# Dell Monitor Console

> An unofficial macOS 26+ menu bar app that sets the brightness of the displays attached to your Mac, and nothing else: one popover, one slider per display, the built-in one included. Real backlight control over DDC/CI where a display answers, software dimming where it does not. 908 KB installed (Dell's own app: 42,476 KB), no network, no permissions, no telemetry, and it never polls your monitors. A lite app for the one task people open Dell's app for, not a replacement for everything. Made by Ashwin Gopalsamy. Not released yet: build from source. Unofficial, not affiliated with Dell.

## Start here
- [Install](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/install.md): Clone, run scripts/bundle.sh, open the app. Needs macOS 26 on Apple silicon.
- [How it works](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/how-it-works.md): One slider per display: real backlight where a display answers DDC/CI, a software dim where it does not, macOS for the built-in panel. Every request goes twice and every reply is validated.
- [Privacy](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/privacy.md): No network, no permissions, no telemetry, and the commands to check it yourself.
- [By the numbers](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/metrics.md): Measured on one M4 Pro Mac with a Dell U2723QE and a U2424HE on 2026-10-11. Dell's app, Display and Peripheral Manager 2.3 (DDPM), is read from the files it installs and from its own log; it was never run.

## Optional
- [FAQ](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/faq.md): short answers, also as JSON-LD on the page.
- [Source](https://github.com/ashwingopalsamy/dell-monitor-console): Swift 6, no dependencies.
- [MCP server](https://apps.ashwingopalsamy.in/dell-monitor-console/mcp): read-only tools over these docs, streamable HTTP.