Pinza

Copy what you're looking at.

One keyboard shortcut. Pinza puts the most useful reference for whatever app you're in straight on your clipboard: the URL of your Safari tab, the path of your selected Finder file, a deep-link to your Mail thread. Paste anywhere.

Pinza's copy confirmation card after copying a song: album art and title for 'Forgiven' by The Space Brothers, the song.link URL that is now on the clipboard, and three buttons — Copy as, Remind me, and Remove from History.

Notarized DMG. Auto-updates. No account, no subscription.

How it works

Three things, in order

  1. Press . in any app. The shortcut is re-mappable. There's a second one for file references.
  2. Pinza reads the frontmost app. Each app is handled the right way for that app — a browser gives its tab URL, Finder the selected file's path, Notes a deep-link that reopens the note.
  3. The right reference is on your clipboard. A small confirmation shows what was copied. Paste it into your PR, ticket, message, or doc.
Press once — this is what lands on your clipboard
Safari https://developer.apple.com/documentation/appkit/nspanel
Finder ~/Projects/pitch-deck/final-v3.key
Mail message://<A1B2…@mail.example> — reopens the exact thread
Terminal ssh://demo@build-server ~/deploy
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/track/4uLU6hMC…
YouTube https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ?t=1m42s — with the playhead
Coverage

One shortcut. 35+ apps.

Each app handled the way that app deserves — not a generic AppleScript sweep.

Browsers

  • Safari
  • Chrome, Edge, Brave, Vivaldi
  • Arc, Zen, Firefox

Terminals

  • Terminal, iTerm2
  • Warp, Ghostty
  • kitty, Alacritty

Editors & IDEs

  • VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf
  • Xcode
  • JetBrains IDEs

Mail & notes

  • Mail, Mimestream
  • Notes, Bear, Obsidian
  • Notion, Slack

Media

  • Apple Music, Spotify
  • Podcasts, Apple TV, Infuse
  • YouTube — with the playhead

Files & system

  • Finder, Preview, Skim
  • Reminders, Things 3, Calendar
  • System Settings, App Store
Character

Stays out of your way

Lives in the menu bar. No Dock icon. One keyboard shortcut, re-mappable. A recents list when you want to go back to something you copied earlier. That's the whole product.

Privacy

Your links stay on your Mac

Pinza reads the frontmost app only when you press the shortcut. Your history lives in an encrypted database on your Mac — AES-256, key in your Keychain. Crash reporting is off by default. No account, no analytics, no tracking.

Read the full privacy policy — it lists every network connection the app can make, and how to turn each one off.

Free vs Pro

Free for the core. Pro for the power.

The free tier is the real product — every app, both shortcuts, forever. Pinza Pro adds the workflow upgrades.

Feature Pinza free Pinza Pro $9.99 one-time
All 35+ app integrations Included Included
Copy Link + Copy File Reference shortcuts Included Included
Recents history Last 25 items Unlimited, kept forever
Recently Deleted Bin, protected by Touch ID Included
MCP server — your pins available to Claude and other MCP clients, local-only Included
Macs per license Unlimited installs Up to 5
Updates All 1.x releases All 1.x releases

Checkout by Gumroad. Your license key arrives by email; paste it into Settings → Pro. 14-day refunds, no questions asked.

Questions

FAQ

Is there a subscription?

No. Pinza Pro is $9.99, once. Every 1.x update is free. If a 2.0 ever ships as a paid upgrade, 1.x customers get 50% off.

How many Macs does one license cover?

Five. Deactivate a Mac from Settings → Pro to free a seat.

What stays free?

Everything that makes Pinza Pinza: all app integrations, both shortcuts, the recents popover with your last 25 items, and all 1.x updates. The free tier is not a trial.

Why does Pinza ask for the Accessibility permission?

Reading the frontmost app's state — the tab URL, the selected file — uses macOS accessibility APIs and AppleScript. That's the entire use: read on shortcut press, never in the background. The privacy policy has the details.

Apple Silicon or Intel?

Pinza is a universal binary and runs natively on both. It needs macOS 14 Sonoma or newer.

Where is my data?

On your Mac, in an encrypted SQLite database under ~/Library/Application Support/Pinza/. The encryption key lives in your Keychain and never leaves the device.

What's the refund policy?

14 days, no questions asked — through Gumroad or by emailing hello@pinza.app.

Why isn't Pinza in the Mac App Store?

The App Store sandbox forbids apps that read other apps' state — which is Pinza's entire job. Every comparable utility (Alfred, Keyboard Maestro, Bartender, Hookmark) distributes directly for the same reason. Pinza is notarized by Apple and updates itself securely via Sparkle.