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Contributing to ChillMac

Thanks for wanting to help keep Macs chilly! Here's how to get started.

Setup

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/chillmac.git
cd chillmac
brew install xcodegen
xcodegen generate

Open ChillMac.xcodeproj in Xcode or build from the command line:

xcodebuild -project ChillMac.xcodeproj -scheme ChillMac build

Debug builds skip the helper's code signature check, so you don't need a Developer ID certificate to run the app locally.

Making Changes

  1. Fork the repo and create a branch from main
  2. Make your changes
  3. Make sure it builds: xcodegen generate && xcodebuild -scheme ChillMac build
  4. Test manually — there's no automated test suite
  5. Open a PR

Project Overview

  • project.yml — XcodeGen config. The .xcodeproj is generated from this, don't edit the project file directly.
  • ChillMac/ — Main app (menu bar UI, SMC reads, SwiftUI views)
  • FanControlHelper/ — Privileged helper daemon (runs as root, handles SMC writes via XPC)
  • Shared/ — XPC protocol shared between the app and helper

Guidelines

  • Keep PRs focused — one feature or fix per PR
  • Match the existing code style (no linter configured, just stay consistent)
  • SwiftUI views go in ChillMac/Views/
  • New monitors/data models go in ChillMac/Fan/
  • The app has zero external dependencies — let's keep it that way unless there's a strong reason

Architecture Notes

The app reads SMC data directly via IOKit. All write operations (fan speed, fan mode) go through XPC to the privileged helper. If you're adding a new SMC write operation, it needs to go through the helper — see HelperProtocol.swift for the XPC interface.

The helper validates the caller's code signature before accepting connections. In debug builds this check is skipped (#if DEBUG).

Questions?

Open an issue — happy to help!