I built a free text expander for Chrome (as a solo dev, on the side)

Francesco Cosma — Sun, 05 Jul 2026 10:37:01 +0000

If you've ever caught yourself retyping the same reply for the tenth time in a day — a greeting, an FAQ answer, an order update — you already know the itch. That itch is why I built ReplyKit, a small Chrome extension, on the side, as a solo developer.

The idea is deliberately narrow: save a snippet once, then insert it anywhere on the web by typing //. No desktop app, no account required on the free plan, nothing to configure.

How it works
Save your most-used replies as snippets (a title and the text)
In any text field, type // (or press a keyboard shortcut)
Pick a snippet from the instant search — it's inserted right at your cursor or hit Copy to paste it manually in editors that block auto-insert
It works in Gmail, help desks, marketplaces, social networks, CRMs and plain web forms — anywhere there's a standard text field.

Why lightweight, and not another TextExpander
Tools like TextExpander or aText are genuinely powerful, but they usually come with a subscription, a desktop install, and a bit of a learning curve. If all you need is quick canned replies inside your browser, that's a lot of overhead for a small job.

So ReplyKit tries to do one thing well:

-Free for up to 10 snippets; Pro unlocks unlimited + sync
-Install the extension — no account on the free plan
-Snippets stay on your device on the free plan; no trackers, no ads
-Right in Chrome, in any text field

If you outgrow the lightweight version later, you can always graduate to a heavier tool — but starting simple usually means you actually build the habit instead of abandoning a complicated setup.

Snippets worth saving first
The fastest way to feel the time savings is to capture the handful of things you already retype every day:

Your greeting and sign-off, as separate snippets you can mix and match
Answers to your three most common questions
Your calendar or booking link
A polite "I'll look into this and get back to you" holding reply
Boilerplate you paste often — an address, payment details, a standard disclaimer
Five snippets is usually enough to notice the difference in the first afternoon.

Privacy by design
On the free plan, snippets are stored locally in your browser — no account, no uploads, no tracking. With Pro they also sync across your devices through your browser's built-in sync, never through my own servers. Details in the privacy policy.

Try it
If this is a problem you run into too: ReplyKit is free on the Chrome Web Store, and I wrote a slightly longer breakdown (with FAQs) on the full guide.

Building this solo, part-time, so genuinely curious: what's the one message you retype the most?

DEV Community: Francesco Cosma

I built a free text expander for Chrome (as a solo dev, on the side)