Nook

System-wide text expansion for macOS that stays out of your way.

Nook is a native menu bar utility. Define short triggers, type them anywhere — Safari, Xcode, Slack, Terminal, any standard text input — and Nook instantly replaces them with your snippet.

;src⎵   →   ../../components/Button⎵

Features

• Works everywhere — global keyboard monitoring via CGEventTap; expansion works in any app that accepts keyboard input.
• Configurable trigger prefix — ; by default, change it to :, /, //, ::, !!, or anything else. The prefix is a global setting; changing it instantly applies to every snippet.
• Snippet types — plain text, rich text, images, and JavaScript snippets whose return value becomes the expansion.
• Dynamic variables — {{date}}, {{time}}, {{uuid}}, {{clipboard}}, {{selection}}, and more, plus your own custom variables.
• Fill-in prompts — unknown variables like {{client}} pop up a small form before expanding.
• Cursor placeholders — console.log(|) puts the cursor between the parentheses; multiple | stops are reachable with Tab.
• Suggestions (optional) — a small popover lists matching triggers while you type; navigate with ↑↓, accept with Return.
• Organization — folders, tags, favorites, instant search, per-snippet enable/disable, JSON and YAML import/export.
• Safe by design — expansion is automatically suspended in password fields and whenever macOS Secure Input is active. Nook never stores what you type.
• Lightweight — no Dock icon, near-zero idle CPU, tiny memory footprint, snippet lookup is O(1).

Requirements

• macOS 26.5 or later
• Xcode 26 to build from source

Building

git clone <repository-url>
cd Nook
open Nook.xcodeproj      # build & run the "Nook" scheme

or from the command line:

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

First launch

Nook needs two privacy permissions to work:

1. Accessibility — to remove typed triggers and insert replacements.
2. Input Monitoring — to observe keystrokes and detect triggers.

On first launch Nook opens its Permissions screen and guides you through granting both in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Optionally enable Launch at Login so Nook is always ready.

Note: after granting Accessibility for a rebuilt/self-signed build you may need to remove and re-add Nook in System Settings.

Usage

1. Click the menu bar icon → Open Nook to manage snippets.
2. Create a snippet — e.g. trigger email, replacement [email protected].
3. In any app, type ;email followed by Space (or Return, Tab, . …).
4. Watch it expand.

Pause expansion for 5 minutes, 15 minutes, or an hour from the menu bar, or disable it entirely. The icon reflects the current state.

Snippet syntax

Syntax	Meaning
{{date}}, {{time}}, {{datetime}}	current date/time ({{date:dd MMM yyyy}} for custom formats)
{{year}} {{month}} {{day}} {{weekday}}	date components
{{uuid}} {{random}} {{unix}}	generated values
{{hostname}} {{username}}	machine info
{{clipboard}} {{selection}}	current clipboard / selected text
{{anythingElse}}	fill-in prompt shown at expansion time
| or {{cursor}}	cursor position after expansion (\\| for a literal pipe)

Snippets are stored as human-readable JSON in ~/Library/Application Support/Nook/.

Documentation

• Architecture.md — how the pieces fit together
• Contributing.md — developer setup and guidelines

License

Open source. License to be finalized before the first public release.