User Guide

What SNMP Taskbar does

SNMP Taskbar polls 64-bit interface counters from the network devices you configure, calculates upload and download rates, and displays those rates in the macOS menu bar. A hover graph shows a smooth scrolling chart of recent traffic, and a detail window provides current, peak, average, and total transferred values for every monitored interface, with a selectable history range and CSV/image export.

The app runs entirely on your Mac. It communicates only with the SNMP devices you have configured. There is no cloud service, no account, and no remote data collection.

Requirements

• macOS 15 or later.
• A network device with SNMPv2c or SNMPv3 enabled.
• Network access from your Mac to UDP port 161 on the device.
• For SNMPv2c: a community string with read permission on the interface tables. For SNMPv3: a username with an authentication password and, optionally, a privacy (encryption) password.

SNMP Taskbar reads standard interface data:

• ifName, ifAlias, ifDescr, and ifType — for interface discovery and display.
• ifAdminStatus / ifOperStatus — for periodic link-status checks.
• ifHCInOctets and ifHCOutOctets — 64-bit traffic counters.

Any SNMPv2c- or SNMPv3-capable device that implements these standard OIDs is supported. Tested devices include MikroTik RouterOS routers, but the protocol is widely implemented across enterprise networking gear.

Quick start

1. Launch SNMP Taskbar. On first launch, Settings opens automatically.
2. Click + in the router list to add a device.
3. Enter the device Host — an IP address such as 10.16.1.250 or a DNS name.
4. Choose SNMP Version (v2c or v3) and enter the matching credentials — a Community string for v2c, or a Username plus authentication/privacy passwords for v3.
5. Click Discover Interfaces to read the device's interface table.
6. Select the interfaces you want to monitor from the list that appears.
7. Give each interface a clear Display name and choose an Icon.
8. Click Save.

The menu bar display appears once SNMP Taskbar has collected enough samples to calculate a rate — usually within a few polling cycles.

Router settings

SNMPv3 security

SNMPv3 adds per-user authentication and, optionally, encryption on top of SNMPv2c's shared community string. All three secrets (the SNMPv2c community string and the SNMPv3 authentication/privacy passwords) are stored in the macOS Keychain, never in plain text, and are only written when you click Save.

SNMP Taskbar labels MD5, DES, and (for classification honesty) SHA-1 as "legacy" in the picker, with an explanation of why — SHA-1 remains a reasonable default for authentication despite the label, since the specific way SNMPv3 uses it is not weakened by SHA-1's well-known collision attacks (those affect a different use case, digital signatures). Choosing a weaker overall security level than "authenticated and encrypted" (for example, for a lab or test device) shows a separate warning.

Interface settings

Each selected interface has its own display and alerting settings.

The order of interfaces in the Selected Interfaces list controls the order in the menu bar and detail window. Drag to reorder.

Reading the menu bar

The menu bar display is intentionally compact:

• Upload rate is shown on the top row; download rate on the bottom row.
• Values use fixed-width formatting so the display does not jump as traffic changes.
• Dimmed values mean the interface is idle or does not yet have a calculated sample.
• A warning badge on the menu bar item means one or more routers have missed repeated SNMP polls.
• A separate, distinct badge means the router itself is reachable, but a specific interface's link is administratively or operationally down.

SNMP Taskbar reconnects individual routers automatically. One stale router does not prevent others from continuing to update.

Hover over the menu bar item to see a 15-minute history graph. Click Show Detail to open the detail window.

With Density set to Auto (the default) in Settings, the menu bar automatically steps down through more compact display tiers as you monitor more interfaces — full detail up to 4 interfaces, a smaller compact layout for 5–8, then icons only beyond that — so it never grows unbounded. Set Density to Full, Compact, or Icons Only to force that tier regardless of interface count, or to Summary for a single aggregate up/down total plus an interface-count badge — Summary is never chosen automatically, only by explicit selection. Full detail always remains available in the hover popover and detail window at any density.

Detail window

The detail window shows every monitored interface, including those hidden from the menu bar. For each interface it shows:

• Current upload and download rate.
• Peak rate within the selected history range.
• Average rate within the selected history range.
• Total data transferred while SNMP Taskbar has been monitoring this session.
• A larger live graph with time and value axes.

History duration & export

The History picker in Settings (15 minutes, 1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours, or 7 days) changes the range shown in the detail window's graphs and stats. The menu bar's hover popover always shows the most recent 15 minutes of raw data, regardless of this setting.

Right-click any interface's card in the detail window to:

• Export CSV… — write that interface's history, at the selected duration, to a CSV file.
• Export Image… — save a PNG snapshot of that interface's graph.
• Export All to CSV… / Export All as Image… (window-level) — export every currently visible interface at once.

Exported filenames always use a fixed, English duration label (for example 15m, 24h, 7d) regardless of your macOS language, so scripts and file listings sort consistently.

Enable Save history between launches in Settings to keep long-duration history across restarts, stored locally in a file on your Mac. It is off by default; turning it off deletes any existing saved history immediately, and a restart with it enabled always shows an honest gap rather than fabricated data for the time SNMP Taskbar was not running.

Notifications

When you configure an alert threshold for an interface, SNMP Taskbar posts a standard macOS notification when traffic crosses that threshold. Notifications are delivered by macOS — SNMP Taskbar does not communicate with any notification service or cloud endpoint to send them.

To enable notifications, configure an alert threshold greater than 0 in the interface settings. macOS must have notifications enabled for SNMP Taskbar in System Settings → Notifications.

Launch at login & Dock icon

In Settings you can enable:

• Launch at Login — starts SNMP Taskbar automatically when you sign in.
• Show in Dock — makes SNMP Taskbar appear in the Dock and app switcher if you prefer that over a menu-bar-only utility.

By default, SNMP Taskbar behaves as a standard menu bar utility and does not appear in the Dock.

Demo mode

Choose Explore Demo Mode from the SNMP Taskbar menu to load deterministic traffic for three sample interfaces. The detail window opens immediately, and the menu bar display and hover graph continue updating once per second.

Demo mode uses no network access, does not change your saved routers, and does not request notification permission. Choose Exit Demo Mode from the same menu to return to your configured devices.

Diagnostics

Router-specific reconnect and polling failures are written to Apple's Unified Logging system under the subsystem ca.slepp.snmp-taskbar. These logs remain on your Mac and are not sent anywhere automatically.

To collect recent diagnostics, run this command in Terminal:

log show --last 30m \
  --predicate 'subsystem == "ca.slepp.snmp-taskbar"' \
  --info --debug

You can also open the logs in Console.app by filtering on the same subsystem string. If you need to share logs with support, copy the relevant output and share it through the support contact.

Troubleshooting

No interfaces found after clicking Discover Interfaces

Check that:

• SNMP is enabled on the device.
• The community string (v2c) or username/passwords (v3) are correct and have read permission.
• The device's SNMP access list allows requests from your Mac's IP address.
• Your Mac can reach UDP port 161 on the device (no firewall blocking).
• VPN or routing rules are not redirecting or blocking the traffic.

Host check says "No response"

Verify the IP address or DNS name, community string or SNMPv3 credentials, router firewall, local macOS firewall, VPN routing, and SNMP access list. You can test UDP port 161 with snmpwalk if available on your Mac.

SNMPv3 says "Authentication failed"

Double check the username and authentication password. If the device supports more than one authentication protocol, make sure the Auth Protocol picker in SNMP Taskbar matches the one configured on the device. A "Decryption failed" message points at the privacy password or Priv Protocol instead.

Rates look reversed

Enable Invert direction for that interface in Settings. This swaps which counter is treated as upload versus download.

The menu bar is too wide

Disable Show in menu bar for lower-priority interfaces, or set a more compact Density in Settings. Interfaces stay monitored and remain available in the detail window regardless of density.

A router shows a warning badge

The router has missed repeated SNMP polls. SNMP Taskbar will attempt to reconnect automatically. If the badge persists, check network reachability and confirm the device's SNMP service is running. A different badge shape means the router itself is reachable but a specific interface's link is administratively or operationally down — check that interface's cabling/configuration on the device rather than network reachability from your Mac.

Rates seem too low or too high

Check the rate unit setting (Mbps, Kbps, MB/s, etc.) and the smoothing window. A wide smoothing window averages out peaks; a short one reacts immediately to spikes.

RouterOS example

On MikroTik RouterOS, enable SNMP and restrict the community to your local network:

/snmp set enabled=yes
/snmp community set public addresses=10.16.1.0/24

Replace 10.16.1.0/24 with the subnet containing your Mac. Consider creating a dedicated read-only SNMP community string rather than using the default public.