Spotmoji

Find an emoji from Spotlight and paste it back into the app you were using.

Spotmoji is a focused, native macOS emoji picker. It indexes the Unicode emoji catalog with Core Spotlight, understands human searches like high five, coder, and face palm, and uses the system pasteboard to put your selection where you were typing.

Install

Direct download

Download Spotmoji for macOS

Open the ZIP and drag Spotmoji into your Applications folder. Spotmoji requires macOS 14 or later on Apple silicon. OmarKnows signs each release with Developer ID, and Apple notarizes it.

Homebrew

brew install --cask omarshahine/tap/spotmoji

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/omarshahine/spotmoji.git
cd spotmoji
./scripts/build-app.sh
open dist/Spotmoji.app

The build script uses Swift Package Manager and produces dist/Spotmoji.app. Sparkle is the only runtime package.

Use it

From Spotlight

1. Press Command + Space.
2. Type Spotmoji plus an emoji name, such as Spotmoji threads.
3. Select the emoji result and press Return.

Spotmoji opens invisibly, copies the emoji, returns focus to the app you were using, pastes, and quits.

With the picker

1. Open Spotmoji from Spotlight.
2. Search by name, shortcode, group, or related term.
3. Use the arrow keys and press Return to paste.

Press Escape or Command + W, or click outside the picker, to dismiss it.

macOS asks for Accessibility permission once so Spotmoji can return focus and send the paste command. If permission is not granted, the selected emoji is still copied.

Why Spotmoji?

• Spotlight first. Emoji become native searchable Spotlight results.
• Human-friendly search. Common aliases, related concepts, compact shortcodes, plurals, and small typos all work.
• Fast keyboard flow. Search, arrows, Return. No mouse required.
• Local and private. No account, analytics, or cloud service. Search terms never leave your Mac.
• Secure self-updates. When the picker is open, Spotmoji periodically checks the signed release feed. Sparkle presents its native update window when a new version is available, and the picker keeps an update button for reopening it.
• Native macOS. AppKit, Core Spotlight, and the system emoji font. Nothing web-wrapped.
• Small footprint. One native app, Sparkle, and the bundled Unicode catalog.

How it works

Spotlight query
      |
      v
Core Spotlight index  ->  Spotmoji searchable item
                              |
                              v
                     Copy emoji to pasteboard
                              |
                              v
                 Restore target app and paste

Spotlight does not allow third-party apps to embed a live custom picker inside its window. Spotmoji uses the two supported native paths instead:

• Individual emoji are indexed as Spotlight results. Selecting one pastes it directly.
• The generic Search Spotmoji action opens the compact native picker with the query carried over.

Design decisions

Decision	Why
AppKit instead of SwiftUI	A non-activating floating panel and precise keyboard focus are central to the experience.
Core Spotlight index	Emoji appear as native system search results without replacing Spotlight.
Sparkle for direct updates	Signed appcasts and EdDSA-signed archives provide a native update path without invoking Homebrew from the app.
Weighted local search	Names and strong human aliases outrank broad related concepts, while typo correction runs only when an exact search has no results.
Accessibility only for paste	Search and copy work without it. The permission is used only to restore the target and send Command-V.
Public GitHub releases plus a Homebrew tap	The source, signed binaries, and one-command installation stay easy to inspect.

Development

Requirements: macOS 14 or later and Swift 6.2 or later.

swift test
./scripts/build-app.sh
codesign --verify --deep --strict --verbose=2 dist/Spotmoji.app

The emoji catalog generator lives in Tools/generate_emoji_data.swift. Human search metadata is checked in as a generated resource so the app stays offline and dependency-free at runtime. Regenerate it from pinned Emojibase and emojilib versions with:

./scripts/update-search-data.sh

Third-party software and data licenses are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md. Release signing, notarization, Sparkle publication, and Homebrew publication are documented in docs/RELEASING.md.

Privacy

Spotmoji does not collect or transmit data. See PRIVACY.md for the exact local system features it uses.

Roadmap

Homebrew is the first distribution channel. A Mac App Store build is planned after the direct distribution flow is established.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.