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Some memories are worth handing to someone else.

Not your whole library. One deliberate slice of it, in an order you chose, with the reasons still attached.

That's a shareable shelf: the one part of Shelf meant to leave your Mac, and only because you decided it should.

Download ShelfSee how it works

Free. macOS 14 and later, Apple Silicon and Intel. No account.

01 · The difference

Two kinds of collection, one library.

Confusing these two is how sharing features become privacy accidents. Shelf keeps them clearly apart.

  • Who it's for

    Semantic collection
    You
    Shareable shelf
    Someone else

  • How it forms

    Semantic collection
    On its own, by meaning
    Shareable shelf
    By your hand, on purpose

  • Changes over time

    Semantic collection
    Yes, as your library grows
    Shareable shelf
    Only when you edit it

  • Context

    Semantic collection
    Recovered by Shelf
    Shareable shelf
    Written by you

  • Visibility

    Semantic collection
    Private, always
    Shareable shelf
    Private until you publish

Curation is the moment a memory becomes a thought you can give away.

02 · From memory to shelf

Six steps, and only two of them are yours.

  1. MemoriesThings you kept without a planScreenshots, links, PDFs, notes, from months apart.
  2. Semantic collectionThey gather by meaningShelf does this quietly, in private.
  3. CurateYou chooseNine of the twenty-three. In the order that makes the argument.
  4. Add contextYou write the whyA line per item. This is what makes a shelf worth reading.
  5. Shareable shelfA finished objectTitled, introduced, dated, attributed to you.
  6. Public webA link you can sendPublished at a stable address, readable by anyone who has it.

03 · Examples

What a published shelf reads like.

The pages below show the shape. They're examples we wrote, not shelves published from the app.

04 · Status

Being built, said plainly.

Publishing a shelf from the Mac app is on the roadmap, not in your hands yet. What exists today is the private half: collections that form by meaning, and the context Shelf recovers around everything you keep.

When publishing arrives, nothing becomes public by default. A shelf leaves your Mac only when you publish it, and only the items you chose.

Next thought

Everything worth sharing started as something you almost forgot.

Back to rediscovery

Or start keeping things now. Download Shelf

If this idea interested you…

Shelf V3 is out now

Shelf V3 is the current build. Shelf does not use automatic updates, so download the latest build here and install it over your current version.

This is intentional. Shelf is built around a local-first, privacy-focused philosophy. An automatic updater requires additional background processes, network connections, update infrastructure, and another system with permission to modify the app. We prefer to keep Shelf’s network footprint and background activity as small as possible.

Manual updates keep the process explicit: Shelf only checks the internet when a feature actually needs it, and you decide when a new version is downloaded and installed.

Download the latest version →Version 3.0 · macOS 14+