Works in any app
No plug-ins or integrations needed. PolishBar reads your selection at the system level and pastes the result back — in chat, mail, documents and web forms alike.
LarkWeChatWeComDingTalkNotesMailSafariChromeVS Code…
macOS menu bar app · v0.1 beta
Polish it
before you send
Write a message in Lark, WeChat, Mail or any app and press ⌃⌥P. A polished version appears right next to it — press Return to replace your text.
Try another style
How it works
Write, press, Return
No switching windows, no pasting text somewhere else. Fix it right where you wrote it.
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cant make tomorrows review
1Write as usual
Type in any text field. Select the part you want to change — or select nothing, and the whole field is selected for you.
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⌃⌥P
2Press the shortcut
A panel appears next to your text and the result streams in. Press 1–6 to switch styles, ⌘R to rewrite, hold ⌥ to see what changed.
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↩
3Press Return
The result is pasted back in place — it never hits Send for you. Not happy? ⌘Z undoes it, and your clipboard is restored.
Styles
Six built-in styles,
plus your own
You don't say things the same way to your boss and to a teammate. Pick a style and let it do the rest.
Original
Rewritten
Instruction
Features
Made for people who write all day
Especially in chat apps. Even text fields that offer no plug-ins work with PolishBar.
No need to select
Finish typing in a chat box and press the shortcut — the whole message is selected and polished.
Hold ⌥ to see changes
Deleted words are struck through, new ones are highlighted. Let go for the clean result.
No accidental sends
Before replacing, PolishBar checks you're still in the same app. If you've switched windows, it only copies the result.
A style for each app
Give each app its own default style, used automatically when you press the shortcut there.
Three ways in
A global shortcut (change it to whatever you like), Services in the right-click menu, and the menu bar icon. Or turn off preview and replace right away.
Share your styles
Turn your team's go-to phrasing into styles, export them as one file and send it around. Duplicates are skipped on import.
Models
Bring your own model
Works with any OpenAI-compatible API. Presets for DeepSeek, Qwen, Doubao and OpenAI are built in — pick a provider, paste your key, done. Your text goes straight to the provider you choose, never through us.
- DeepSeek
- Qwen
- Doubao
- OpenAI
- Any OpenAI-compatible API
Privacy
Your words go only where you send them
PolishBar has no server of its own in the loop. It reads your text only at the moment you press the shortcut.
- Direct to your providerText goes only to the model API you configured, with no relay in between.
- Nothing is keptOriginals and results are never saved. Usage stats are counts only, never content.
- Key in your KeychainYour API key is stored in the macOS Keychain, not in a config file.
- Clipboard restoredYour clipboard is put back afterward, images and rich text included. Clipboard managers won't record what's in between.
Get started
Set up in three minutes
A short guide walks you through it the first time you open the app.
- 1
Download and install
Open the dmg and drag PolishBar into Applications. It lives in the menu bar, not the Dock.
- 2
Allow Accessibility
Turn on PolishBar in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility so it can read your selection and paste the result.
- 3
Connect a model
Pick a provider, paste your API key, click Test and Continue, then polish a real sentence in the guide.
FAQ
Questions you might have
Why does it need Accessibility permission?
macOS requires it to read text selected in other apps and to simulate ⌘C and ⌘V. PolishBar only uses it when you press the shortcut (or use the right-click menu or the menu bar).
Do I need my own API key?
Yes. Create a key in the DeepSeek, Alibaba Cloud Model Studio (Qwen), Volcano Engine Ark (Doubao) or OpenAI console and paste it in. The provider bills you by usage — polishing a message uses very little.
Does it work in Lark and WeChat?
Yes. These apps usually don't expose the cursor position, so the panel appears next to the input field instead. Note that @mentions and emoji become plain text after replacing, so the person you mentioned may not be notified — mention them again if needed.
Will it mess up my clipboard?
No. Reading and replacing go through the clipboard, and your original contents (including images and rich text) are restored afterward. The temporary content is marked as transient, so clipboard managers ignore it.
How much text can it polish at once?
Up to 4,000 characters by default, adjustable from 500 to 20,000 in Settings. Over the limit, it asks you to select less — it never truncates silently.
Which systems are supported? Is there a Windows version?
macOS 13 or later, on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs. The app is available in English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Spanish and Arabic, and follows your system language and dark mode. There's no Windows version yet.