by busymom0 | 2025-08-11 17:32:39+00:00
Hello HN. I built this app for myself. Then a few friends suggested I publish this on the App Store as others might find it useful. So here it is.

The use case for my app came from me being frustrated from having to constantly copy-paste stuff, then switch to a browser, then opening some AI assistant, then pasting the text I needed to search for, then hitting Enter. Sometimes I also needed to switch from one AI assistant to another because some assistants are better at answering certain type of questions than others. All this required constant copy pasting, switching browsers, clicking different tabs etc. Also, often I needed the AI assistant browser to always be present in front while coding so that I could look at both my code and the assistant's answers at the same time.

Therefore, I built SelectToSearch:

https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/select-to-search-ai-assistant/...

It saves me around 85% of the clicks in my workflow.

Without my app, user needs to first select the text they need AI-assistance with, then copy it, then open a browser, then open ChatGPT or other assistant, then paste the text, then hit enter to search. This required 6 user actions/clicks.

- With my app, all the user needs to do is use a keyboard shortcut: Option + Comma. This is enough for my app to automatically search for the current line of text in the default AI assistant.

- With my app, all the user needs to do is use a keyboard shortcut: Option + Period. This is enough for my app to automatically search for the currently highlighted text in the AI assistant.

As you can see, my app's single keyboard shortcut feature took 1 user action compared to previous 6 actions. This saved the user around 85% of clicks in their workflow.

- With my app, all the user needs to do is use a keyboard shortcut: Option + I. Then they can select portion of their screen and my app will automatically search for that image in the AI assistant. This is similar to Google's Circle to Search feature on their Android platform except my app makes it possible on macOS and also works with other AI-assistants instead of only Google's Gemini.

- With my app, switching from one AI assistant to another is as simple as pressing the keyboard shortcut: Option + 1, or Option + 2 etc.

- One can also right click some selected text, then go to macOS's native "Services", and select my app's "SelectToSearch Auto-Submit" or "SelectToSearch Paste".

My app works with any AI assistant which provides a web interface. While by default, I provide a list of the most popular AI assistants, my app is not limited to these only. Users can customize this list by adding some other AI assistant or even use their own AI assistant running locally on their machine by clicking the ellipsis button and clicking "Customize assistants list". New assistants can be added to this list in a new line.

The app is free. It lets you use all features for free. Although trial is unlimited, a one-time-only in-app-purchase ensures continued improvements, updates, and pays for development costs over the years. I do not use subscriptions, ads, or trackers.

I care about the privacy of user data. Therefore, this is all done locally on your Mac and I, the SelectToSearch's developer, don’t have access to your data & prompts. However, the AI assistant you use within my app will have access to the data & prompts you choose to send.

Btw, I am the developer of Hack, the iOS, macOS and Android apps for hacker news.

Here to answer any questions.