Daydreaming

See your old wallpaper in a new light.

Daydreaming uses AI to match your picture to the time and local weather, then sets it as your Mac wallpaper.

Requires macOS 26 or later and your own OpenAI API key.

Yosemite Valley and Golden Gate Bridge wallpapers on two Macs, controlled together.
Yosemite Valley example
Golden Gate Bridge example

Three steps.

Start with a photo, a piece of art, or the wallpaper you already love.

  1. Pick a picture

    Choose a picture of your own, or start with the built-in Yosemite Valley. Daydreaming keeps the scene and changes the atmosphere.

  2. Connect OpenAI

    Add your own OpenAI API key. OpenAI reimagines your picture for the time of day and local weather. Your key stays in macOS Keychain.

  3. Start Daydreaming

    Use local weather or choose your own, then pick how often your wallpaper changes.

Or write your own.

Keep the bridge, then change the world around it. A few words in the prompt can take the same picture somewhere entirely new.

Golden Gate Bridge above clouds, with floating koi and flower-covered islands, AI-edited example
01 / 4

Sky garden

Turn the bay into a sky garden. Keep the bridge. Let koi swim through clouds, with giant water lilies and floating islands.

Golden Gate Bridge over a glowing blue bay with whales beneath the surface, AI-edited example
02 / 4

Luminous bay

Make the bay bioluminescent after dark. Keep the bridge. Let enormous whales swim beneath the surface, leaving trails of blue light.

Golden Gate Bridge and bay made from layered colored paper, AI-edited example
03 / 4

Cut-paper world

Make this a hand-cut paper diorama. Keep the bridge’s shape, and build the hills, water, and clouds from colored paper.

Golden Gate Bridge crossing golden desert dunes beside a turquoise river, AI-edited example
04 / 4

Desert crossing

Replace the bay with golden dunes and a winding turquoise river. Keep the bridge, with sunset light and sand drifting through the air.

Write your prompt in Daydreaming’s main window.

Example variations made for this website with an AI image model. Not created by the Daydreaming app.

In the app, each new wallpaper is a separate OpenAI request, billed to your account.

Made for your Mac.

The weather, at a glance

The menu bar icon follows the weather. Automatic updates work while the app is running, with optional launch at login.

Pick a style

Natural, Subtle, Watercolor, or Cinematic. Write your own instructions in the prompt. Time and weather are included automatically.

Across every screen

Your wallpaper changes on every display. Use Original as Wallpaper puts your own picture back and pauses updates.

What it costs.

Daydreaming is free while in preview. New wallpapers are made with OpenAI using your own API key, which OpenAI bills you for. Matching saved wallpapers are reused at no cost.

Every schedule, from 5 minutes to 24 hours. Create a wallpaper anytime. A daily safety limit you set, starting at 24. A 5-minute schedule can make up to 288 new wallpapers a day, each billed by OpenAI.

Your Mac, your picture, your key.

No Daydreaming account.
No app analytics.

Saved on your Mac

Your picture and saved wallpapers stay on your Mac. Your API key stays in macOS Keychain.

Sent directly to OpenAI

To make a new wallpaper, your picture, style and instructions go directly to OpenAI, with the local time and weather.

Weather, with a choice

Local weather comes from MET Norway, using approximate coordinates. Prefer not to share your location? Choose fixed weather instead.

Meet the dreamer.

I'm Freek, a developer and partner at Spatie. I build tools for developers, write about what I learn, and make personal projects for the Mac and the web.

Daydreaming is one of them. It keeps the wallpaper you chose and lets the light and weather around it change through the day.

Freek Van der Herten

Freek Van der Herten

Developer and partner at Spatie

Spatie

More things I've made

Questions?

What do I need to use Daydreaming?

A Mac running macOS 26 or later, a picture you want to use, and your own OpenAI API key with API billing set up. The app is in development and a public download is not available yet.

What does it cost?

Daydreaming is free while in preview. Every schedule is available, and you can create a wallpaper anytime.

Use your own OpenAI API key. OpenAI bills your account directly for each new wallpaper. Usage is billed separately from ChatGPT subscriptions. Picture quality, model, and picture size affect cost. See OpenAI’s API pricing.

Choose a schedule from 5 minutes to 24 hours, including custom intervals. Set a daily safety limit from 1 to 288; new installs start at 24. A 5-minute schedule can request up to 288 new wallpapers a day. The limit counts submitted requests, including attempts that may have been billed even if they fail. Turning on automatic updates checks immediately and can create a new wallpaper.

Will every update cost me?

With reuse enabled, Daydreaming can apply a saved wallpaper when your picture, time slot, weather, style, instructions, and settings match. That means no new OpenAI charge. Changing instructions or connected text can mean a new picture is needed. You can create a fresh wallpaper anytime, within your daily limit.

Does the app need to stay open?

Daydreaming needs to be running for automatic updates, and checks the schedule while your Mac is awake. It lives in the menu bar, with no Dock icon. Launch at login is optional. You can also hide the menu bar icon and reopen the window by opening the app again.

Can I use it without sharing my location?

Yes. Choose a fixed weather condition in Customize. Automatic weather requires location permission and sends coordinates rounded to two decimal places to MET Norway. The forecast is cached between checks.

Can I give it my own direction?

Yes. Pick Natural, Subtle, Watercolor, or Cinematic in Customize, and write your own instructions in the main window’s prompt. Time and weather are included automatically. Mention a public HTTPS page or drop a text, Markdown, HTML, or JSON file into the prompt. Daydreaming reads its text before each new wallpaper, with up to three sources. Typed file paths ask for permission first; website scripts are not run.

Where does my picture go?

Your original and saved wallpapers stay in your Mac’s Application Support folder. For a new wallpaper, a JPEG copy, at most 2,560 pixels on its longest edge, goes directly to OpenAI with your style, instructions, time, weather, and any connected text. Use Original as Wallpaper returns to your picture. You can clear saved wallpapers in Settings. Both pause automatic updates; clearing keeps your original.