A native macOS menu bar app for managing OpenFortiVPN connections. Built with Swift and SwiftUI, it sits in your menu bar and lets you connect/disconnect with a single click.
Passwords are stored in the macOS Keychain.
brew install --cask rempairamore/tap/openfortimacThis installs the app and openfortivpn from the rempairamore/homebrew-tap tap. Update with brew upgrade --cask openfortimac.
- Install openfortivpn:
brew install openfortivpn - Download the latest
.dmgfrom Releases, open it, and drag OpenFortiMac to your Applications folder.
To build from source instead (Xcode 26 or later required):
git clone https://github.com/rempairamore/OpenFortiMac.git
cd OpenFortiMac
chmod +x build_dmg.sh
./build_dmg.shReleases are built by GitHub Actions from the tagged commit, not on a developer machine. Each release lists the DMG's SHA-256 and a VirusTotal report. To check that the DMG you downloaded is exactly the one built from this repository (needs the GitHub CLI):
gh attestation verify OpenFortiMac_v1.3.1.dmg -R rempairamore/OpenFortiMacHomebrew checks the same SHA-256 before installing.
Releases are signed with the self-signed certificate "OpenFortiMac Self-Signed" (SHA-1 7F:43:4F:39:7A:3D:70:CD:9A:0E:9F:74:C0:5D:30:E8:08:04:F1:AA). It is not an Apple certificate, so Gatekeeper still asks you to confirm the first launch, but it keeps the app's identity stable: macOS does not ask for Keychain access again after updates. Check it with codesign -dvv /Applications/OpenFortiMac.app.
OpenFortiMac is not notarized by Apple, so macOS blocks it the first time. Open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway next to the OpenFortiMac message. This is needed only once.
openfortivpn needs root privileges to create the VPN tunnel. On first launch OpenFortiMac opens Settings → Permission: click Set Up… and enter your administrator password once.
The app installs this rule in /etc/sudoers.d/openfortimac (validated with visudo, owned by root, read-only):
YOUR_USERNAME ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /opt/homebrew/bin/openfortivpn
Click Remove in the same place to delete it.
Security note: with this rule any process running as your user can start openfortivpn as root without a password, and
/opt/homebrewis writable by your user. This is the usual trade-off for openfortivpn GUIs; remove the rule if you stop using the app.
Manual setup
sudo visudo -f /etc/sudoers.d/openfortimacAdd this line (replace YOUR_USERNAME with your macOS username):
YOUR_USERNAME ALL = (root) NOPASSWD: /opt/homebrew/bin/openfortivpn
The path is /opt/homebrew/bin/openfortivpn on Apple Silicon and /usr/local/bin/openfortivpn on Intel Macs. Run which openfortivpn to check.
A lock icon appears in the menu bar. Click it → Settings → Servers tab → add your VPN servers.
Click the menu bar icon to open the panel:
- Status card — the current server, connection time and tunnel IP, with Disconnect (⌘D)
- Servers — hover a server and click Connect; a server without a saved password opens its editor
- Footer — add a server, Settings (⌘,), Log, Quit (⌘Q)
If the administrator permission is missing, a banner in the panel links to Settings → Permission. Right-click the menu bar icon for a quick menu with Disconnect, Settings and Quit.
Each server can have its own icon, chosen in the server editor.
| Icon | Status |
|---|---|
| 🔓 | Disconnected |
| 🔄 | Connecting / Disconnecting |
| 🔒 (green) | Connected |
The app sends native macOS notifications on connect, disconnect, and errors.
Server profiles are stored at ~/Library/Application Support/OpenFortiMac/config.json. You can edit them through the Settings GUI or manually:
{
"servers": [
{
"id": "office-1",
"name": "Office VPN",
"host": "vpn.company.com",
"port": 443,
"username": "john.doe"
}
],
"openfortivpn_path": "/opt/homebrew/bin/openfortivpn"
}Passwords are not stored in this file — they live in the macOS Keychain.
The trusted_cert field is optional. If omitted, the app uses --trusted-cert=any.
"openfortivpn not found" — Check the binary path in Settings → General. Run which openfortivpn to find yours.
"Administrator permission not set up" — The sudo rule is missing or points to another openfortivpn path. Open Settings → Permission and click Set Up… (or Update…).
"OpenFortiMac is damaged" / "cannot be opened" — See First launch.
Connection fails — Open Settings → Log tab for details.
brew uninstall --cask openfortimacThis also removes /etc/sudoers.d/openfortimac (brew asks for your password). Add --zap to delete the configuration too.
- Settings → Permission → Remove
- Quit OpenFortiMac
- Delete from Applications:
rm -rf /Applications/OpenFortiMac.app - Remove config:
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/OpenFortiMac
If you followed the manual setup of older versions, also run sudo rm /etc/sudoers.d/openfortivpn.
- Bump
MARKETING_VERSIONin Xcode and add a## vX.Y.Zsection toCHANGELOG.md. - Merge to
main. That's it.
When main gets a version that has no tag yet, the Release workflow builds a universal DMG, attests its provenance, scans it on VirusTotal, publishes the GitHub release (creating the vX.Y.Z tag) and updates homebrew-tap through a pull request that it merges itself once brew style and brew audit pass. brew upgrade users get the new version right away.
To try a build without shipping it, push a tag with a suffix (for example v1.3.2-rc.1): it creates a pre-release and skips Homebrew. The workflow needs these repository secrets:
SIGNING_CERT_P12(base64 of the certificate's.p12) andSIGNING_CERT_PASSWORD: releases fail without them, and the workflow checks the app is signed with the certificate whose SHA-1 is inEXPECTED_CERT_SHA1VIRUSTOTAL_API_KEYHOMEBREW_TAP_TOKEN: fine-grained token with Contents and Pull requests write access tohomebrew-taponly
Local builds use the certificate when it is in your keychain and fall back to an ad-hoc signature otherwise.
The demo GIF at the top of this README is generated with python3 scripts/make_panel_demo.py (macOS and ffmpeg required) from example data.