Bonsai

Bonsai puts a tree on every key of your Stream Deck. Plant a seed and a bonsai unique to that seed grows in real time, for months and years, whether the deck is on or not. It asks for a few quiet minutes a day.

A TREE ON EVERY KEY — Each key is a pot on a shelf. Tap an empty one and choose a seed. Every seed has a number, and no two numbers grow the same tree.

THE WORKBENCH — Tap a tree and the deck becomes its workbench: the tree across four keys, the tools beside it. Each tool says in a few words when it is next wanted.

TOOLS THAT TAKE REAL MINUTES — Water soaks in for a minute. Pruning takes five, and you choose what the tree becomes: denser, taller or more open. Wiring takes ten, and over six weeks bends the tree to the left, to the right or into a cascade. Feed once a month. Repot once a year in spring, into a bigger pot and a glaze of your choice. You can leave while a tool is at work.

IT GROWS FROM THE CLOCK — A seedling in four days, its first branches in three weeks, a young tree in two months, a bonsai in about a year, and an old one with a thick trunk and dead wood after three.

FOUR SEASONS — A tree's year is four weeks, one week a season: blossom, summer, autumn colour, bare branches and snow. Or set it to the real seasons of your hemisphere.

EIGHT SEEDS — Juniper, Chinese elm and Japanese maple to begin with. Black pine, cherry, ginkgo, azalea and wisteria open as your oldest tree grows. Never for money.

NOTHING DIES, NOTHING NAGS — A neglected tree does not die. It slows, runs wild and waits, and one watering sets it going again. There is no currency, no streak, no score and no notification. The only thing that asks for you is a small drop on a thirsty tree.

THE LIGHT OF YOUR OWN DAY — Paper and a pale sun by day, a moon by night, following your computer's clock.

A JOURNAL — Tap the tree on the workbench for its age, its style and its seed number, and for a replay of its life, a picture a week.

ON THE STREAM DECK NEO — The Infobar shows the season, the tree on the workbench, and the time left of what is being done.

SOUND, IF YOU WANT IT — Water, a snip, and a small bell when something is finished. Off unless you switch it on.

ONE PRICE — No ads, no purchases, no account, no network.

Not sure yet? Bonsai Lite is free: one tree, three seeds, water and prune.

macOS 12 or newer and Windows 10 or newer, with the Stream Deck app 7.6 or newer. Put Pot on every key of a page. Three keys are enough; with eight or more, the tree is shown across four of them. The Infobar action needs a Stream Deck Neo.

A backup that survives a crash

Bonsai now keeps its own backup of your grove on your computer, alongside Stream Deck's copy.

If a forced restart or a crash leaves Stream Deck's copy empty or out of date, Bonsai brings your grove back by itself.

Your grove is backed up the first time this version starts, so there is nothing to do.

Your trees keep growing as they were.