Snag

Copy on select for macOS. Select text anywhere and it's instantly on your clipboard.

Install · How it works · Usage

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Install

Homebrew

brew install christi4nity/snag/snag
open $(brew --prefix)/opt/snag/Snag.app

Note: You must use the fully qualified christi4nity/snag/snag name. There is an unrelated, deprecated snag in homebrew-core that will be installed otherwise.

From source

git clone https://github.com/christi4nity/snag.git
cd snag
make build
open Snag.app

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools and macOS 13 (Ventura) or later.

How it works

Snag monitors mouse events system-wide. When you select text — by dragging, double-clicking (word), or triple-clicking (line) — it fires a Cmd+C keystroke after a brief delay. That's it.

On first launch, macOS will ask you to grant Accessibility permission. Snag needs this to detect selections and simulate the copy keystroke.

Usage

• Left-click the scissors icon in the menu bar to toggle on/off
• Right-click for the menu: Enable/Disable, Launch at Login, Quit

When enabled, any text you select — by dragging, double-clicking, or triple-clicking — is automatically copied to your clipboard.

Tip: Works great with a clipboard manager

Snag copies selected text automatically, which feels great for most workflows.

One common edge case: sometimes you select text because you want to replace it with something you already copied. In that moment, auto-copy overwrites your current clipboard.

A clipboard manager (like Raycast Clipboard History) makes this seamless:

• You can quickly recover the previous clipboard item
• Replace text without losing what you meant to paste

Snag works fine on its own — this just makes the experience smoother for power users.

License

MIT