Lens

A fast, native, keyboard-first launcher for macOS.

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Lens is a Spotlight-style application launcher for macOS: instant to summon, instant to search, and out of your way the rest of the time. Fully open source, native SwiftUI/AppKit, no account, no telemetry.

Features

• App Search — find and launch anything instantly, ranked by how often and recently you use each app.
• Calculator — arithmetic, percentages, hex/binary literals, and ans to reuse your last result.
• Unit & Currency Conversion — convert as you type.
• Timezone Conversion — 3pm pst to ist, time in tokyo.
• Dictionary — look up word definitions instantly.
• Clipboard History — encrypted at rest, optional auto-expiry, paste-at-cursor.
• Emoji Search — emoji shrug or :shrug, copies it.
• System Commands — sleep, lock, empty trash, toggle dark mode, quick folder access.
• Customizable — hotkey (with conflict detection if another app already owns it), appearance, and behavior, your way.

Screenshots

Launch apps by typing a few letters

Get instant results from math expressions

Convert currencies with live exchange rates

Look up word definitions without leaving the bar

Search and reuse anything you've copied

Installation

Download the latest build from Releases.

1. Unzip and drag Lens.app to /Applications.
2. Lens isn't signed with an Apple Developer ID, so Gatekeeper blocks it on first launch — on current macOS this usually shows up as "Lens" Not Opened — Apple could not verify..., with no "Open Anyway" option in the dialog itself (the older right-click-to-open trick no longer works for unsigned apps on recent macOS versions). Click Done — not "Move to Trash" — then clear the quarantine flag yourself, one of two ways:
   • Terminal (fastest): xattr -d com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Lens.app (no -r — some macOS versions' xattr doesn't support it, and it isn't needed: Gatekeeper only checks the flag on the .app bundle itself), then open Lens normally.
   • No Terminal: open System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll to the Security section, click Open Anyway next to the message about Lens, then open Lens again and confirm.
3. Press ⌥Space to summon Lens.

Updating

Because macOS quarantines each download independently, not each app, updating means going through the same Gatekeeper unblock again — even for a version you've already trusted. Watch for the banner in Settings when a newer version is available, or check Releases yourself:

1. Quit Lens — menu bar icon → Quit Lens (or ⌘Q if the Settings window is open).
2. Download the new build and drag Lens.app over the old one in /Applications, the same drag-and-drop as a fresh install.
3. Unblock it the same way as above (Terminal or System Settings) — this repeats on every update; it isn't a one-time step.
4. Reopen Lens.

Your settings and clipboard history aren't affected — they live outside the app bundle and survive an update automatically. Lens doesn't auto-install updates (yet), so this manual replace is the only way to get a new version today.

Uninstalling

1. Quit Lens — menu bar icon → Quit Lens (or ⌘Q if the Settings window is open).

2. Drag Lens.app from /Applications to the Trash.

3. Lens keeps its data outside the app bundle, so removing the app alone leaves settings, clipboard history, and cached currency rates behind. To remove all of it:

   rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Lens
   rm -f ~/Library/Preferences/com.nikshepav.lens.Lens.plist
   rm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.nikshepav.lens.Lens
   rm -rf ~/Library/Saved\ Application\ State/com.nikshepav.lens.Lens.savedState
   defaults delete com.nikshepav.lens.Lens 2>/dev/null

4. If clipboard encryption was ever enabled, its key lives in the macOS Keychain — open Keychain Access and delete the "Lens" entry to remove it.

5. Lens may also have Accessibility, Screen Recording, or Input Monitoring permissions granted in System Settings → Privacy & Security. Remove those manually, or clear all of them at once with tccutil reset All com.nikshepav.lens.Lens.

Usage

Action	Shortcut
Summon / dismiss Lens	⌥Space (rebindable in Settings)
Open clipboard history directly	⌥⌘C
Navigate results	↑ ↓
Open / run selected result	↩
Delete a clipboard entry	⌘⌫
Open Settings	⌘,, or type "settings"

License

MIT