macOS · Free · Open source · MIT

Alter puts AI inside your clipboard. Press ⌥ Space in any macOS app, type a command in plain English, and the transformed text pastes back — before you'd have even found the ChatGPT tab.

psst — + Space works on this page too. Try it.

Slack — #design-review

hey just following up on the deck, lmk if u had a chance to look, kinda need it by EOD thx

✓ pasted back · 1.4s
The problem

You run this loop 30+ times a day.

~30 seconds · 8 steps · flow: broken

01 read the message
02 notice the tone is off
03 ⌘Tab → ChatGPT
04 paste the text
05 wait for the response…
06 copy the result
07 ⌘Tab back
08 paste — flow lost
option
+
 space

⌥ Space → Done.

One keystroke. ~1.5 seconds. You never left the app. Keep scrolling — it gets better.

Features

Small app. Sharp edges.

Command bar

A bar that respects your flow

540 × 210 px. Appears on top of any app. Vanishes when you're done. No window to manage, no Dock icon to babysit.

translate this to Hindi
Presets + freeform

8 one-click moves — or type whatever

Anything you'd type into ChatGPT. "Make this a bulleted list." "Rewrite as a tweet." "Extract the action items."

RewriteShrinkTranslateFix ExpandExplainReplyFormal
Latency
1.5s

Under two seconds, every time

Powered by Groq's llama-3.3-70b-versatile, with auto-fallback to llama3-8b if the primary model burps.

Dashboard

A home for everything else

Manage presets, browse transform history, change the hotkey, swap your API key — all from the menu bar.

The Alter dashboard showing presets pinned to the HUD
Privacy

Your key, your machine

API key encrypted via macOS Keychain (safeStorage). No account, no telemetry, no remote logging — ever.

100% local encryption
Footprint

Zero Dock clutter

Lives in the menu bar. The tray icon tints automatically with your system theme — light, dark, or whatever you're into.

menu bar only · just like the dock on this page
The race

Same prompt. Three tools. Go.

"Make this email more professional" — timed from the moment you decide, to the moment the result is back in your doc. Scroll into view and watch them run.

ChatGPTbrowser tab · $20/mo
finally.
0.0s
Raycast AIlauncher · $8/mo
not bad
0.0s
Alter⌥ space · free
✓ pasted back
0.0s
timings ≈ real-world, compressed 5× so you don't fall asleep waiting for the gray bar
pre-loads clipboard (others: ✗) auto-pastes result (others: ✗) local API key open source MIT price $0 forever vs $20/mo · $8/mo
0send-to-end transform
0built-in presets
0%local encryption
$0forever
Receipts

Real workflows. Real apps.

Gmail — compose
Following up politely on an email draft in Gmail with Alter
Gmail ⌥ Space — "follow up politely"
X — new post
Rewriting a note into a post on X with Alter
X ⌥ Space — "rewrite as a post"
Install

In your menu bar in 60 seconds.

  1. Download the DMG for your Mac
  2. Drag Alter to Applications
  3. Right-click → Open on first launch (build is unsigned)
  4. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted
  5. Paste your free Groq API key
Alter app icon

Get Alter for macOS

Free · open source · bring your own key

Prefer source? git clone github.com/tanujrajputdev/alter

Tanuj Rajput
Meet the builder

Tanuj Rajput

Web developer (Shopify-leaning, but I'll build anything that needs building) — 5+ years shipping products for 32+ brands across the globe. From storefronts and SaaS to Chrome extensions and macOS apps.

5+ yrsshipping
32+brands worldwide
5products built
Also building

A handful of products. One operator.

FAQ

Questions you might have.

Is my clipboard sent to a server? +

Only when you press Enter. The text goes from your machine to api.groq.com (the Groq inference API) and the result comes back. Nothing else is logged, stored, or sent anywhere.

How is my API key stored? +

Encrypted via safeStorage, which uses the macOS Keychain. Even other apps on your Mac can't read it.

Does it work offline? +

The UI does, but the AI transform doesn't — it needs Groq's API. (A local-LLM mode via Ollama is on the v2 roadmap.)

Why Groq instead of OpenAI? +

Latency. Groq returns a 70B-parameter response in ~1.5 s. GPT-4o takes 4–8 s. For a clipboard utility, the difference between "instant" and "I'm waiting" defines whether you build the habit.

Is it really free? +

Yes. The app is free and open source (MIT). You bring your own Groq API key — Groq has a generous free tier that covers thousands of transforms per day.

Will there be a Windows / Linux version? +

v1 is macOS-only. Cross-platform is on the roadmap if there's demand. Star the repo to vote.

Why does it ask for Accessibility permission? +

So it can auto-paste the result into the app you came from. If you decline, Alter still copies the result to your clipboard — you just press ⌘V yourself.

STOP SWITCHING TABS.

Install Alter. Press ⌥ Space. Get back to work.