Apply and revert a recipe

A recipe is a named bundle of power-ups — Speed Boost, Finder Power, Meeting Mode and so on. Applying one switches all of its power-ups on at once; reverting puts every one of those settings back the way it was.

Apply from Home

1. Click Home. Under Tune your Mac — “One click to apply, one to undo.” — is a grid of recipe cards.
2. Each card shows the recipe's name, a one-line summary and how many power-ups it contains. A small dot beside the count lights up once it's applied.
3. Click Apply. Mainspring switches on every power-up in the recipe, then relaunches whatever needs it — the Dock or Finder, say — so you see the change straight away.
4. The button now reads Applied.

Look inside first

Click anywhere on a card except its buttons to open the recipe. You'll see its summary, any note about what it can't do, the number of power-ups (“all reversible”), and every power-up with its own switch. Apply the whole recipe with Apply at the top, or switch individual power-ups on or off.

A small ⓘ on a card means the recipe comes with a note — hover to read it. Meeting Mode's, for example, reminds you to turn on Do Not Disturb yourself, because macOS doesn't let apps do that.

Revert

1. Hover over Applied. It changes to Revert with a curved arrow.
2. Click it. Every setting the recipe changed goes back to what it was before you applied it.

You can revert from Home, from the recipe's page, from On now, from Favorites, or from the menu bar.

How the undo protects your own settings

When you apply a recipe, Mainspring first records the current value of every setting it's about to change. Reverting writes those recorded values back. So if you had your own Dock animation speed before, reverting brings back your value rather than resetting it to Apple's default. The record is saved on your Mac, so it survives quitting Mainspring and restarting.

Applying a recipe that's already partly applied keeps the values from before the first time — reverting always takes you back to where you started.

If Mainspring has no record

A recipe applied with a much older version of Mainspring may have no saved record. Rather than guess, Mainspring won't revert it and shows a banner explaining why. You then have two options:

• Open the recipe and switch its power-ups off one at a time, or
• Click Reset to macOS defaults in the banner. That returns each of the recipe's settings to Apple's standard value. It can't bring back a custom value of your own — that was never recorded — which is why Mainspring only does it when you ask.

When a recipe shows as applied

Mainspring reads your Mac's real settings. A recipe shows Applied only while every one of its power-ups is on. Switch one off and the recipe goes back to Apply; the rest stay on and appear individually in On now. Apply it again to turn the missing one back on.

• Some power-ups take full effect only after you log out and back in. The recipe list and the power-up reference mark which.
• Meeting Mode's Tidy windows for a call runs once each time you apply the recipe. It isn't a lasting setting, so it doesn't affect whether Meeting Mode shows as applied. See Tidy windows for a call.

The PREMIUM tag

Some recipes carry a PREMIUM tag. Every recipe works during the free trial and with a licence.