Crumbs
Free and open sourcefor macOS
Save any text in two taps.
Select something in any app on your Mac and tap Shift twice. It lands in a floating panel as a note.
a closer look
Catch it, sort it, hand it off.
Text selected in another app is saved to the Crumbs panel after tapping Shift twice. A Captured pill appears next to the pointer and the new note slides into the list.
Your notes app is too far away.
You're reading something. A web page, a PDF, a terminal, a long chat. Then a line jumps out. You'll want it later.
Saving it means switching apps, pasting, and finding your place again. So you skip it and tell yourself you'll remember. You won't.
“Save it the second you see it.”
Crumbs lives in your menu bar. Select the text, tap Shift Shift, and keep going. It lands in a floating panel that never steals focus. Bold, links, code and lists come along as Markdown, and your clipboard is put back. Or type one, or paste with Command V.
By evening you have a pile of crumbs, one list per project. Sections, search, drag, merge, undo.
“Collect now. Sort it out later.”
When it's time, select a few and press Shift Command C. They copy as a numbered list for your chat and get checked off.
Each list is a plain Markdown file in a folder you pick. Edit it anywhere, even while Crumbs runs. No account, no sync service, nothing leaves your Mac.
Happy collecting,
the Crumbs folks
macOS 27+ · Accessibility access · capture key Shift, Command, Option or Control · Control Option C toggles the panel
how it works
Select. Tap tap. Done.
Works in any app you can copy from.
01
Select some text
A browser, a PDF, your editor, a chat.
02
Tap ⇧ ⇧
Two quick taps of Shift.
03
It's a note
It lands in the side panel. You keep your place.
Is it free?
Yes, free and open source under the MIT License, with no account to make. The code is on GitHub.
Where do my notes live?
In plain Markdown files in a folder you pick, ~/Library/Application Support/Crumbs/ by default. Nothing leaves your Mac.
Why does it want Accessibility access?
To notice the double tap and ask the app in front to copy your selection. It never reads other apps' windows.
Does it touch my clipboard?
Only for a moment. Crumbs saves what's there, copies your selection, then puts it back the way it was.
Which Macs does it run on?
macOS 27 or later. The capture key is Shift, or Command, Option or Control if you prefer.
Keep the good bits
Select text, tap Shift twice, keep reading.
Free and open source, for macOS 27 or later.