macOS doesn't let apps read "whatever text is currently selected" directly.
So Pluks does what you would do: the moment you finish a selection, it presses
⌘+C for you. Sending that synthetic keystroke is exactly
what the Accessibility permission gates, and noticing your selection gesture
(the mouse drag or double-click) is what Input Monitoring gates. Granting them
is the one-time, ~10-second setup step.
Here's everything the code does with that access:
- Listens for selection gestures — drags and double-clicks — so it knows when you've selected something.
- Sends a synthetic ⌘+C to the app you're in, so that app copies your selection.
- Checks the focused field first and skips password inputs (secure text fields) entirely.
It never reads your screen, never logs what you type, and the text you copy never
leaves your machine. Don't take our word for it — Pluks is open source, and every
line that touches these permissions lives in one file you can read:
app/src-tauri/src/selection.rs.