Wisp is a scratchpad that lives in your Mac's menu bar. Press ⌥Space anywhere, write, press Esc. It's gone — and everything you wrote stays, as one plain markdown file.
Free and open source · macOS 13 or later · Apple silicon and Intel · About 1 MB
From any app, any desktop, full screen or not. The shortcut is yours to change.
The caret is already waiting. No new file, no title, no folder to pick.
It slips away and hands you back to where you were. Saved as you typed.
What it does
End a line with = and the answer appears beside it, dimmed. Units, percentages and money too. Tab types it in for real; nothing is sent anywhere.
Flights 2 × 340 + 45 = 725
5 km + 300 m = 5.3 km
Lunch $14 + tip 18% = $16.52
$12 × 3 = $36
Start a line with “Remind me” and a time. Wisp shows what it understood, sets it when you finish the line, and brings you back to it with a notification. Tick it off when it's done.
Remind me in 10 minutes to check the oven→ 3:52 PM
Remind me Friday at 3pm to send the invoiceFri 3:00 PM
Remind me tomorrow to call mumsent 9:00 AM
Headings, lists, checklists, links and code look right as you type — and the file stays exactly what you typed.
# Trip
- [ ] Book the hotel
- [x] Renew passport
Pack the charger
scratchpad.md# Trip
- [ ] Book the hotel
- [x] Renew passport
Pack the **charger**
Point Wisp at iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Syncthing and your page follows you to every Mac — and to your iPhone's Files app.
Earlier versions are kept on your Mac. ⇧⌘↩ files the page in your Inbox and hands you a fresh one.
Eight fonts, light or dark, and as much of your desktop showing through as you like.
Tick a task, move a line, type today's date, find anything — without reaching for the mouse.
Shortcuts
#-- [ ]---:rocket:12 × 3 =Yours
No subscription, no paid tier, no account to make.
Open source. Read every line, fork it, build it yourself.
Trackers. The only thing it asks the internet is whether there's an update.
Your words live in one markdown file you can open with anything.
Wisp is free and always will be. If it's earned a place in your day, a coffee helps keep it going.
Install
One line, and Homebrew tells macOS the app is safe to open. Updates come through Wisp itself.
Questions
Yes. No paid tier, no trial, no account. Wisp is MIT-licensed open source, built and maintained in the open on GitHub. If you'd like to say thanks, you can buy me a coffee.
Signing an app with Apple costs a yearly fee that a free, open source app doesn't have. The code is all on GitHub to read. Installing with Homebrew skips the warning; for a download, open Wisp once, then click Open Anyway in System Settings → Privacy & Security.
Into one plain file, scratchpad.md, in ~/Library/Application Support/Wisp — or any folder you choose, such as iCloud Drive. Earlier versions and filed pages stay on your Mac.
Keep the folder in iCloud Drive and open scratchpad.md in the Files app or any markdown editor. Edits sync back to your Mac.
Only a check for updates to GitHub's public releases page, and the download when you choose to update. No analytics, no telemetry, nothing about your notes. The privacy policy lists it all.
macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple silicon and Intel. It's about a 1 MB download.
You'll know straight away whether Wisp is for you.