A quiet menu bar utility that automatically moves files to Trash after they expire. No configuration needed. No clutter left behind.
macOS Sonoma 14.6+ · Free · No account required
Set a duration and forget it. Files expire and move to Trash without any manual effort.
Pin any file to protect it from expiring. Pinned files are never automatically trashed.
Watch your Ephemeral and Downloads folders. Any new file is automatically tracked.
Drop any file onto the menu bar icon. It's instantly tracked and starts its countdown.
Get notified 1 hour before any file expires so you can review, pin, or let it go.
Files always go to Trash — never permanently deleted. Recover anything at any time.
Ephemeral lives in your menu bar. No dock icon, no windows. Just a quiet hourglass icon waiting to help.
Drag files onto the icon or enable watched folders in Settings. Each file gets a countdown based on your chosen duration — from 1 hour to 30 days.
Ephemeral runs silently in the background. When a file's time is up, it moves to Trash automatically. You'll get a warning 1 hour before if you'd like to review.
Found something broken? Open an issue on GitHub.
Have an idea to make Ephemeral better?
mister.desuyo@gmail.com
Never. Ephemeral always moves files to your Trash — recoverable at any time.
Click the pin icon in the popover. Pinned files are protected forever.
In ~/Ephemeral on your Mac, open anytime from the popover.
Yes — enable it in Settings. Ephemeral asks for permission once, then tracks automatically.
macOS Sonoma 14.6 or later.
Nothing. Ephemeral has no servers, no backend, and makes no network requests. It runs entirely on your Mac.
Ephemeral only reads file names, paths, and dates — never file contents. Nothing is ever transmitted anywhere.
A small JSON file at ~/Library/Application Support/Ephemeral/ tracks expiration times. It never leaves your device.
Expiration warnings use Apple's on-device local notification system. No external server involved.
No third-party SDKs, no advertising frameworks, no analytics libraries. Zero external dependencies.
Questions? mister.desuyo@gmail.com
Last updated: March 2026