MacPad Pro

Extension-friendly macOS plain-text editor with downloadable Pro extensions.

MacPad Pro is the extension-friendly edition of MacPad. MacPad stays small and Notepad-like. MacPad Pro is where optional themes, tools, formatters, panels, and AI-agent workflows can grow without changing the simple app.

Features

• Plain-text editing with tabs, windows, find/replace, zoom, word wrap, status bar, and file save/open support.
• Language recognition in the status bar for common code and markup files.
• Syntax coloring for PHP and C-family files, including comments, strings, keywords, numbers, PHP variables, and PHP open tags.
• Built-in text commands: trim trailing whitespace, sort lines, uppercase, and lowercase.
• Extension Manager for downloading, loading, activating, deactivating, and deleting Pro extensions one by one.
• Script text-command plugins with manifest-declared permissions, required SHA-256 checksums, size limits, and an isolated runner process.
• Data-driven package resources with SHA-256 verification for extension-owned files such as theme definitions.
• Pinned GitHub extension catalog checksum so mutable catalog changes require a matching app release.
• Local-first extension behavior for clipboard, snippets, backups, versions, and document tools.
• Optional AI extensions that connect only to user-configured local or remote OpenAI-compatible agents.

Downloadable Extensions

Fresh installs do not activate downloadable extensions. Users enable only the extensions they want from Extensions > Manage Extensions....

Extension	ID	Menu	Notes
Document Browser	open-documents	Extensions > Document Browser	Detached, resizable, closable open-document browser.
Pro Themes	pro-themes	Extensions > Themes	Night, Paper, Terminal, Ocean, Forest, Sunset, Lavender, High Contrast.
Clipboard Slots	clipboard-slots	Extensions > Clipboard Slots	Save and reuse clipboard content across 10 slots.
Markdown Preview	markdown-preview	Extensions > Markdown > Preview	Detached live Markdown preview from selection or document.
Export Tools	export-tools	Extensions > Export > Export As...	Export as PDF, HTML, Markdown, or RTF.
Document Statistics	document-statistics	Extensions > Tools > Document Statistics	Word, character, line, selection, and reading-time report.
Diff Viewer	diff-viewer	Extensions > Tools > Compare...	Compare against clipboard text or another file.
Auto Backup / Versions	auto-backup	Extensions > Backup > Version History	Local timestamped snapshots with restore/copy controls.
Clipboard & Snippets Manager	clipboard-snippets	Extensions > Clipboard & Snippets	Detached panel for recent clipboard text and pinned named snippets.
File Outline	file-outline	Extensions > Navigation > File Outline	Markdown headings and simple code symbols with line navigation.
CSV Table Viewer	csv-table-viewer	Extensions > Data > Table Preview	CSV/TSV preview without changing source text.
Markdown Tools	markdown-tools	Extensions > Markdown > Tools	Checkbox, table, list formatting, ordered-list renumbering.
Encoding / Line Ending Tools	encoding-line-endings	Extensions > Text > Encoding & Line Endings	Show UTF-8 status and convert Unix, Windows, classic Mac line endings.
Focus / Typewriter Mode	focus-mode	Extensions > View > Focus Mode	Distraction-free editing toggle.
JSON Formatter	json-formatter	Extensions > Format As	Pretty-print JSON.
C/PHP Formatter	c-family-formatter	Extensions > Format As	Format PHP, C, C++, Java, JavaScript, TypeScript, and CSS brace-style code.
Title Case Command	title-case-command	text commands	Example JavaScript plugin command with checksum-verified package script.
AI Summarizer	ai-summarizer	Extensions > AI > Summarize Selection	Sends selected text to configured agent.
AI Code Explainer	ai-code-explainer	Extensions > AI > Explain Code	Explains selected code with filename/language context.
AI Code Refactor Assistant	ai-code-refactor	Extensions > AI > Suggest Refactor	Opens suggested refactor output in a new document.
AI Meeting Notes Cleaner	ai-meeting-notes	Extensions > AI > Clean Meeting Notes	Produces summary, decisions, action items, open questions.
AI Smart Search	ai-smart-search	Extensions > AI > Smart Search	Detached semantic search over open document snippets.

Extension Catalog

MacPad Pro publishes its downloadable extension catalog from this repository:

RepositoryExtensions/catalog.json

The app reads the raw GitHub catalog URL and verifies it against the catalog SHA-256 pinned in the released app:

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anvilfilbert/MacPadPro/main/RepositoryExtensions/catalog.json

When RepositoryExtensions/catalog.json changes, update ExtensionRepository.macPadProGitHubCatalogSHA256 in Sources/NotepadMacCore/ExtensionCatalogTransport.swift before releasing the app.

Each extension has:

• source code under Sources/NotepadMacCore/Extensions/<extension-id>/
• package manifest under RepositoryExtensions/<extension-id>/<extension-id>.macpadproext
• catalog entry in RepositoryExtensions/catalog.json
• runtime registration through ExtensionCatalog.default
• public-release verification through ./scripts/verify-public-repo.sh

Downloaded .macpadproext packages are stored locally in Application Support under MacPad Pro/Extensions. Packages are decoded and validated against the selected catalog entry before loading.

Packages can include extra files such as transform.js or themes.json. MacPad Pro downloads those files separately with size and timeout limits, verifies SHA-256 checksums, and loads active package resources only after validation. Script command packages must declare sourceURL and sourceSHA256. Pro Themes keeps its color definitions in RepositoryExtensions/pro-themes/themes.json so contributors can change themes in the extension package area.

Package manifests can declare packageFormatVersion and minimumMacPadProVersion; incompatible packages are rejected before loading.

AI Agent Setup

AI extensions require a user-configured local or remote OpenAI-compatible agent. MacPad Pro does not ship with built-in AI credentials. AI calls are explicit user actions and do not run in the background. AI Smart Search warns before sending open-document snippets to non-local endpoints.

Extensions > AI Agent Settings... includes provider presets:

• Local Ollama: free local models, no API token
• OpenRouter Free Models: hosted free-model catalog, OpenRouter token required
• Groq Free Tier: hosted free-tier inference, Groq token required
• Google Gemini Free Tier: Gemini API free tier, Google AI Studio token required
• OpenAI: OpenAI API, OpenAI API token required

Public hosted AI endpoints normally require tokens even for free tiers. The no-token option is local Ollama.

Documentation

• Plugin Author How-To
• Creating MacPad Pro Extensions
• Repository Extension Catalog
• Contributing
• Security
• Security Changelog
• Changelog
• DeepWiki

Build

./scripts/build-app.sh

The app bundle is created at:

build/MacPad Pro.app

Install it into /Applications with:

./scripts/install-app.sh

Create a release zip with:

./scripts/package-release.sh

Optional public release signing uses CODESIGN_IDENTITY. Optional notarization uses NOTARIZE=1, APPLE_ID, APPLE_TEAM_ID, and APPLE_APP_SPECIFIC_PASSWORD. Local development builds continue to use ad-hoc signing by default.

Verify the release path with public-repository checks, packaging, and code-signature checks:

./scripts/verify-release.sh

Release packaging writes:

dist/MacPadPro-<version>-macOS-universal.zip
dist/MacPadPro-<version>-macOS-universal.zip.sha256

Development

Run public repository checks:

./scripts/verify-public-repo.sh

Before pushing extension changes, verify:

• ./scripts/verify-release.sh
• ./scripts/install-app.sh when the local /Applications build should be refreshed

The GitHub Actions workflow template lives at docs/GitHub-Actions-CI.yml. To activate CI, copy it to .github/workflows/ci.yml using GitHub credentials with workflow scope.