Menu Bar Icon Search

Find a menu bar app, press Return, and open its icon.

_{Search by app or item name, then press Return to open its menu.}

Menu Bar Icon Search is a Raycast extension for the app icons on the right side of the macOS menu bar. It can also open icons hidden with macOS's Menu Bar setting through Accessibility.

Looking for File, Edit, and other menus of the active app? Raycast's built-in Search Menu Bar Items command does that. This extension searches the app icons on the other side of the menu bar.

Why this exists

With macOS 27 Golden Gate, I can choose which icons to show in System Settings → Menu Bar, and use the chevron to reach icons tucked away around the notch. For my setup, that made a full menu bar manager such as Ice, Thaw, or Bartender unnecessary.

One thing was still missing: a fast way to open the menu of a hidden app icon. I wanted to type the app's name, press Return, and get its menu without first revealing the icons and looking for the right one. This extension adds that one action to Raycast.

What it does

• Search by app or item name. Results show each app's icon and update as you type.
• Stay on the keyboard. Use ↑ and ↓ to choose an icon, then press Return to open it.
• Start with results. The last successful scan appears immediately while a fresh scan runs.
• Open hidden icons. The extension asks macOS to press the selected item, without changing which icons you have chosen to show.
• Keep system controls optional. Wi-Fi, Sound, Control Center, and other macOS items are excluded by default and can be enabled in the extension's preferences.

A native Swift module, built with Raycast's Swift tools, handles discovery and activation through macOS Accessibility. It runs only for a scan or an activation; there is no separate app or resident background process. The last scan is stored locally by Raycast.

Requirements

• Raycast on macOS with Accessibility access

Get started

1. In Raycast, open Search Menu Bar Icons.
2. Grant Accessibility access to Raycast when macOS requests it, then reopen the command.
3. Assign a shortcut to Search Menu Bar Icons in Raycast's extension settings if you want instant access.

In the list	Action
Type	Filter by app or item name
↑ / ↓	Select a result
Return	Open the selected icon
⌘ R	Refresh the scan
Copy Item Details	Copy diagnostic data for an item

Hidden icons and limitations

The extension presses the selected item through Accessibility and lets macOS position its menu. A hidden item's menu may open at the upper-left corner of the screen because macOS does not expose an on-screen position for its icon. The extension does not reveal the icon or change its Menu Bar setting. Some apps may not support an Accessibility press.

Results depend on what each app exposes through Accessibility. Items without an Accessibility press action are not listed. The extension removes duplicates when it can identify the same element, frame, or identifier without conflicting positions. A cached result can be briefly out of date until the next scan finishes; use Refresh Items if an app changes. An app may control where its own panel opens.

Raycast builds the Swift module for the Mac it runs on. Visible-icon search on earlier macOS versions and Intel hardware has not been physically verified.

Development

Run npm install and npm run dev to load the extension locally. Run npm run build and npm run lint to check the Raycast extension. The native code is a Swift package in swift/menu-bar-icon-search, compiled automatically by ray develop and ray build; it requires Xcode 16.3 or later.

License

MIT © 2026 Marc Güell Segarra (ondori.dev). See LICENSE.