DockAnchor

Keep your macOS Dock exactly where you want it.

DockAnchor is a lightweight macOS utility that prevents the Dock from "jumping" between screens in multi-monitor setups. It locks the Dock to a specific monitor and intelligently remembers your preferences for different environments (e.g., Home vs. Office).

Fork Note: This is a modernized fork of the original DockAnchor. It adds hardware-level fingerprinting, environment collections, and Apple Silicon optimization.

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✨ New Features in v2.0

🖥️ Hardware-Level Fingerprinting

Gone are the days of the Dock jumping because macOS confused two identical monitors. DockAnchor now identifies displays by their Physical Serial Number and UUID, ensuring rock-solid stability even if you swap ports.

🌍 Environment Collections

DockAnchor automatically detects where you are:

• At Home? It anchors to your ultrawide gaming monitor.
• At Work? It anchors to your center Dell monitor.
• On the Go? It defaults to your MacBook's built-in display.
• No manual switching required.

🔓 "Hold Option" to Unlock

Need the Dock on a different screen for just a second?

• Hold the Option (⌥) key and move your mouse to the bottom of any screen.
• The Dock will behave normally.
• Release the key, and the anchor re-engages immediately.

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🚀 Installation

1. Download

Download the latest DockAnchor.zip from the Releases Page.

2. Move to Applications

Unzip the file and drag DockAnchor into your Applications folder.

3. Open (Important!)

Because this is a free, open-source tool, it is not notarized by Apple. You will likely see a warning that the app is "damaged" or from an "unidentified developer."

To bypass this:

1. Right-Click (or Control-Click) the DockAnchor app.
2. Select Open from the menu.
3. Click Open in the dialog box.

Still getting a "Damaged" error? macOS sometimes quarantines unsigned apps too aggressively. Run this command in Terminal to fix it:

xattr -cr /Applications/DockAnchor.app

4. Permissions

On first launch, click "Open System Settings" when prompted and enable accessibility permissions for DockAnchor. This allows the app to detect mouse movements and keep your Dock in place.

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⚙️ Configuration

The app runs silently in your Menu Bar.

• Set Anchor: Move your mouse to the desired screen, click the menu bar icon, and select "Set Anchor to Current Screen".
• Start/Stop: Quickly toggle protection if you need to disable it temporarily.
• Hide Icon: You can hide the menu bar icon in Settings. (Relaunch the app from Applications to bring it back).

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🛠️ Building from Source

Requirements:

• Xcode 14.0+
• macOS 13.0+ (Ventura or newer)
• Swift 5.0

Steps:

1. Clone the repository.
2. Open DockAnchor.xcodeproj in Xcode.
3. Build and Run.

Note: If building locally, you may need to reset permissions if the app doesn't appear in System Settings:

tccutil reset Accessibility galactic.DockAnchor.v2


🤝 Credits & License
This project is an open-source fork based on the excellent work by bwya77.

Original Author: Bradley Wyatt (bwya77)

Original Repository: DockAnchor v1.5

License: MIT License (See LICENSE file)