SuperPaste

Press Option+V. The right text appears in whatever you're typing into.

SuperPaste is a small native macOS app that captures only the active window when you hit a hotkey, asks the SuperPaste backend for the best response, and pastes it directly at your cursor. No app switching, no prompting, no preview step.

It is fully open source under the MIT license. The hosted service is a $5/month subscription (cancel anytime) that covers Claude usage — up to 100 AI responses per day — plus the signed/notarized DMG and in-app update checks. New installs get a 7-day free trial: no card required, limited to 15 responses/day.

Don't want to subscribe? Bring your own API key — Anthropic, OpenAI, or OpenRouter — and SuperPaste is genuinely free. It works in the paid build and in builds you compile from source, sending screenshots straight from your Mac to your chosen provider. No telemetry either way.

You can also point SuperPaste at any OpenAI-compatible endpoint, including local models (Ollama, LM Studio, vLLM).

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How it works

1. You place your cursor in any text field.
2. You press Option+V.
3. SuperPaste captures the active window context.
4. Your chosen AI provider generates the appropriate response — a Slack reply, an email, the next line of code, an answer to a question.
5. SuperPaste writes the result to the clipboard and synthesizes a ⌘V to paste it where your cursor is.

Requirements

• macOS 14 or later
• Swift toolchain for building from source
• Internet access for the AI provider request (except local models)

Install

From the signed DMG

Download the signed/notarized DMG and drag SuperPaste to Applications — macOS will let you launch it without any "unidentified developer" friction. You start on the 7-day free trial (no card, 15 responses/day); after that it's $5/month via Polar with 100 responses/day, cancel anytime. SuperPaste checks for signed updates automatically; a red dot appears in the menu bar and Settings when one is ready, and you can install it without leaving the app.

→ Download SuperPaste.dmg

Even in the paid build, Settings → AI Provider lets you switch to your own API key (Anthropic, OpenAI, OpenRouter, or custom) and SuperPaste stays free — no subscription needed.

From source (free)

git clone https://github.com/brainsparker/superpaste
cd superpaste

# One-time toolchain check
./bin/check-toolchain.sh

# One-time local signing identity so macOS permissions survive rebuilds
./setup_codesign.sh

# Build the app
./build.sh

The result lands at SuperPaste Dev.app in the repo root. It has a separate bundle identity and preferences from the signed release, so development builds cannot replace the release's macOS permission grants. Grant permissions to SuperPaste Dev once. Development builds require the stable certificate from ./setup_codesign.sh and do not install release updates.

Use the signed SuperPaste release for everyday use. Quit one before using the other: both register the same default hotkey. If you have an older local SuperPaste.app in the repo root, stop using that copy; it shares the release's bundle ID but has a different signing identity.

The first time you launch SuperPaste it will:

1. Ask for Screen Recording permission so it can capture the active window on demand
2. Ask for Accessibility permission so it can register Option+V and paste the response in place

After that, hit Option+V anywhere.

Development permission testing

macOS ties Screen Recording and Accessibility grants to the app bundle id and signing identity. Run ./setup_codesign.sh once before testing; otherwise Accessibility can be lost on every rebuild.

To inspect the local permission test setup without resetting anything:

./bin/permissions-doctor.sh

To check whether the built SuperPaste app can use its current permissions:

./bin/permissions-probe.sh

The probe exits 0 when Screen Recording, Accessibility, and the hotkey event tap are usable for the signed app. It exits 1 while a permission is still missing.

To replay onboarding without touching macOS permission grants:

./build.sh --fresh

The build, reset, doctor, and probe scripts target SuperPaste Dev by default, leaving the release's preferences and permissions alone. --fresh-permissions deliberately resets only the development app's macOS grants. To check development bundle isolation after building, run ./scripts/test-dev-bundle.sh.

To replay the full first-run permission flow:

./build.sh --fresh-permissions

If System Settings shows Screen Recording enabled but the setup window has not advanced, use the in-app Relaunch SuperPaste button. macOS sometimes applies Screen Recording grants only to a fresh app process.

The reset command is also available directly:

./bin/reset-onboarding.sh --permissions

Privacy

• SuperPaste captures one active-window screenshot only when you press Option+V.
• The screenshot is sent to your chosen AI provider for generation and immediately discarded after processing. With the hosted plan it goes through the SuperPaste backend; with a bring-your-own-key it goes directly from your Mac to the provider — the SuperPaste backend never sees it.
• Accessibility is used for the global hotkey and the final ⌘V paste.
• No analytics, no telemetry, no crash reporting. If something goes wrong, please file an issue.

Full details: Privacy policy · Terms · Refunds

Architecture

• Swift / SwiftUI native macOS app, built with SwiftPM
• Cloudflare Worker backend proxy for model requests (hosted plan only)
• CGEvent tap for the hotkey, NSPasteboard + synthesized ⌘V for the paste
• Sparkle 2 for signed, automatic in-app updates
• Provider-agnostic LLM layer — OpenAI-compatible, Anthropic, and custom endpoints

Contributing

PRs welcome. A few ground rules:

• No telemetry, ever.
• Keep the app narrow: active-window context in, generated text pasted in place.
• Do not add extra prompting, preview, or app-switching steps to the primary flow.
• Tests where they actually catch things; not for coverage's sake.

For substantial changes, please open an issue first so we can sort the design out before you write the code.

License

MIT. Use it however you want. Attribution appreciated but not required.