Internet radio for macOS
Internet radio in your Mac’s menu bar.
Custer plays your favourite internet radio streams and stays out of the way. No window, no dock icon, nothing to manage. Click to listen, click to pause.
Three gestures. No window.
Everything happens on the icon in the menu bar. Reach it without leaving what you are doing.
Choose what a click does
Choose Play / Pause or Open Menu under Left-click action. GitHub defaults to playback; the App Store edition defaults to the menu. Media keys work too.
Right click for the menu
Switch stations with ⌘1 to ⌘9, add or edit streams, copy the current song title, or reconnect.
Scroll to change the volume
Hover over the icon and scroll. The menu has a slider and a mute toggle as well.
Small app, complete player.
Custer does the things a radio should do and none of the things it should not.
- Multiple streamsKeep every station you listen to and switch between them from the menu.
- Now playing in Control CenterTrack title and artwork show up in Control Center and on the lock screen.
- Song titles, one click to copyThe current title lives in the menu and the tooltip. Uppercase titles are tidied up.
- Survives sleep and bad Wi‑FiPauses when the Mac sleeps or the network drops, resumes when it is back, and reconnects with backoff if a stream stalls.
- Autoplay and start at loginTurn both on and the radio is playing the moment you sit down.
- LightweightA single menu bar item. No Electron, no background services, no accounts.
Start listening on your Mac.
Bring your favourite radio station’s stream address. Custer takes care of playback from the menu bar.
How do I add a radio station?
Open Custer’s menu, choose Add Stream, and paste the station’s direct audio or playlist URL. A station’s normal webpage is not a stream address. The first station starts playing when you add it. How to add a radio station.
Which stream formats does Custer support?
Custer plays direct HTTP/HTTPS audio streams, M3U and PLS playlists, and HLS streams through the macOS media player. Use an HTTPS address when your station provides one.
Does Custer include radio stations?
Custer is a player for the streams you add, without a bundled station catalog. Get a compatible stream address from your radio station. Availability depends on the station and may vary by location.
Is Custer free, and which Macs does it support?
Custer is free and open source under the MIT license. It requires macOS 14.6 or later, with no account or subscription needed to use the app.
Open source and quiet about you.
Custer is written in Swift and published under the MIT license. The app has no analytics, crash reporting, or accounts. It connects to your chosen streams; the GitHub edition also checks for updates. Read the privacy policy for details.
Found a bug or want a feature? Open an issue on GitHub, or send a pull request.
Get in touch
Let’s talk radio.
A question, a bug, or an idea for Custer? Get in touch on GitHub.
For a playback problem, include your Custer version, macOS version, and steps to reproduce it. GitHub issues are public, so leave out private stream URLs and credentials.