Expands in any app
A global listener watches the last 40 characters you typed. When they end with one of your abbreviations, it is deleted and replaced with the snippet.
Open source · macOS 14+ · Universal binary · Menu Bar Utility
Type less.
Say it all.
Type a short abbreviation in any app and it expands into your saved snippet, with date, clipboard and cursor fields. It runs from the menu bar, with no hotkey to learn.
Free & MIT licensed · Apple Silicon & Intel · Latest release
Features
Small snippets, big time savings.
Everything you need to expand text reliably, and nothing that leaves your Mac.
Date, clipboard and cursor fields
Use {date} and {time} with custom formats, offsets like {date+7d}, {clipboard} for your current clipboard text, and {cursor} to place the caret.
Control over when it triggers
Choose per snippet whether to expand immediately, after a space, or after any delimiter. Add a global prefix such as and require a word boundary.
Groups, search and import
Organize snippets into groups you can switch off together, search them in a three-column editor, and import or export them as JSON.
Safe around passwords
Expansion pauses while secure input is active. A per-app blocklist ships with common password managers and terminal emulators, and you can add more.
Handles long, multi-line text
Short single-line snippets are typed. Multi-line and long ones are pasted, and your original clipboard is restored about 150 ms later.
Screenshots
See it in action.
Install
Up and running in a minute.
TypeShortcutExpander is open source and not notarized with a paid Apple Developer ID, so macOS needs one extra step the first time.
- Download TypeShortcutExpander-macOS.zip and unzip it.
- Move TypeShortcutExpander.app to your Applications folder.
- Clear the quarantine flag once, then right-click the app and choose Open:
xattr -cr /Applications/TypeShortcutExpander.app
- Grant Input Monitoring and Accessibility to TypeShortcutExpander in System Settings Privacy Security the first-run guide links straight to both panes.
Download
Get TypeShortcutExpander for macOS
Free, forever. Built for macOS 14 Sonoma or newer, Apple Silicon and Intel.
Not notarized: on first launch right-click TypeShortcutExpander.app → Open.
- macOS 14 Sonoma+
- Universal (Apple Silicon + Intel)
- MIT licensed · open source
- No ads, no accounts, no telemetry
- Built with Claude Code · how and why
FAQ
Questions, answered.
Is TypeShortcutExpander really free and open source?
Yes. It is released under the MIT license and the full source is on GitHub. There are no subscriptions or accounts, and an optional Support button links to Ko-fi if you want to chip in.
What permissions does it need, and why?
Input Monitoring lets it notice when you type an abbreviation, and Accessibility lets it delete that abbreviation and insert the expansion. Until both are granted, expansion stays off. It requests nothing else and contains no network code.
Where is my data stored?
Snippets are a JSON file at ~/Library/Application Support/TypeShortcutExpander/snippets.json, and settings live in UserDefaults. Only the last 40 typed characters are held in memory, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Why isn't the app notarized?
Notarization requires a paid Apple Developer account, which this free project does not have. Right-click the app and choose Open once to approve it, or build it yourself from source with Xcode.
Was this written by AI?
Yes. TypeShortcutExpander was generated by Claude Code from a written spec as a clean-room reimplementation, with no code or assets from any commercial app. The full source is on GitHub under MIT, so you can read every line before you run it. It has had less human review than a hand-written app, so bug reports are welcome.
Support ❤️
Built by one person, given away for free.
TypeShortcutExpander is a free, open-source alternative to paid utilities. If it earns a spot on your Mac, a coffee keeps the updates coming.
☕ Support Or on Ko-fi