PopGuy

Select text in any app — a floating toolbar pops up so you can improve, translate, or run a custom AI action on it. Think PopClip, with a configurable AI backend.

⬇ Download for macOS  ·  ▶ Watch the demo  ·  macOS 13+  ·  signed & notarized

Features

• Improve — rewrite selected text with an AI model; shows an inline diff before you apply it
• Translate — translate selected text to your target language
• Dictionary — look up definitions for the selected word
• Custom AI actions — define your own actions with a system prompt
• Action library — install ready-made actions from a built-in catalog
• Plugins & extensions — extend PopGuy with your own plugin actions
• PopClip extensions — import many PopClip extensions (partial support)
• Multiple providers — OpenAI, Anthropic (Claude), Ollama / LM Studio (local), DeepL, Google Translate
• Global hotkeys — trigger any action from the keyboard
• Cmd+C+C chord — double-tap Cmd+C to Improve the current selection
• Non-destructive — your original text is never changed until you accept the result
• Menu-bar app — no Dock icon; lives in the menu bar
• OCR — capture text from any screen region

Install

• Download the app: grab the latest signed & notarized build from the Releases page. It auto-updates itself after that.
• Or build from source: see below.

☝️ PopGuy needs Accessibility permission to read selected text and detect the Cmd+C+C chord — grant it at System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility (the app prompts you on first launch). API keys are stored in the system Keychain, never in plaintext.

Requirements

• macOS 13.0 or later
• Xcode 26.x (only to build from source)

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/dinhanhthi/PopGuy.git
cd PopGuy
open PopGuy.xcodeproj      # press ▶ to run

Headless build / test:

xcodebuild build -scheme PopGuy -destination 'platform=macOS'
xcodebuild test  -scheme PopGuy -destination 'platform=macOS'

Then grant Accessibility (above) and add your provider API keys in PopGuy → Settings.

Keep the Accessibility grant across rebuilds

macOS ties the Accessibility grant to the app's code signature. With Xcode's default Sign to Run Locally, the signature changes every rebuild and the grant is revoked each time. To make it stick, sign with a stable local certificate:

1. Keychain Access → Certificate Assistant → Create a Certificate.
2. Name it PopGuy Dev, type Self Signed Root, usage Code Signing.
3. In Xcode → Signing & Capabilities, set the signing certificate to PopGuy Dev (not Sign to Run Locally).

This is a local development cert only — not a Developer ID, and no Apple Developer Program membership is required.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome — open an issue to discuss a change, or send a pull request. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

PopGuy is open source under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0. You may use, modify, and distribute it under its terms. See LICENSE for the full license text.