# Show HN: OpenClip – Instant popup actions for highlighted text on macOS

> Source: <https://github.com/ganeshmshetty/openclip>
> Published: 2026-09-02 13:11:44+00:00

**Instant actions for selected text on macOS.**

[Features](#features) • [Installation](#installation) • [Getting started](#getting-started) • [Extending](#extending-openclip) • [Building from source](#building-from-source) • [Documentation](#documentation) • [License](#license)

## all.mp4

Select any text in any app, and OpenClip appears with contextual actions — copy, transform, calculate, AI writing, or custom extensions. Press `⌥⌘C` to open a fuzzy search palette over your entire action library.

**Instant contextual popup**— select text anywhere and a floating bar appears with the actions that make sense for it. Actions with no live selection (like Copy/Cut) drop out automatically, and a selection-free popup falls back to the current clipboard contents.**Action-search palette**— press`⌥⌘C` to turn the bar into a fuzzy search field over the*entire*action catalog, including disabled actions. Results are ranked by recency, then bar order, so your most-used actions float to the top.**Zero-config builtins**— Search, Copy, Cut, Paste, Services, and a Transform group (UPPERCASE, lowercase, Title Case, camelCase) work out of the box.**Extensions**— install`.openclipext`

packages (JavaScript, AppleScript, shell, URL templates, key presses, Shortcuts, Services) from the built-in store, a file, or by dropping a folder into`~/.openclip/extensions`

. No compile step — a manifest plus a script is a complete extension.**Custom actions from the GUI**— add a web-search URL template or an inline shell script straight from Preferences, no manifest authoring required.** Built-in AI assistant**— run selected text through Apple Intelligence, a local Ollama model, or a cloud provider (OpenAI/Claude), or hand the query to your browser. AI presets appear as regular actions in the palette.**AI presets as first-class actions**— every AI provider/model is a reorderable, toggleable action with its own keyboard-friendly entry point, so the AI flows you use live in the same bar as everything else.**Deep customization**— drag to reorder the bar, disable actions, override titles and icons, and pick a Classic or Glass theme (Liquid Glass on macOS 26+, frosted material on 14–15) in System, Light, or Dark.**App-specific rules**— scope actions to apps with allow/deny rules, selection regexes, and required options that prompt the user when missing.**Fast by design**— Swift 6 with strict concurrency, a pure`Core`

domain module, and a hover model that never re-evaluates the whole view per mouse move.

```
brew install --cask ganeshmshetty/tap/openclip
```

-
Download the latest release (

`.dmg`

or`.zip`

) from the[releases page](https://github.com/ganeshmshetty/openclip/releases). -
Drag

`OpenClip.app`

into your`/Applications`

folder. -
Launch OpenClip and grant

**Accessibility** permission when prompted:

```
System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility → enable OpenClip
```

Important

Accessibility permission is required: it's how OpenClip detects selections and reads the selected text without relying on the clipboard. You can grant or revoke it any time from Preferences.

First launch walks you through a 4-step onboarding — permissions, essential extensions, and an interactive playground — before text-selection monitoring starts.

**1. Select some text** in any app. The popup bar appears next to your selection:

- Click an action to run it (copy, search, transform, run your extension…).
- Click a group or the AI bar to open a scoped palette of its sub-actions.
- Run an AI action to see its output in a native result card (Replace/Copy buttons; back chevron or Esc to exit).

**2. Use the hotkeys:**

| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
⌥⌘C |
Toggle the popup (or the action-search palette if the bar is up) |
Esc |
Dismiss the popup / drop back from a scoped palette |
Cmd ⌘, |
Open Preferences while the popup is focused |

**3. Search everything.** With the bar up, press `⌥⌘C` (or start typing) to filter the full
action catalog — including disabled actions — by title. Type a fragment of any action name to jump
straight to it.

Tip

No text selected? The popup still appears and acts on the current clipboard contents — Copy/Cut just drop out because there's no live selection to copy from.

OpenClip is designed to be extended without touching Swift. Anything in `~/.openclip/extensions/`

is scanned at launch and turned into actions:

```
~/.openclip/extensions/
├── my-extension.openclipext/
│   ├── openclip.json        # manifest
│   ├── main.js              # script
│   └── icon.png
├── wikipedia.openclipext/   # single URL-template action
└── format-sql.sh            # standalone snippet with header metadata
```

A minimal extension is a folder with one `openclip.json`

:

```
{
  "identifier": "com.example.wikipedia",
  "name": "Wikipedia",
  "actions": [
    { "title": "Look up", "icon": "symbol(book)", "type": "url",
      "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search={query}" }
  ]
}
```

Actions can also expose options (strings, booleans, dropdowns, `SecretStore`

-backed secrets), gate
visibility with app/regex rules, and render rich results — status, notifications,
or chained effects — from JSON emitted by a shell script.

**Action kinds**—`url`

,`javascript`

(JavaScriptCore with an`openclip.*`

bridge + async/`fetch`

),`applescript`

,`shell`

,`textsnippet`

,`keypress`

,`shortcut`

,`service`

, and`group`

sub-menus.**Install one-liner**—`./scripts/install_extension.sh path/to/extension.openclipext`

**From the app**— browse and install from the built-in Extension Store in** Preferences → Extension Store**, or author URL/search/script actions in** Preferences → Actions**.** Authoring guide**— the full manifest schema, options, visibility rules, and the`openclip.*`

bridge:.`docs/developer-guide/AGENTS.md`

**Prerequisites:** macOS 14+, [Xcode 16+](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/xcode/id497799835), and [XcodeGen](https://github.com/yonaskolb/XcodeGen) (`brew install xcodegen`

).

```
git clone https://github.com/ganeshmshetty/openclip.git
cd openclip

# Populate the extension catalog submodule
git submodule update --init

# Generate the Xcode project (re-run after adding/removing .swift files)
xcodegen generate

# Build and run
./scripts/dev_run.sh

# Run the test suite
./scripts/test.sh

# Build a Release app + build/OpenClip.zip
./scripts/package_app.sh
```

Note

The repo is split into a pure-domain **Core** framework and the **OpenClip** app target (AppKit +
SwiftUI), with XCTest suites for both. The `Extensions/`

folder is a git submodule hosting the
official & community extension catalog (`openclip-extensions`

).

The full technical documentation lives in the [ docs/](/ganeshmshetty/openclip/blob/main/docs/index.md) hub:

**Architecture**— target split, the six core subsystems, popup internals, text selection, and the action-search palette.** Developer guide**— extension package format, manifest schema, and action authoring.** Runtimes**— AppleScript, JavaScript, URL templates, and shell/Python execution (env vars, JSON effects, 30-second watchdog).** User guide**— installation, preferences, app rules, and extension management.** Logging**— the single`Log`

surface and per-subsystem categories.

OpenClip is released under the [MIT License](/ganeshmshetty/openclip/blob/main/LICENSE). Copyright (c) 2026 Ganesh M and OpenClip Contributors.