy opens without a Gatekeeper prompt. It writes build/release/StrataBar.zip, the asset to upload to a release tagged v<version> (the version in Info.plist); the name stays the same in every release, so the download link above always gets the latest. It needs a Developer ID Application certificate and a notarytool keychain profile; the top of the script says how to set them up.

How it works

Run config	strata-<model>.json in the Strata folder, as setup writes it. With several, a Model submenu picks one (while the service is stopped). The port, host and API key are read from it on every use.
Server command	The one setup writes into run-<model>.sh: .venv/bin/python serve/server.py --engine strata --config strata-<model>.json --port <port>, without --open.
launchd job	io.github.fengzhyuan.StrataBar.server, written to ~/Library/Application Support/StrataBar/server.plist on every start. It restarts the server after a crash, not after a stop. It is not in ~/Library/LaunchAgents, so it does not start at login.
Log	~/Library/Logs/StrataBar/server.log
Settings	The Strata folder and the chosen model, in defaults read io.github.fengzhyuan.StrataBar.

StrataBar never stores the API key. It reads it from the run config for each request, and the chat window puts it into the web app's own storage (localStorage["strata.apikey"]), as typing it into the web app would.

A server started some other way (for example ./run-<model>.sh in a terminal) is shown with a note, and Pause / Resume work for it. Stop Service stops only the server StrataBar started.

Uninstall

launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/io.github.fengzhyuan.StrataBar.server   # if the service is running
rm -rf /Applications/StrataBar.app ~/Applications/StrataBar.app   # wherever it was installed
rm -rf "$HOME/Library/Application Support/StrataBar" ~/Library/Logs/StrataBar
defaults delete io.github.fengzhyuan.StrataBar

This leaves Strata itself. To remove it too, delete its folder and its model files (~/Strata and ~/Strata-data, or wherever they are).

Tested on

An Apple M3 Ultra with 96 GB, macOS 27.0, Swift 6.4, with Strata's IQ3_S pack. Other Macs and packs are untested.

License

MIT, as Strata. See LICENSE.