FinderTools

A macOS Finder Sync Extension that adds context menu items when you right-click empty space in any Finder folder.

Context Menu Items

• Open in Ghostty — opens a new Ghostty terminal window at the current directory
• Open in Code — opens VS Code at the current directory
• New Text File — creates Untitled.txt in the current directory (auto-increments if it already exists)

Requirements

• macOS 14.0+
• Xcode 16+
• A free Apple Developer account (Apple ID added to Xcode)
• XcodeGen (brew install xcodegen)

Build & Install

# Generate the Xcode project
cd FinderTools
xcodegen generate

# Build
xcodebuild -project FinderTools.xcodeproj -scheme FinderTools -configuration Debug \
  DEVELOPMENT_TEAM=<YOUR_TEAM_ID> CODE_SIGN_IDENTITY="Apple Development" build

# Install to /Applications
cp -R ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/FinderTools-*/Build/Products/Debug/FinderTools.app /Applications/

# Launch (registers the extension)
open /Applications/FinderTools.app

# Enable the extension
pluginkit -e use -i com.jacobmaynard.FinderTools.FinderToolsExtension

# Restart Finder to load it
killall Finder

Alternatively, open FinderTools.xcodeproj in Xcode, set your Team and signing certificate to "Apple Development" for both targets, and hit Cmd+R.

Enable the Extension

After launching the app for the first time:

1. Go to System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions → Finder Extensions
2. Toggle on FinderToolsExtension

Or use the command line:

pluginkit -e use -i com.jacobmaynard.FinderTools.FinderToolsExtension
killall Finder

Persistence

The extension stays enabled across restarts — the host app does not need to be running. Just keep FinderTools.app in /Applications.

Updating

After rebuilding, re-copy to /Applications and restart Finder:

rm -rf /Applications/FinderTools.app
cp -R ~/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/FinderTools-*/Build/Products/Debug/FinderTools.app /Applications/
killall Finder

Project Structure

FinderTools/
├── project.yml                                  # XcodeGen spec
├── FinderTools/
│   ├── AppDelegate.swift                        # Minimal host app
│   ├── Info.plist
│   └── FinderTools.entitlements
└── FinderToolsExtension/
    ├── FinderSync.swift                         # Extension logic (menu items + actions)
    ├── FinderToolsExtension.entitlements
    └── Info.plist

Adding New Menu Items

Edit FinderToolsExtension/FinderSync.swift. Add a new NSMenuItem in menu(for:) and a corresponding @objc action method. Rebuild and reinstall.