Usage

Helm runs as a menu bar app with a floating panel UI. It has two main tabs: Dashboard and Packages.

Dashboard

The Dashboard gives you an at-a-glance view of your software environment:

• Package counts — installed, upgradable, and available (from search cache)
• Manager grid — shows all supported managers and whether they’re detected on your system
• Recent tasks — the latest refresh, search, and other background operations with their status

Packages

The Packages tab is where you browse and filter your software:

• Status filters — filter by Installed, Upgradable, or Available
• Manager filter — narrow the list to a specific manager (Homebrew, mise, rustup, etc.)
• Search — type to instantly filter the local list; after a brief pause, Helm searches remote sources and merges results
• Package details — click any package to see version info and manager attribution

Refreshing

Click the refresh button in the navigation bar to update all package data. Helm refreshes managers in authority order:

1. Toolchain managers first (mise, rustup) — these define the runtime environment
2. Package managers second (Homebrew) — these depend on the toolchain state

Within each phase, managers refresh in parallel. If one manager fails, the others continue unaffected.

Search

Search is progressive and non-blocking:

1. Instant local filter — as you type, installed and cached packages are filtered immediately
2. Debounced remote search — after you stop typing for 300ms, Helm queries remote sources (e.g., Homebrew formulae) in the background
3. Cache enrichment — remote results are cached locally, making future searches faster
4. Cancellation — typing again cancels any in-flight remote search

Background tasks

All operations (refresh, search, install, upgrade) run as background tasks. The task list shows real-time status: Queued, Running, Completed, or Failed. Tasks for the same manager run serially; tasks for different managers run in parallel.