prompt/README.md

Prompt

A native macOS app for keeping prompts and photos, in the spirit of Copper by shadcn: a floating panel that sits next to your work. Select what you need and send it back to your clipboard.

• Click to select — clicking a card selects it (Shift+click for a range), and the selection bar copies a single item as-is, the whole selection as a numbered list or as plain newline-separated lines, or deletes it.
• Text or photo — copying sends text back as text and a photo back as an image.
• Capture from anywhere — select text in any app and tap Left Shift twice.
• Photos — paste (Cmd+V), drag & drop, or add via the photo button.
• A composer that grows — long prompts wrap and the input grows up to seven lines, then scrolls. Return sends, Shift+Return inserts a newline.
• Launch at Login — toggle in the sync panel (Cmd+,) or the menu bar icon's right-click menu, to start Prompt on boot.
• Workspaces — type # Name in the composer, or use "New Workspace" in the Cmd+K switcher (which opens a name modal); Cmd+K switches, and the up/down arrows in the switcher reorder them. (The code and the saved JSON still call these sections so existing data keeps working.)
• Right-click for actions — Copy, Copy as List, Copy as Lines, Mark as Done, Edit, Open, Merge Notes, Move To, Delete — each acting on the whole selection.
• Search — Cmd+F searches across all workspaces.
• Sync (optional) — generate an 8-digit code (1234-5678) on one Mac and enter it on the other; no account, no login. The code is the only secret.
• Local & private — everything lives in ~/Library/Application Support/Prompt/ (store.json + Images/). No account, no sync, no telemetry.

Shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
Capture current selection	Left Shift ×2 (or Cmd+Shift+C)
Show/hide panel	Right Shift ×2 (or Cmd+Shift+Space)
Switch/create workspace	Cmd+K
Search	Cmd+F
Focus composer	Cmd+N
New line in composer	Shift+Return
Sync settings	Cmd+,
Copy selection as numbered list	Shift+Cmd+C
Copy selection as plain lines	Option+Cmd+C
Clear selection	Esc
Close panel	Esc

Double-Shift gestures require Accessibility access (Prompt reads the selection by simulating Cmd+C, then restores your clipboard untouched). Until it is granted, use Cmd+Shift+Space and Cmd+Shift+C, or click the menu bar icon — and launching the app again always brings the panel back. Bare keys like Space and Cmd+C are deliberately not bound inside the panel so they never conflict with typing in the composer.

Install

brew tap TZGyn/tap https://gitea.tzgyn.dev/TZGyn/homebrew-tap.git
brew trust TZGyn/tap
brew install --cask prompt

Sync server

Sync is optional and needs the small Go backend in Server/. There is no authentication: a sync group is identified by an 8-digit code, and whoever has the code can read and write the group.

createdb prompt_sync
cd Server
PROMPT_SYNC_DATABASE_URL="postgres://localhost:5432/prompt_sync?sslmode=disable" \
  go run .          # listens on :8080

Or build the Docker image (docker build -t prompt-sync Server/) and point it at your own Postgres — see Server/README.md for that and for deploying to a host.

Then in the panel: click the sync icon (or Cmd+,), confirm the server URL, and either Generate Code on the first Mac or paste the code into Join on the other.

Notes:

• Sync defaults to https://prompt.tzgyn.dev; change it in the sync panel to point at your own server. Both Macs must be able to reach it — a LAN address or a Tailscale hostname works, and localhost only works if the server runs on the same Mac. See Server/README.md to deploy it.
• Joining a group that already has notes replaces what's on that Mac.
• The app polls every 5 seconds (a tiny version check) and pushes 1.5s after a change; last write wins, and changes that came from the server are not echoed back.
• Verify sync from a terminal with Prompt --sync-check.

Build from source

swift build                          # debug build
swift run Prompt                     # dev run (menu bar icon appears)
./build-app.sh 0.1.0                 # release build + Prompt.app + icon + codesign
./release.sh 0.1.0                   # build + dist/Prompt.zip (+ notarization when configured)

Requires macOS 14+.