A native utility for macOS, built in Swift 6

Quit apps,
made automatic on close.

Quit macOS apps completely when closing their final window. Stop background memory leaks and save battery natively.

Get Started View Source
$ brew install --cask thebigredbutton
demo-video.mp4 - Click to Fullscreen

See It in Action

Compare standard macOS behavior against the auto-quit mechanism.

Utility Active State:
Spotify File Edit Playback
94%
Spotify

Spotify Player

Enjoying Sunset Melodies (Stereo)

Click the Red Window Close Button above!
Process: Spotify Running
Active foreground window (PID: 43921)
Accessibility Settings ×

Allow the apps below to control your computer to monitor window-close events.

Terminal
The Big Red Button

Built with Purpose

A simple fix to one of the most persistent macOS papercuts.

Accessibility Automation

Utilizes native macOS AXUIElement Accessibility APIs to detect left clicks directly on window close red lights, resolving PIDs cleanly.

Sleek Menu Bar App

Runs quietly in the background as a menu bar accessory. Zero Dock clutter, fast toggles, and minimum overhead.

100% Open Source

Crafted natively in Swift 6. Read the codebase, verify security practices, build from scratch, or install pre-packaged versions.

Featherlight Size

Compiles down to less than 1 MB of native code. Minimal disk space, near-zero startup delay, and no Electron memory bloat.

Get The Big Red Button

Follow these quick installation guides to get up and running instantly.

1
Tap Repository and Install

Open your Terminal and run the commands to tap the repository and download the app cask:

Terminal 
# Add the tap repository
brew tap Aayu176/thebigredbutton

# Trust the tap repository
brew trust aayu176/thebigredbutton

# Install the application Cask
brew install --cask thebigredbutton
2
Enable Accessibility Settings

Because the app monitors window close clicks across macOS, you need to permit Accessibility Access:

  1. Launch The Big Red Button app from Applications.
  2. Click the status icon in your menu bar.
  3. Click the warning message: Grant Accessibility Permission...
  4. Toggle it on under System Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Accessibility.
1
Download Cask DMG

Download the pre-compiled installer image direct from the GitHub releases page:

Download v1.0.4 (.dmg)
2
Mount and Install

Double click the downloaded TheBigRedButton.dmg file and drag the application icon into your Applications directory folder.

Gatekeeper Quarantine Warnings

Since this application is signed ad-hoc, macOS security Gatekeeper will block first-time launches. You can bypass this restriction using any of these techniques:

Method 1: Right-Click Finder launch (Easiest)
Open your Applications directory in Finder, locate The Big Red Button.app, right-click (or Control-click) the app icon, click Open, and select Open again in the security challenge dialogue box.
Method 2: System Settings Override
Try to open the app, dismiss the warning dialog, then head to System Settings -> Privacy and Security, scroll down to the bottom Security section, and select Open Anyway.
Method 3: Terminal Quarantine Removal
Remove the quarantine flag completely from the terminal: 
xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TheBigRedButton.app

Frequently Asked Questions

Have questions? Find the answers below.

macOS sandbox protects system-wide actions. In order to detect clicks on the small red traffic light buttons inside other applications, the app utilizes the AXUIElement framework. Without accessibility permissions, macOS blocks background monitoring, rendering the app unable to listen to close events.

Yes! By default, you can enable the setting "Quit only when last window is closed" from the menu bar status dropdown. When active, closing one browser tab window will keep the browser alive, but closing the final window will cleanly quit the entire process.

Click the status icon inside the macOS Menu Bar and click the top row: "Status: Active". This toggles the tool state to Paused instantly without quitting the menu bar app, restoring macOS's default window-closing behavior.

Finder cannot be fully terminated as it runs the desktop environment. To prevent UI lockups, the setting "Ignore Finder" is enabled by default to bypass Finder process terminations entirely.