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macOS app

wuDict.app is the command-line wudict packaged as a macOS app bundle. It runs without a terminal and shows a menu-bar icon.

Install

  1. Download wudict-macos-universal-app-<version>.zip from the releases page. It is a universal binary, for Apple silicon and Intel.
  2. Unzip it and move wuDict.app to Applications.
  3. Open the app. macOS blocks the first launch ("Apple could not verify…"): click Done, open System Settings → Privacy & Security, and click Open Anyway. On macOS 14 and earlier, Control-click the app and choose Open instead.

The app is signed with an ad-hoc certificate, not with an Apple Developer ID, so Gatekeeper blocks it on first launch. Removing the quarantine attribute before the first launch has the same effect as step 3:

/usr/bin/xattr -cr /Applications/wuDict.app

The menu bar then shows the wuDict icon, and the browser opens localhost:6888.

Entry Action
wuDict <version> none; shows the running version
Open wuDict open the page in the browser
Rescan dictionaries re-read the dictionary folders
Open dictionary folder show the dictionary folder in Finder
Quit wuDict stop the server

The app has no Dock icon and no window. Closing the browser tab does not stop the server; Quit wuDict does. The log is ~/Library/Logs/wudict.log.

Launching the app while the wudict server is already running just opens the page in the browser.

macOS app bundle vs LaunchAgent

wuDict.app LaunchAgent
Starts when you open it at login
Visible menu-bar icon nothing
Stops Quit wuDict make mac-agent-stop, or logout

Use one or the other.

The binary inside the bundle

/Applications/wuDict.app/Contents/MacOS/wudict --version
/Applications/wuDict.app/Contents/MacOS/wudict lookup ~/Dictionaries/Oxford.mdx serendipity

Started from a terminal, it behaves as the command-line wudict: output goes to the terminal and no menu-bar icon appears.

Uninstall

  1. Quit wuDict from the menu bar.
  2. Move wuDict.app to the Bin.
  3. Optionally delete ~/.wudict (settings and library, unless DB_DIR points elsewhere) and ~/Library/Logs/wudict.log.

Next

Set the dictionary folders