{"slug": "show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory", "title": "Show HN: Blame – a Mac menu-bar app that names what's eating your memory", "summary": "A Mac menu-bar app called Blame, built by an unnamed solo founder, identifies which AI coding sessions and other processes are consuming memory and offers a one-click Free or Quit action, with a Pro tier priced at $29 once after a 7-day Autopilot trial. On the founder's 16 GB Mac, Chrome held the most memory across all 107 slowdowns Blame logged between 12 and 26 October, and the app itself used a median of 48 MB of memory and 1% CPU on the 0.3.10 release build over 5 hours on 6 October 2026. Blame requires macOS 14 or later, runs on Apple silicon and Intel, keeps process data on the Mac, and never ends databases or protected process trees.", "body_md": "### Names what is slowing your Mac\n\nOne bar of your memory, each cause a row, and one button: Free or Quit.\n\nClaude Code, Cursor and Codex leave servers and browsers running after a session ends. Blame names each one and ends only what is safe.\n\nFree to use. Autopilot is free for 7 days, then $29 once.\n\nBlame runs on a Mac with macOS 14 or later. Send the link to your Mac and install it there.\n\nBlame finds what these leave running\n\nWhat holds your memory, why, and whether it is safe to end.\n\nEach Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI or Aider session, its project, how long it has run, and End session.\n\nOn the founder’s 16 GB Mac, Chrome held the most memory in all 107 slowdowns Blame logged, 12–26 Oct. The free extension lets Blame unload the tabs you have left, only when memory is short. Each reloads when you click it.\n\nIt slows background work, cools a hot Mac, unloads idle tabs, pauses apps you left, restarts leaky editor extensions and clears old caches. A rule that is wrong turns itself off.\n\nCaches, old Playwright browsers and stale build folders, moved to the Trash.\n\nMemory spilled to disk, hour by hour, with every fix marked.\n\nHow hot it ran, hour by hour, and the apps that did it.\n\nIts dot is green when stable, yellow when something needs attention, red when critical.\n\nYou see what will end and what stays. Cancel is the default.\n\nMeasured by Blame itself, with the date and the log each number came from.\n\nBlame 0.2.4 (then named MemWatch) on the founder’s Mac, 3 Oct 2026\n\nNo subscription, and nothing about your processes leaves your Mac.\n\nFree, forever\n\n$0\n\nNo account. macOS 14+, Apple silicon and Intel.\n\nBlame Pro\n\n$29once\n\nTry Autopilot free for 7 days first. Your key appears right after payment.\n\nDidn’t find your answer? [Write to the founder](https://getblame.app/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6f070a0303002f080a1b0d030e020a410e1f1f), or read [why Blame exists](https://getblame.app/about/).\n\nOnly what passes the safety check ends. Databases are never ended from a button, a child doing protected work protects its whole tree, and every fix shows its list before you confirm.\n\nWith Blame Pro, yes, for what can be undone: it slows busy background work, cools a hot Mac, unloads browser tabs you have left (with the free [extension](https://getblame.app/extension/)), restarts a leaking editor’s extensions and moves old temp files and unused build caches to the Trash (under 5 GB of free disk it deletes them outright, since the Trash frees nothing until it is emptied). Each rule turns itself off if it is wrong on your Mac, and you can switch any of them off. Free, it only suggests, and you choose Do it or Not this.\n\nActivity Monitor lists every process and its memory. It does not say which session left a program running, whether it is safe to end, or what slows your Mac right now. Blame names the cause and ends the whole tree after checking it is still the same program.\n\nThey find orphaned processes, and so does Blame. They do not diagnose a slow Mac, show what each AI session holds, or learn with Autopilot. Diagnosis and fixes are free; you pay only for Autopilot acting on its own.\n\nA restart clears memory once and closes everything you had open. The leftovers come back with your next agent session. Blame ends only those, and keeps your work running.\n\nDiagnosis, one-click fixes, sessions, history and Autopilot suggestions are free. Autopilot acting on its own is Blame Pro: $29 once, for all your Macs, with every update to 1.x. There is no subscription.\n\nNothing about your processes. Blame checks getblame.app for updates once a day; switch that off in Settings › About. Anonymous usage counts are sent only if you switch them on: one report a day of counts, never a program name, a path or a command. Logs stay on your Mac for 14 days and Blame never sends them. [Privacy](https://getblame.app/privacy/) has the details.\n\nAbout 50 MB of memory and 1% CPU: a median of 48 MB on the 0.3.10 release build over 5 hours on 6 Oct 2026, up to 140 MB while its window is open.\n\nmacOS 14 or later. It is a universal build, so it runs on Apple silicon and Intel Macs.\n\nIts sandbox forbids signalling other processes, so Blame could not end anything. It is a direct download, signed with a Developer ID and notarized by Apple.\n\nBlame stays in the menu bar. One click shows what is holding your memory and ends only what is safe.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory", "canonical_source": "https://getblame.app/", "published_at": "2026-11-11 13:35:22+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-11 13:51:14.795501+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-tools", "developer-tools", "ai-agents"], "entities": ["Blame", "Claude Code", "Cursor", "Codex", "Gemini CLI", "Aider", "Chrome", "Playwright"], "also_reported_by": [], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/show-hn-blame-a-mac-menu-bar-app-that-names-what-s-eating-your-memory.jsonld"}}