Getting started

If you know how to copy, you can use ZenCopy. There is exactly one thing to learn — your usual copy, pressed twice, quickly. That alone makes a summary, a translation, an explanation, or a polished rewrite of whatever you selected appear in the corner of your screen. It works the same on top of any app.

What ZenCopy does for you, every day

• Select a long report or article and get just the key points, in a few lines
• Turn a foreign-language page or chat into your language, on the spot
• Have unfamiliar terms, error screens, or contract language explained in plain words
• Hand over a rough draft of an email or essay and get it cleaned up

The steps are always the same: select, then copy twice. No switching apps, no hunting for a place to paste.

What you need

1. A computer — ZenCopy runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux. (For what counts as supported Linux, see the FAQ.)
2. A Google account — you will create one long string called an “API key” to use the AI for free. If that term is new to you, don’t worry: this page walks you through it step by step.

Install

Download the installer for your OS from GitHub Releases:

Windows

Download and run ZenCopy_0.6.0_x64-setup.exe. You may see a “Windows protected your PC” screen. That is a one-time check Windows shows for new apps it does not know yet — choose More info → Run anyway.

macOS

Open ZenCopy_0.6.0_universal.dmg and drag ZenCopy into your Applications folder. On first launch, macOS asks once whether to open an app downloaded from the internet — choose Open.

Linux

Download ZenCopy_0.6.0_amd64.AppImage, make it executable (chmod +x), and run it. This is the format with in-app updates. ZenCopy_0.6.0_amd64.deb and ZenCopy-0.6.0-1.x86_64.rpm packages exist too, but updating those means reinstalling a new release.

When a new version comes out, ZenCopy finds it by itself and offers a one-click update.

Instructions for building from source live in the GitHub repository.

Prepare a free AI key

ZenCopy itself is free, but the actual summarizing and translating is done by an external AI — the same kind of AI you may already use through Gemini or ChatGPT. The key that lets your own app use such an AI is an API key — one long string. Think of it like a house key: it is yours alone, and you never show it to anyone. That is all you need to remember about it.

The easiest option is Google’s free key:

1. Open the API keys page in Google AI Studio and sign in with your Google account.

2. Press the Create API key button.

3. Copy the long string that appears (it starts with AIza…). That is your API key.

For personal use the free tier is enough, and it is completely free: unless you register a payment method, you cannot be charged. If you ever reach the free tier’s limit, nothing is billed — requests simply pause for a while. One thing worth knowing: on Google’s free tier, what you send may be used to improve their services (per Google’s terms). If you handle confidential work documents, switch to a paid setup or pick another AI or a local one.

First launch

1. Starting ZenCopy does not open a window right away. It settles into the small icon area at the edge of your screen (the bottom-right of the taskbar on Windows, the menu bar at the top on a Mac).
2. On the very first launch, a short welcome screen opens. Paste the API key you just copied and press Start with this key. Setup is complete.
3. What you copy is sent directly to the AI service you configured. There is no relay server in between, and no usage tracking.

To use an AI other than Google (OpenAI, Anthropic, a corporate gateway, local Ollama, and so on), choose Set up another way and pick it in Settings.

About permissions

Windows

Nothing to set up. It works right after launch.

macOS

On macOS, the app needs one permission so it can notice that copy was pressed twice:

• System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring — allow ZenCopy

It exists so the app can notice the signal — not so it can read your screen. After allowing it, quit ZenCopy once and start it again.

Linux

No permission prompts. On GNOME (Wayland), the first launch auto-installs a small GNOME Shell extension into your user profile (~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/, no sudo) — only something inside the compositor can detect a double copy there. GNOME loads new extensions at login, so log out and back in once after the first launch. Until the extension is active, the welcome and settings screens keep reminding you. On X11 it works right after launch.

Try it

Once you are set up, you can try it on this very page. Select any paragraph and press Ctrl/⌘ + C + C (copy, twice, quickly). The video shows it running on the text of a web page:

Everyday use

1. Select text in any app and press Ctrl/⌘ + C + C.
2. A popup appears in the corner of your screen and the result streams in.
3. The label above the result (“Zen”, “Translate”, …) is a switcher. Click it to run a different action on the same copied content. Results you have already seen are kept, so switching back is instant — only Retry runs an action again. Press the ☆ next to a label to make that action your new default.
4. From the popup you can Stop a running action, Retry, or Copy the result. Close it with Esc or a click outside.
5. Closed a result too soon? Show App in the tray menu brings the last one back anytime.

Four actions come built in: Zen (condense to one sentence), Explain (make it understandable), Translate (into your language), and Polish (clean up a draft). Adding your own takes nothing more than a name and a description of what you want done (see Configuration).

And it is not just text. Screenshots and copied files (images, PDFs, audio, text files) work with the same gesture. Before an image or another binary file is sent, ZenCopy asks you once to confirm.

Designed to be safe

• An ordinary single copy does nothing. Nothing is read, nothing is sent.
• Clipboard content marked confidential by other apps (password managers, for example) is ignored even on a double copy.
• Content goes only to the AI service you configured yourself.

Next

• Configuration: popup position, themes, and building your own actions.
• FAQ: costs, clashes with other apps, and troubleshooting.