Snippets (macOS)

Local text-expander app for macOS with a Raycast-style snippet list/editor and global snippet insertion.

Features

• Create, edit, delete, duplicate, enable/disable, and pin snippets.
• Global expansion in other apps by typing \ + keyword.
• Suggestion panel near the caret with fuzzy matching on snippet name and keyword.
• Dynamic placeholders in snippet content:
  • {clipboard}
  • {date}
  • {time}
  • {datetime}
  • {date:<DateFormatter pattern>} (for example {date:yyyy-MM-dd})
• Import/export JSON snippets.
• Share a single snippet via a snippets://share?... deep link.
• Menu bar item with quick open/quit.
• Optional Launch at Login toggle.
• Configurable extra Chromium bundle IDs in a dedicated Snippets > Settings… window (applies immediately, no relaunch).

Requirements

• macOS 15.5+ (project deployment target).
• Xcode with Swift 5 support.

Build and Run

1. Open /Users/mike/src/tries/2026-02-15-snippets/snippets/Snippets.xcodeproj in Xcode.
2. Select the Snippets scheme.
3. Build and run.

First Launch and Permissions

The global expander uses Accessibility APIs. If expansion does not start:

1. Click Request Permission in the app banner.
2. Open Accessibility from the same banner and enable Snippets.
3. Click Refresh.

Depending on macOS version/settings, Input Monitoring may also be needed for global keystroke capture.

How Expansion Works

• Type \ in a text input field to open suggestions.
• Keep typing to filter snippets (fuzzy match by name/keyword).
• Use ↑/↓ or Ctrl+N / Ctrl+P to navigate suggestions.
• Press Tab or Return to insert the selected snippet.
• If your query exactly matches one keyword (and no longer keyword shares that prefix), it auto-expands.
• If focused text-field detection fails in some apps, fallback auto-expansion still tries to trigger from typed text.

Keyword notes:

• In the editor, the visible \ is a prefix label. Store keywords without the leading slash.
• Spaces in keywords are converted to -.
• Overlapping keywords (prefix collisions) show a warning and prevent auto-expand disambiguation.

Under the Hood

The app is organized around three main pieces:

• SnippetStore: owns snippet state in memory, debounces writes, persists JSON, and handles import/export merge rules.
• ViewController: builds the app UI, binds controls to the store, and routes keyboard actions.
• SnippetExpansionEngine: runs global key listening, suggestion mode, and text replacement in other apps.

Detailed deep dive:

• /Users/mike/src/tries/2026-02-15-snippets/snippets/docs/text-input-detection.md explains cross-app text-input detection, Chromium/Electron workarounds, monitor quirks, and troubleshooting.

Global expansion pipeline:

1. The expansion engine starts a session-level CGEvent tap plus a local NSEvent monitor.
2. Typed characters are appended to an internal rolling buffer.
3. On \, suggestion mode activates and SuggestionPanelController shows ranked matches.
4. Ranking uses fuzzy scoring (FuzzyMatch) against snippet name and keyword.
5. Selecting a snippet (or unambiguous exact-match auto-expand) triggers expansion.
6. The engine resolves placeholders with PlaceholderResolver and injects final text.

Text replacement strategy:

• The engine deletes trigger characters with synthetic backspaces.
• It writes expansion text to the pasteboard.
• It sends synthetic Cmd+V to paste into the frontmost app.
• It restores previous clipboard contents shortly after paste, unless the clipboard changed in the meantime.

Suggestion panel positioning:

• The panel attempts to read caret bounds from Accessibility (AXBoundsForRange).
• If that fails, it falls back to focused-element geometry.
• Extra normalization avoids awkward placement in some apps (for example Safari/Chromium-style controls).

Persistence and sync behavior:

• Snippet updates write through SnippetStore and are saved with a short debounce.
• Immediate writes are used for operations like add/delete/import/export.
• Pending writes are flushed on app termination.

Keyboard Shortcuts (Main Window)

The in-app shortcuts panel shows essential shortcuts by default. Hold Option while it is open to reveal the full list.

• Return: copy selected snippet to clipboard.
• Cmd+Return: paste selected snippet into frontmost app.
• Cmd+K: open/close shortcuts panel.
• Cmd+F: focus search.
• Cmd+N: create snippet.
• Cmd+E: edit selected snippet.
• Cmd+D: duplicate selected snippet.
• Cmd+/: enable/disable selected snippet.
• Cmd+.: pin/unpin selected snippet.
• Cmd+Delete: delete selected snippet.
• Cmd+Shift+C: copy a deep link for the selected snippet.
• Cmd+Shift+I: import JSON.
• Cmd+Shift+E: export JSON.
• Esc: close action panel (or return focus to list).
• Ctrl+N / Ctrl+P: move selection down/up in list context.

Import/Export Format and Merge Rules

• Import accepts:
  • A raw array of snippets: [...]
  • Wrapped payload: { "snippets": [...] }
• Export writes wrapped payload format: { "snippets": [...] }
• Import merge behavior:
  1. Match by id first (replace existing).
  2. Else match by keyword case-insensitively (replace existing, preserve existing id and createdAt).
  3. Else insert as new.

Deep Links

• Cmd+Shift+C copies a shareable deep link for the selected snippet.
• Deep links use the custom scheme snippets://share?data=....
• Opening one of these links shows an import confirmation and then imports that single snippet using the same merge rules as JSON import.

Data Storage

• Snippets are persisted locally at:
  • ~/Library/Application Support/SnippetsClone/snippets.json
• On first launch (or load failure), a starter snippet is created:
  • Name: Temporary Password
  • Keyword: tp
  • Content: TP-{date:yyyyMMdd}-{clipboard}

App Behavior Notes

• App Sandbox is disabled so global key monitoring and synthetic paste can work.
• Cmd+Q supports a one-time choice:
  • Hide to menu bar (keep running), or
  • Quit completely.
  • If you choose "Remember choice", you can reset it later from Settings, the menu bar menu, or the main window's More menu.