XZIP

The archive utility macOS deserves.

A fast, private, native archive utility that makes everyday archive work feel at home on the Mac.

Download for Mac · Release notes · Report an issue

---

Why XZIP?

XZIP keeps archive work focused, native, and local. Browse files before extraction, create and open common formats, and use familiar macOS integrations without sending archive contents to a web service.

Native experience	Archive essentials	Private by architecture
Finder, Quick Look, and Share extensions	Browse, compress, extract, test, and manage encrypted archives	Local processing with passwords protected by Apple Keychain

Highlights

• Browse before extracting — inspect archive contents in a native file browser.
• Work across common formats — handle ZIP, 7Z, TAR, RAR, DMG, and more through the bundled archive engine.
• Stay inside macOS — use Finder actions, Quick Look previews, and the Share extension.
• Protect encrypted archives — securely remember passwords with Apple Keychain.
• Keep files local — no archive upload service, account, or cloud processing.
• Receive native updates — signed releases are delivered through Sparkle and a GitHub-hosted appcast.

Repository layout

XZIP/
├── apps/
│   ├── macos/        Native Swift app, extensions, XcodeGen project, and XZIPCore
│   └── web/          Product site built with TanStack Start and Tailwind CSS 4
├── Resources/        Repository-level resources used by native development
├── .github/          Release automation and Sparkle appcast generation
├── package.json      Bun workspace and Turborepo commands
└── turbo.json        Monorepo task pipeline

The native and web toolchains remain intentionally isolated: XcodeGen and SwiftPM own the macOS project, while Bun and Turborepo own JavaScript tasks.

Development setup

Requirements

Entire repository

• Git
• Bun 1.3 or later

macOS app

• macOS 15 or later
• Xcode 16.3 or later with Command Line Tools
• XcodeGen

Install XcodeGen with Homebrew:

brew install xcodegen

Getting started

Clone the repository and install web dependencies:

git clone https://github.com/xmannv/xzip.git
cd xzip
bun install --frozen-lockfile

--frozen-lockfile installs exactly what bun.lock records and fails instead of silently resolving a different version, which is what CI runs too. Use a plain bun install only when you intend to change dependencies.

Run the product website

bun run dev

Turborepo starts the web workspace at http://localhost:3000.

Useful repository-wide checks:

bun run lint
bun run typecheck
bun run test
bun run build

Generate the macOS project

The Xcode project is generated from apps/macos/project.yml and is not the source of truth.

cd apps/macos
xcodegen generate
open XZip.xcodeproj

Fetch the bundled 7-Zip engine before running integration tests or producing a native app build:

cd apps/macos
bash scripts/fetch_binaries.sh

Test XZIPCore

swift test --package-path apps/macos/Packages/XZIPCore

Tests that require 7zz are skipped when the binary has not been fetched.

Build a local Release app

cd apps/macos
bash scripts/build_local_release.sh

The script fetches native binaries, regenerates the Xcode project, builds an ad-hoc-signed app for the current Mac, and writes it to apps/macos/release/XZip.app.

Release architecture

• App downloads: GitHub Releases
• Product website: Cloudflare Workers
• Sparkle feed: https://xmannv.github.io/xzip/appcast.xml
• Appcast automation: publishing a GitHub Release triggers the update workflow, which regenerates appcast.xml on the gh-pages branch.

Distribution builds require Apple Developer ID signing, notarization credentials, and a Sparkle signing key. These secrets must remain outside the repository. See apps/macos/scripts/build_release.sh for the required environment variables and release steps.

Our products

• Xermius
• XKey

License

XZIP's own source code is licensed under the Apache License 2.0.

Apache-2.0 was chosen over MIT for two reasons that matter once the project takes outside contributions: it grants patent rights explicitly (§3), and it states that anything you submit is contributed under the same terms (§5) — so no separate CLA is needed for basic hygiene.

Third-party software

The Apache-2.0 license above covers XZIP's source code only. It does not extend to the third-party binaries that ship inside the app bundle, which keep their own licenses:

Component	License	Notes
7zz (7-Zip 26.02)	GNU LGPL + unRAR terms	Invoked as a subprocess, unmodified, never linked into XZIP
Sparkle 2.x	MIT	Auto-update framework

Because 7zz is executed as a separate process rather than linked, its copyleft terms do not extend to XZIP's own source. The unRAR terms additionally forbid using that code to re-create RAR compression — XZIP only extracts RAR archives and never creates them.

Full notices: apps/macos/THIRD_PARTY_LICENSES.md.