Free and open source for Apple silicon

Your Mac, tuned. Every change reversible.

Keel speeds up and cleans your Apple silicon Mac. It records every setting before changing it and restores the original when you switch it off.

Download for Mac View on GitHub

Version 1.0.0 · 3 MB · MIT license

macOS 15 or later
Apple silicon
Notarized by Apple

Keel's Tweaks page, with tweaks grouped by area and filters for who each tweak is for.

The detail panel for Dock appears instantly, with what it does, what you'll notice, what you give up and the current values.

150+tweaks across 12 areas

48hidden gems

100%of setting changes reversible

0analytics or accounts

Four steps behind every switch

1
Read
The live value is shown before anything changes.
2
Record
The original is saved to Keel's backups folder.
3
Apply and verify
Changes run in one batch and are read back.
4
Restore
Switching off writes the recorded value back.

Tweaks

Every setting tells you what it costs

Live state, risk and impact on every card. Animation tweaks are labelled cosmetic.

Know what changes before it does

The detail panel shows the exact keys, what you'll notice and what you give up.

Sized for your MacBattery tweaks appear on laptops. GPU memory is sized from your RAM.
Labels you can checkEach tweak cites Apple docs, man pages or a tested macOS build.
Exact commandsEvery key and command is listed before you confirm.

On
Partly on
Off
Not on this Mac

The Tweaks page with the detail panel open next to the list.

Browse every tweak

The full catalog from the current release. Open a row for the commands Keel runs.

Undo

Nothing changes until you confirm

The sheet lists each change, its commands and whether macOS will ask for a password.

One prompt per batchRoot changes share a single prompt, or none with the helper.
Safety snapshotAn optional APFS snapshot before applying, removed after 24 hours.
Restore everythingOne button in Settings puts every recorded original back.

Confirmation sheet titled Turn on 4 recommended changes, showing one password prompt and an Apply 4 changes button.

Cleanup

Real sizes, measured on your Mac

Xcode data, simulators, package caches, logs and old installers. Each item says what it costs to rebuild.

Keel's Cleanup page listing Xcode, simulator and package manager caches with measured sizes.

Never deleted

Ollama and LM Studio models
Virtual machines
Docker data
SDKs
Photos library
Downloads
Your repositories

Benchmark

Measure first, then see the difference

Run a benchmark before you change anything. Keel keeps it as your baseline and compares every later run against it.

1
Run a baselineCPU, GPU, memory, SSD, network and DNS, in about a minute.
2
Apply what you wantTurn on recommended tweaks or pick your own.
3
Run again and compareEach result is checked against its noise band.

InstantDock reveal, down from about half a second

200×faster window resizing, 200 ms to 1 ms

30%faster DNS lookups after switching resolver

260 GBfreed on the developer's Mac, mostly old simulators and models

Before and after

Before
With Keel

Measured on the developer's MacBook Pro with M4 Pro. Animation times compare the macOS defaults with Keel's settings. Every Mac is different, so your results will depend on your hardware, your network and what's on your disk.

What Keel leaves alone

Some popular tweaks do nothing on Apple silicon. Others weaken the Mac. See the full list.

RAM cleanersmacOS refills the file cache within minutes.
Turning off SIP or GatekeeperKeel checks they're on and leaves them on.
Old kernel and network tweaksSettings that do nothing on Apple silicon.
TelemetryNo account, no analytics, no crash reporting.
Background agentsNothing runs at login unless you turn it on.
Silent updatesYou see new versions and install them yourself.

Privacy

Two network features, both optional

Everything else stays on your Mac.

Update check: One request a day to api.github.com. No identifiers. Can be turned off.
Network tests: Pings and DNS lookups, only when you run the benchmark.

Read the privacy policy

Keel's menu bar panel showing memory pressure, CPU, free disk space and four recommended changes that are off. — Memory, CPU and disk from the menu bar

Questions

Mac: Apple silicon, M1 or later
macOS: 15 Sequoia or later
App: Native Swift and SwiftUI
Download: 3 MB, notarized by Apple
Price: Free, MIT license

Should I run a benchmark first?

Yes. Run one before you change anything. Keel keeps it as your baseline, so after each change you can run it again and see exactly what improved on your Mac.

Why does Keel ask for my password?

Energy settings, the firewall and DNS need root. Keel batches every root step and asks once. With the optional helper installed, it doesn't ask at all.

What can the helper do?

Only a fixed list of operations, such as specific pmset keys, two sysctls, DNS servers, the firewall and Time Machine exclusions. It accepts requests only from Keel signed by the same developer and never runs a shell. Remove it from Settings at any time.

Does Keel need Full Disk Access?

No. With it, Cleanup can also measure the Trash, Mail downloads and device backups.

How do I undo everything?

Use Restore everything in Settings, or switch off each tweak that shows On. Keep ~/Library/Application Support/Keel/backups/ until you're done. Deleted caches are rebuilt by their apps.

How do I verify the download?

Compare the checksum on the release page, then ask Gatekeeper:

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/Keel-*.dmg
spctl --assess --type open --context context:primary-signature -vv ~/Downloads/Keel-*.dmg

Can I build it myself?

Yes. Clone the repository and run swift run Keel. The read me has the full steps.

Your Mac, set up the way you want it

Free, open source and notarized. Nothing changes until you confirm.

Download for Mac Release notes

By downloading Keel you agree to the Terms of Use.