AlDente: a MacBook charge limiter whose repository is no longer the app

What AlDente changes about MacBook charging

Lithium-ion cells age fastest at the top of their range. The README states that Li-Ion batteries last longest between 20 and 80 percent, and that holding a MacBook at 100 percent shortens lifespan. AlDente is a macOS menu bar app that lets you set a maximum charging percentage between 20 and 100, so a MacBook left on a desk charger stops short of full instead of sitting at 100 for hours.

The audience is narrow and specific: people who treat a MacBook as a desktop machine, plugged in most of the day, who care more about two or three years of battery health than about leaving the house at 100 percent. If you unplug constantly and run on battery, a charge ceiling buys you little. macOS 11 Big Sur or later is required, and the README points to a separate FAQ page to check whether a given MacBook model is supported.

How the charge limit and discharge mode actually behave

The mechanism is not a battery simulation. AlDente taps into low-level system functions, which the README's disclaimer describes as "some very low-level system functions that are not meant to be tampered with." The repository layout shows how that access is arranged: a privileged helper bundle named com.davidwernhart.Helper, an SMJobBlessUtil.py script for installing it, and SMCKit as a dependency for talking to the System Management Controller. The menu bar app sets the ceiling; the helper carries the privileged part.

The README is candid about latency and about what the state means. After you set a limit, the operating system usually takes a minute or two to register the change. Set the maximum to 80 percent and, once you are above roughly 73 percent, clicking the battery icon reports "Battery is not charging" even with the charger connected. The MacBook still runs from the charger; the battery is bypassed rather than charged.

Discharge is the second free feature. It lets the MacBook run entirely on battery while plugged in, so you can pull the charge down to a healthier level on purpose. The README states clamshell mode is not supported while Discharge is active, and attributes that to technical limitations rather than to a setting you can change.

Installing AlDente and setting a first charge limit

The README does not give command line install steps. It says to download the app from the GitHub releases page and points to an installation guide on the project website. There is no Homebrew formula, no package manager command and no build-from-source instructions in the README, so treat the download as the install path.

After installation, the usage flow is described in the README itself. Open the menu bar icon, then set the ceiling either with the slide bar or by typing a number into the field above it and pressing Enter. The snippet below is not a script; it is the sequence the README describes, written out so the order is clear.

# 1. Download the app from the GitHub releases page
#    https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente/releases
# 2. Launch AlDente, then click the AlDente icon in the menu bar
# 3. Set the maximum charging percentage with the slide bar,
#    or type it into the field above and press Enter
# 4. Wait a minute or two for macOS to register the change

What you should see: with the limit at 80 percent and the battery above roughly 73 percent, the battery menu reports "Battery is not charging" while the charger stays connected. That message is the confirmation, not a fault.

One warning belongs in the same breath as the first setup. The README states that keeping the battery below 80 percent for weeks without full cycles can disturb calibration, and that a disturbed calibration can make the MacBook shut down at 40 to 50 percent or show a large capacity drop. The project recommends at least one full cycle from 0 to 100 percent every two weeks, and says four or more full cycles will recalibrate the battery.

The open source question: legacy code versus the shipping app

This is the part most reviews skip. The README carries a Closed-Source Notice stating that the project is no longer open source, that the GitHub repository contains legacy code and archived releases, and that the current version of the software is proprietary and closed source. The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-09-16, the same date as the 1.39.3 release. Recent activity on the repository does not make the shipping app auditable.

So the practical split is this: you can read Swift code in the repository and you can download archived releases, but the app you install today is not the code you are reading. For a tool that installs a privileged helper and writes to the SMC, that gap matters. The README's own disclaimer accepts no responsibility for damage and says to use the tool at your own risk. That is a normal disclaimer, but it lands differently when the source is no longer the source of the binary.

The licence field is NOASSERTION, and the README reproduces an MIT-style warranty disclaimer and a 2021 copyright line. Nothing in the README reconciles that text with the closed source notice, and I would not guess at how the two fit together. If licence terms decide your adoption, read the LICENSE file in the repository and the terms on the website rather than the README's disclaimer paragraph.

Where AlDente is the wrong tool

Clamshell mode plus Discharge is the clearest failure case, and it is documented: the README says clamshell mode is not supported while Discharge is active because of technical limitations. If your MacBook lives closed on a stand and you wanted to pull the charge down remotely, that combination is off the table.

Calibration is the second. A charge ceiling is not free. Run at 75 percent for a month without a full cycle and the README says you can end up with a MacBook that dies at 40 to 50 percent or a capacity reading that falls sharply. The fix is full cycles, not a repair, but the symptom looks exactly like a dead battery, which is a bad surprise for anyone who does not know the cause.

Third, support. The README states that email support is only available to AlDente Pro customers and that, due to limited resources, the project cannot support Free users or answer on GitHub. If you are evaluating the free tier, you are evaluating it without a support channel. Finally, if you need an open source, auditable battery utility, AlDente is not it anymore, regardless of how well the charge limiter works.

AlDente Free versus AlDente Pro, and the kernel-level alternative

The free tier is deliberately small: a charge limiter and Discharge. AlDente Pro is the paid version and, per the README, adds Heat Protection, Sailing Mode, Top Up and Calibration Mode, along with a different design and live status icons. It is also sold through Setapp. The README does not state a price, so check the website's pricing page rather than trusting a number from anywhere else.

The design difference worth understanding is Sailing Mode. The free limiter holds one ceiling; a mode that lets the charge drift within a band is a different answer to the same calibration problem, because the battery is not parked at a single percentage indefinitely. The README names these features but does not explain how they work. That is a gap, and it is the reason to read the feature articles on the project site before paying.

A different approach exists at the kernel level, where battery thresholds are configured through the operating system's own interfaces rather than through a privileged helper that talks to the SMC. Those tools are typically command line and scriptable, which suits servers and CI machines; AlDente is a menu bar app for a person sitting in front of a laptop. The trade is real: AlDente gives you a GUI, a Discharge button and a Pro feature set, while the kernel-level route gives you transparency and no closed binary. If auditability is the deciding factor, the second route wins even if the interface is worse.

Maintenance, upgrades and what the licence notice means in practice

The repository is not archived and the last push was on 2026-09-16, matching the 1.39.3 release; 1.39.2 and 1.39.1 landed on 2026-09-10 and 2026-09-09. Releases are frequent and version numbers are close together, which tells you the shipping app is being revised. It does not tell you what changed, because the README does not include a changelog, and the repository's legacy code is not the code being revised.

Upgrade cost is therefore not measured in migration effort. It is measured in visibility. You install a proprietary build, macOS updates can change SMC behaviour underneath it, and your only recourse when something breaks is the Pro support channel or the FAQ page. For a free-tier user, the README says there is no support. Budget for that.

On licence implications, without giving legal advice: the README's Closed-Source Notice and the NOASSERTION licence field are the two facts to take to whoever handles compliance at your organisation. The repository still carries an MIT-style disclaimer text from 2021, but the README says the current software is proprietary. If your policy requires open source for tools that install privileged helpers, AlDente fails that check on the README's own statement.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt AlDente if you keep a MacBook plugged in at a desk for most of the day and want a charge ceiling without touching firmware. Do not adopt it if you need an auditable open source codebase, because the README states the current version is proprietary, or if you rely on clamshell mode while discharging, which the README lists as unsupported. Before installing, check the FAQ page for your MacBook model, confirm the macOS 11 Big Sur requirement, and read the calibration warning about running below 80 percent for weeks without full cycles.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. AppHouseKitchen/AlDente-Battery_Care_and_Monitoring on GitHub
2. Issues
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases