Promptive – A native macOS utility for system-wide AI actions
Hey HN, I built a tool to solve my biggest LLM workflow frustration: context switching. The idea came from trying to meta-prompt in Cursor, I found myself constantly jumping to a browser or dedicated AI app just to improve a prompt. This copy/paste/tweak cycle was a huge productivity killer. I wanted AI to integrate seamlessly into my workflow, not disrupt it. That's why I built Promptive. It's a native macOS app that lets you select any text, in any application, and run a custom LLM prompt on it with a global keyboard shortcut or right-click and select the action in the…
What it does
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hey HN, I built a tool to solve my biggest LLM workflow frustration: context switching. The idea came from trying to meta-prompt in Cursor, I found myself constantly jumping to a browser or dedicated AI app just to improve a prompt. This copy/paste/tweak cycle was a huge productivity killer. I wanted AI to integrate seamlessly into my workflow, not disrupt it. That's why I built Promptive. It's a native macOS app that lets you select any text, in any application, and run a custom LLM prompt on it with a global keyboard shortcut or right-click and select the action in the context-menu. How it works: Select Text: Highlight anything on your Mac (code, a foreign language comment, a dense paragraph). Trigger Action: Hit a global hotkey or right-click to bring up the context menu. Apply Prompt: Choose from your library of built-in or custom prompts. Get Results: The output can either replace the selected text directly, copy the result to clipboard or or appear in an overlay. The goal is to make using LLMs as fast as copy-and-paste. I can now store specialized prompts for things like "Improve This Cursor Prompt", "Explain this," "Make this more concise," or "Convert this to a formal email" and apply them instantly, from anywhere. I designed Promptive around two privacy-focused models: Privacy & Bring Your Own Key (BYOK): This is the default. You use your own API keys from OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic. Keys are stored securely in the macOS Keychain, and all API calls are made directly from your Mac to the provider. My servers never see your prompts or data. Simplicity & Credits: If you prefer not to manage keys, there's a credit system that uses OpenRouter on the backend. In this mode, requests are proxied for billing, but we do not log or store user inputs & prompts. The site is: https://www.promptiveai.app Thanks for reading - would love to hear any feedback!
Does the same job
all alternatives →
Velocity: Prompt Co-Pilot LiteNov 2025 · ▲49Grammarly For Prompting - Personalised with Unified Memory!
More ai this month
the category →
I trained a 125M-parameter transformer to autocomplete piano performances in real time (~108 notes/sec on an iPhone 15). The idea is basically GitHub Copilot or Tabnine, except instead of prompting it with code, you prompt it by playing a few notes on a MIDI piano. The model then continues what you played, entirely on-device. The app is free if anyone wants to try it. Happy to answer questions about the model, training, Core ML, or the many things that didn't work.
AI · 17d ago · simedw.com
Astute▲585Automate your B2B brand going viral, with new media creators
AI · 18d ago · company-app.joinastute.com
Hey HN, Henry from Cactus here! We previously released Cactus Needle, a 14MB agentic LLM for tool call, device use, and structured extraction for phones, wearables, smart homes, small robots and microcontrollers. We got really great feedback here, and have now incorporated the suggestions to release Needle 2. The whole model is a single 14MB binary that runs a full session in 28MB of RAM; 45m parameters at 2bit compression. Needle hits 500 tokens/sec decode speed on a Raspberry Pi 5, sits between 400-1,500 tokens/sec on VR devices like Meta Quest 3S and Apple Vision Pro, and ranges…
AI · 27d ago · cactuscompute.com
Launched alongside, June 2025
the whole month →- IM
Hey HN! Pilots everywhere are required to keep a logbook of all their flying hours, aircraft, airports, and so on. Since I track everything digitally (some people still just use paper logbooks!), I put together some data visualizations and a few 3D globes to show my flying history. This globe is probably my favourite so far: https://jameshard.ing/pilot/globes/all If you’ve got ideas for other graphs or ways to show this kind of data, I’d love to hear them!
Life & fun · 2025 · jameshard.ing
Stunning presentations with AI. No design skills required.
AI · 2025 · chroniclehq.com
Build native mobile apps for iOS and Android without code.
Dev tools · 2025 · bble.io
All your connections, across all your socials.
AI · 2025 · pally.com
- WC
I was the main contributor to workout.lol, an open-source fitness app to easily build a workout routine. The project had traction (1.4k GitHub stars, 95 forks, ~20K visits/month), but was eventually sold due to video licensing hurdles. The new owner stopped maintaining it, and the repo went abandoned. Over the next 9 months, I sent 15 emails to try to save it : no replies. Feature requests & issues were ignored. The community was left with a "broken" tool let's say. I couldn't just let it die So I built the new version from scratch with the same open-source spirit, but a better…
Dev tools · 2025 · github.com