ActionSense

The Problem

Copying from a webpage and pasting into Notion, Slack, or an email — the fonts break, the colors bleed, the links embed themselves, and the spacing collapses. Cmd+Shift+V is a half-fix: some apps don't support it, shortcuts conflict, and it never tells you what you just copied was a URL, an email, or a hex color.

ActionSense fixes "what happens after you copy."

What is ActionSense?

ActionSense is an open-source macOS menu bar app. It lives in your menu bar, watches your clipboard, and does two things:

• Plain Text Mode: auto-strips rich text formatting, cleans whitespace and CJK spacing
• PasteFlow Mode: detects what you copied and pops up a one-click action panel at your cursor

All processing is local. Nothing ever leaves your Mac.

PasteFlow — Your Clipboard Just Got Smarter

PasteFlow detects what you copied and offers the right action instantly:

Type	Example	Action
URL	https://github.com	Open in Browser (+ Open Repo for git repos)
Email	hello@example.com	Compose Mail
Phone	13812345678	Call
Color	#FF5733	Color preview + Copy HEX / RGB
Date/Time	2024-01-15 14:00	Add to Calendar
Math	(35+47)*1.2	Auto-calculate result
Coordinates	39.9042, 116.4074	Open in Maps
JSON	{"key":"val"}	Formatted preview + Format / Minify
Rich HTML	Web content with formatting	Convert to Markdown / Plain Text

Intent History — Not Just What You Copied, But What You Did

Traditional clipboard managers only record what you copied. ActionSense records what you did with it:

• 🟢 Intent fulfilled: copied URL → opened browser
• 🟠 Detected but not acted: copied color → did nothing
• ⚪ Plain text: auto-cleaned formatting

Filter by type, mode, or keyword. Up to 5000 entries, stored locally.

Tech Stack — Pure Native, Zero Dependencies

SwiftUI + AppKit + MenuBarExtra + NSPasteboard + Combine

• Clipboard polling — NSPasteboard.changeCount every 0.5s, dual-guard dead-loop prevention
• Math evaluator — hand-written recursive descent parser, avoids NSExpression format-string traps
• Floating panel — NSWindow .nonactivatingPanel, appears at cursor without stealing focus
• History storage — plain JSON file, in-memory filtering, no database
• 5 languages — English / 中文 / 日本語 / Français / Deutsch, manual switch, restart to apply

17 Swift source files. Clean architecture, well-commented.

Installation

Option 1: Build from Source

bash
git clone https://github.com/xiaoyunchengzhu/ActionSense.git
cd ActionSense
open ActionSense.xcodeproj
# Cmd+R to run

macOS 14.0+, Xcode 15.0+. No Apple Developer account needed.

Option 2: Download DMG

👉 Download ActionSense 2.0 DMG (573 KB, macOS 14+)

Drag to /Applications. On first launch, right-click → Open to bypass Gatekeeper.

Privacy

No backend. No analytics SDK. No tracking. Clipboard content, history, detection results — everything stays on your Mac. Source code is public and auditable.

Links

• GitHub: github.com/xiaoyunchengzhu/ActionSense
• Product page: xiaoniubuniu.com/products/action-sense

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Free & open source. If you find it useful, give it a Star ⭐