Hi everyone 👋
I want to share a small project I’ve been working on recently — my first macOS app, built completely in public.
The app is called TSnap, and it solves a problem I personally hit almost every day.
The Problem
As developers, we often deal with text that cannot be selected:
UI text inside apps
Screenshots
Images
PDFs
When I want to translate that text, the usual flow is:
Take a screenshot
Open a browser
Upload the image
Copy the text
Translate
It breaks focus and feels way too slow for something so common.
The Idea
What if translation worked directly on macOS, everywhere?
Select text → translate instantly
Screenshot → OCR → translate
No browser
No account
No extra steps
That idea became TSnap.
What TSnap Can Do
TSnap is a free macOS menu bar app that lets you:
🔤 Translate selected text instantly using a keyboard shortcut
📸 OCR & translate text from screenshots
⚡ Works in any app, anywhere on macOS
🆓 Completely free to use
It’s designed to stay lightweight and out of your way.
Why It’s Open Source
This is my first macOS product, so it’s definitely not perfect yet.
That’s why I decided to:
Make it open source
Let anyone inspect the code
Allow people to fork & customize it freely
Security and privacy matter, especially for apps that deal with screenshots and text.
You can always verify everything in the source code.
👉 GitHub repository:
https://github.com/buingoclam147/snap-translate
About Distribution (and the $99 problem 😅)
Right now, TSnap is not on the Mac App Store.
The honest reason:
I haven’t paid the $99 Apple Developer Program fee yet.
So instead:
I provide a direct build (.app / .dmg)
Anyone can download and use it freely
👉 Website & download:
https://www.tsnap.tech/
Built in Public
TSnap is very much a build in public project.
I’m sharing:
The product
The source code
The limitations
And the learning process
Feedback, suggestions, and contributions are more than welcome.
What’s Next
Some things I want to improve:
OCR accuracy
Better shortcut customization
UI polish
More language support
And hopefully, one day:
A proper App Store release 🤞
Final Thoughts
TSnap won’t change the world —
but if it saves you a few seconds dozens of times a day, it has done its job.
If you’re on macOS and often need to translate text from screenshots or UI elements, feel free to try it out.
Thanks for reading, and happy building 🚀
🔗 Links
🌐 Website: https://www.tsnap.tech/
💻 GitHub: https://github.com/buingoclam147/snap-translate
macos
opensource
buildinpublic
productivity
indiedev
Top comments (0)