OpenAbi
The “Open with Code” menu your Mac never had.
Right‑click any folder in Finder → open it in VS Code, Cursor, Zed, Terminal, iTerm, Ghostty, or any app you like.
Website · Download · Report a bug
On Windows, VS Code puts “Open with Code” in the right‑click menu. On a Mac you get… dragging folders onto the Dock, or cd‑ing around to type code .. Finder's Open With menu doesn't even appear for folders.
OpenAbi fixes that. Tell it once which apps belong to folders (or to .md, .json, .xcodeproj, anything), and they're one right‑click away forever.
abi /ah‑bee/ (Turkish): big brother. The one who always knows what to do with your stuff.
Features
- ⚡️ Two‑second setup. OpenAbi finds VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, VSCodium, Sublime Text, Nova, Terminal, iTerm, Ghostty and Warp on your Mac. Click Add All to Folders and you're done.
- 🫳 Any app, any file type. Drag any
.app onto Folders, All Files, or a specific type like .md, .json or .xcodeproj.
- 🖱️ Right in Finder. Clean Open in Visual Studio Code items with app icons. Works on folders, files, multiple selections, and the empty background of a window.
- 🥸 Toolbar button. An optional mustache button in Finder's toolbar opens the current folder in your apps.
- 🗂️ Your menu, your way. Show items directly, or tuck them into a single OpenAbi ▸ submenu.
- 🔄 Updates itself. OpenAbi tells you when a new version is out and installs it in one click, so you never need to download it again.
- 🪶 Tiny, native, private. SwiftUI plus a Finder Sync extension. Signed and notarized by Apple. No accounts, no telemetry.
Install
Download: grab OpenAbi.dmg, open it, drag OpenAbi into Applications, and launch it once.
Homebrew:
brew tap firatmelih/openabi https://github.com/firatmelih/OpenAbi
brew install --cask openabi
On first launch, OpenAbi turns on its Finder extension for you; the green dot at the top of the window confirms it. Then click Add All to Folders in Quick setup, or drag in your own apps.
- Make sure the extension is on. Click Enable in System Settings… in OpenAbi, or go to System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Finder (on macOS 14: Privacy & Security → Extensions → Added Extensions) and turn on OpenAbi.
- Keep only one copy of OpenAbi.app on your Mac (the one in Applications).
- Still nothing? Restart Finder: hold ⌥ Option, right‑click Finder in the Dock, and choose Relaunch.
Use
| You add… | to… | Right‑click in Finder shows |
|---|
| Visual Studio Code | Folders | Open in Visual Studio Code on every folder |
| Terminal / iTerm / Ghostty | Folders | Open in Terminal, which opens a shell right there |
| Typora | .md | Open in Typora on Markdown files |
| Xcode | .xcodeproj | Open in Xcode on project bundles |
| TextEdit | All Files | Open in TextEdit on any file |
- Add a file type: type extensions into the field (
md, json, yml) and press Return.
- Remove an app: click the ⓧ on its chip, or right‑click the chip → Remove.
- Toolbar button: in any Finder window, choose View ▸ Customize Toolbar… and drag the 🥸 OpenAbi button into the toolbar.
- Submenu: turn on Group apps in an “OpenAbi” submenu at the bottom of the window.
You don't need to keep OpenAbi running. Finder loads the extension by itself, and changes apply immediately.
Updates
OpenAbi uses Sparkle, the standard updater for Mac apps:
- The app checks for updates automatically, and you can also choose OpenAbi ▸ Check for Updates….
- Since you'll rarely open the app itself, the Finder extension also checks once a day. When a new version is out, an Update OpenAbi to x.y… item appears in your right‑click menu.
- Updates are signed (EdDSA) and verified before installing, then OpenAbi relaunches. Homebrew installs update the same way.
OpenAbi only goes online to check for updates (the appcast.xml feed and release notes on GitHub Pages) and to download them from GitHub Releases.
How it works
┌──────────────────────┐ rules.json (App Group) ┌──────────────────────────┐
│ OpenAbi.app │ ─────────────────────────▶ │ Finder Sync extension │
│ SwiftUI + Sparkle │ │ context menu & toolbar │
└──────────┬───────────┘ └────────────┬─────────────┘
│ installs │ runs on click
▼ ▼
~/Library/Application Scripts/…/open-with.sh ──▶ open -a "<App>" <items…>
Finder extensions must be sandboxed, and a sandboxed process isn't allowed to ask another app to open your files. So the main app installs a one‑line helper script into the extension's Application Scripts folder. macOS runs scripts from that folder outside the sandbox (via NSUserUnixTask). The script is just open -a.
Your rules stay on your Mac in ~/Library/Group Containers/XQH36L7379.com.melihfirat.OpenAbi/rules.json.
Build from source
Requires Xcode 26 or later (the icon is an Icon Composer .icon). Sparkle is pulled in by Swift Package Manager.
git clone https://github.com/firatmelih/OpenAbi.git
cd OpenAbi
open OpenAbi.xcodeproj # then Run the "OpenAbi" scheme
For your own fork, set your team in Signing & Capabilities for both targets, and replace the XQH36L7379 App Group prefix in Config/*.entitlements and Shared/Rules.swift.
Releasing
- Bump
MARKETING_VERSION and CURRENT_PROJECT_VERSION (Sparkle compares the build number).
- Add
docs/release-notes/<version>.html.
- Build, notarize, sign for Sparkle, and write
docs/appcast.xml:
NOTARY_PROFILE=OpenAbi scripts/release.sh
- Publish the DMG first (
gh release create v<version> dist/OpenAbi.dmg), then commit and push docs/appcast.xml and bump version/sha256 in Casks/openabi.rb.
The Sparkle private key lives in the maintainer's Keychain (account OpenAbi). The public key is SUPublicEDKey in Config/OpenAbi-Info.plist.
Project layout
| Path | What's inside |
|---|
OpenAbi/ | The app: SwiftUI window, presets, rule editing, Sparkle updater, helper-script installer, app icon |
FinderExtension/ | The Finder Sync extension: context menu, toolbar button, daily update check |
Shared/ | Rule model and storage used by both targets |
Config/ | Entitlements and Info.plists |
Casks/ | Homebrew cask |
docs/ | The website, update feed, and release notes (GitHub Pages) |
Uninstall
Quit OpenAbi and move it to the Trash (or brew uninstall --zap --cask openabi). To remove its leftover data by hand:
rm -rf ~/Library/Group\ Containers/XQH36L7379.com.melihfirat.OpenAbi \
~/Library/Application\ Scripts/com.melihfirat.OpenAbi.FinderExtension
License
MIT © Melih Firat
