Finder folders open like stacks
Click a Finder folder to browse it in the same panel, with file thumbnails and Open in Finder at the end of the grid.
- The back button takes you up one level
- A setting shows hidden files too
Group therapy for your Dock.
Groups for the macOS Dock: sort apps, files, Finder folders, and web pages into them, and open each group as a grid right above the Dock, just like a Dock folder.
About
The Dock’s own folders can only live on the right side of the Dock, and each one is a folder on disk. Flotilla puts groups in the app section on the left side instead.
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A group is kept by Flotilla rather than as a folder on disk, so the apps you sort into it stay where they are.
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Like the right side of the Dock, a group can also hold files, Finder folders, and web pages.
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Click a group and it expands above the Dock as a grid. Its look, animation, and position follow the Dock’s own folders in grid view, one to one.
Features
Apps, files, Finder folders, and web pages, sorted into groups.
Drag and drop to add
Drop apps, files, and Finder folders onto a group’s tile in the Dock, or drop them and web pages onto a group in the settings window.
Manage groups in the settings window
- Add… opens a menu: Add Apps…, Add Files…, Add Web Page…
- Double-click a group to rename it
- Drag rows to reorder them, or to move them into another group
- Right-click or Control-click a row for more actions
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Groups among your apps
Each top-level group gets its own tile in the app section of the Dock, named after the group.
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Apps, files, Finder folders, and web pages
Mix them freely in a group; files open in their default app, web pages in your default browser.
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Nested groups
Put groups inside groups; click a sub-group in the panel to step into it, and the back button returns.
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A grid like the Dock’s folders
Click a tile and the group expands above the Dock, its tail pointing at the tile.
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Live group icons
A tile shows the icons of the group’s first few items, as many as you choose up to four, and follows the system’s light or dark appearance.
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Rearrange right in the panel
Drag items to reorder them; drag one out of the panel and hold until Remove appears to take it out of the group, as you would with an icon in the Dock.
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Keeps track of moves and updates
Items follow apps and files that are moved or renamed, and an app still opens the installed copy after it updates.
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Stays out of the way
Flotilla runs in the background with a menu bar icon; opening a panel doesn’t add Flotilla to the Dock or take focus from the app you’re using.
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Five languages
English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, following the system language; other languages fall back to English.
How it works
A placeholder app in the Dock for each top-level group.
The Dock only holds apps and files, so Flotilla generates a placeholder app for each top-level group and adds it to the Dock; its icon is the group icon.
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1
Click a group’s tile
Clicking the tile launches the placeholder.
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2
The placeholder opens a
flotilla://URLIt opens the URL without bringing any app to the front, then quits.
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3
Flotilla opens or closes the panel
If Flotilla isn’t running, macOS launches it first. Items dropped onto the tile are handed to Flotilla the same way.
What Flotilla does to your Mac
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Only its own tiles
Flotilla adds its tiles to the Dock by modifying the Dock preferences (
com.apple.dock).It only adds, removes, and changes its own tiles, which live in
persistent-apps, the app section on the left side of the Dock; other tiles and other Dock settings are left untouched. -
The Dock restarts after each change
Flotilla terminates the Dock process; macOS relaunches the Dock automatically, and the change takes effect.
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A backup before the first change
Before its first change in each run, Flotilla exports the entire
com.apple.dockpreferences as a backup, and keeps only the 5 most recent.~/Library/Application Support/ Flotilla/ Backups/ com.apple.dock-<yyyyMMdd-HHmmss>.plist -
Data and settings
Data is stored in
~/Library/:Application Support/ Flotilla folders.json: the group dataDockTiles/: the placeholder appsBackups/: backups of the Dock preferences
Settings are stored in the preferences domain
com.rakuyo.flotilla. -
Online only for page titles
Flotilla goes online only to fetch a web page’s title in the Add Web Page… and Edit… dialogs.
Open source
Built in the open, on GitHub.
Flotilla is free and open source: its code, issues, and requirement documents are all on GitHub.
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rakuyoMo/Flotilla
Star and watch
Star Flotilla on GitHub, and choose Watch › Custom › Releases to be notified of new versions.
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Report a problem
Found a bug? Report it in Issues on GitHub.
Issues -
Contribute
Before opening a pull request, make sure
mise run swift:lintandswift testpass.Collaboration conventions are in AGENTS.md, and each feature is specified in docs/requirements; both are in Chinese.
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Build from source
Only the Xcode Command Line Tools and mise are needed; Xcode is not required.
Build instructions -
GPL-3.0
Flotilla is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
License
FAQ
Questions, answered.
More details are in the README.
Why does macOS say it can’t verify Flotilla, and refuse to open it?
Flotilla is not notarized by Apple. The first time you open it, macOS says that Apple cannot verify it is free of malware, and refuses to open it.
Click Done, open System Settings › Privacy & Security, scroll down to Security, and click Open Anyway. This button only appears for an hour after you try to open Flotilla.
Can I use Flotilla without the Accessibility permission?
Yes. Flotilla still works without this permission, except that:
- The panel is placed at the mouse location of the click, and may not line up exactly with the tile
- The panel appears only after the Dock launches the tile, slightly later than with the permission
Why do I need to grant Accessibility again after updating?
Flotilla is ad-hoc signed. After switching to a new version, the previous grant may stop working, and the permission needs to be granted again.
It is granted in System Settings › Privacy & Security › Accessibility; on macOS 27, this page is Privacy & Security › Device Control and Data Access.
Why does the Dock restart?
Flotilla adds its tiles to the Dock by modifying the Dock preferences. After each change, it terminates the Dock process; macOS relaunches the Dock automatically, and the change takes effect.
Updating a tile’s icon is also such a change, so the Dock restarts when a group’s preview changes, or when the system switches between light and dark appearance.
How do I remove a group’s tile from the Dock, or bring it back?
To remove a group’s tile, drag it out of the Dock like any other app.
Flotilla doesn’t put it back on its own: the group is marked Not in Dock in the settings window, and Add to Dock in its right-click menu brings the tile back.
Which Macs does Flotilla run on?
Flotilla requires macOS 15 or later, on a Mac with Apple silicon.
Which languages does Flotilla support?
English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, following the system language; other languages fall back to English.
The app is shown as 归帆 in Simplified Chinese, 歸帆 in Traditional Chinese, 帰帆 in Japanese, and Flotilla in other languages.
