TinyMac

TinyTask for the Mac, 1:1.

TinyMac is a port of TinyTask 1.77, the tiny Windows macro recorder. It is not an app inspired by TinyTask; it is TinyTask: the same six buttons, the same settings, the same hotkeys, the same timings, the same .rec files.

If you just want TinyTask on your Mac, this is it. If you like TinyTask but always wished it did a few more things, there is TinyMac Plus: the same engine, with the extras people have asked for for years.

Install · Pick your version · Why 1:1 · TinyMac Plus · Usage

Pick your version

	TinyMac	TinyMac Plus
For	People who want TinyTask, nothing more	People who want TinyTask, plus the obvious extras
Behaviour	Identical to TinyTask 1.77	Identical to TinyTask 1.77 with every extra switched off
Recording engine	TinyTask's	The same, shared code
.rec files	Read and written byte for byte	Read and written byte for byte
Settings	TinyTask's [TinyTask] keys	The same keys, extras in their own section
Extras	None, on purpose	Editor, scroll wheel, custom hotkeys, panic stop, progress overlay, per-recording settings, screen scaling, menu bar icon, countdown

Both apps share one settings file, open the same recordings and can be installed side by side.

Install

Both apps are universal (Apple silicon and Intel) and need macOS 13 or later.

With Homebrew (easiest)

brew tap raffaelegnini/tinymac
brew trust raffaelegnini/tinymac

brew install --cask tinymac        # TinyMac: TinyTask 1:1
brew install --cask tinymac-plus   # TinyMac Plus: TinyTask plus the extras

brew trust is needed once: recent Homebrew versions only load casks from taps outside Homebrew after you trust them.

Homebrew puts the app in /Applications and lets macOS open it without the Gatekeeper warning. Update with brew upgrade --cask tinymac (or tinymac-plus).

Manual download

1. Download the latest release from the Releases page:

   • TinyMac-<version>-macOS.zip for TinyMac
   • TinyMacPlus-<version>-macOS.zip for TinyMac Plus

2. Unzip it and move the app to /Applications.

3. The apps are signed ad hoc, not notarised, so macOS blocks them the first time you open them. Open the app once, then go to System Settings › Privacy & Security and click Open Anyway. Or run:

   xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/TinyMac.app       # or TinyMacPlus.app

Permissions

On first launch, TinyMac needs two permissions in System Settings › Privacy & Security:

• Accessibility, to replay input
• Input Monitoring, to record input

Grant both, then quit the app (⌘Q) and open it again. TinyMac and TinyMac Plus are separate apps, so each one needs its own permissions.

Privacy

TinyMac asks for powerful permissions, so here is exactly what it does with them:

• What it records: key presses, mouse buttons and the cursor position (plus the scroll wheel in TinyMac Plus), and only while a recording is running. It does not record the screen, window contents or anything you type while it is not recording.
• Where it goes: the recording stays in memory until you save it as a .rec file wherever you choose. Settings live in ~/Library/Application Support/TinyMac/TinyMac.ini. TinyMac Plus also writes a small <name>.rec.tinymac file next to a saved recording, with its speed, loops and screen size.
• Network: none. TinyMac never connects to the internet; the only link it opens is the TinyTask website, in your browser, when you choose it from the menu.

The source is all in this repository, and you can build the apps yourself (see Build).

Why 1:1

Most macro recorders for the Mac are TinyTask-style: they borrow the idea and then do things their own way, with a new file format, a library, a timeline, an onboarding flow. TinyMac does the opposite. It reproduces what TinyTask actually does, down to the details:

• Same files. A .rec recorded on Windows plays on the Mac, and one recorded on the Mac plays in TinyTask. Positions are absolute, as in TinyTask, so clicks land in the same places only when both screens have the same size. TinyMac Plus can scale them (see below).
• Same speeds. ½x, 1x, 2x, 100x and a custom multiplier, with TinyTask's own rules (100x skips mouse moves the way TinyTask does, a custom speed of 1 plays at ½x).
• Same recording. TinyTask samples the keyboard and mouse every 10 ms; so does TinyMac. Recordings come out with the same events and the same timing.
• Same hotkeys. Ctrl+Shift+Alt+R / P, Print Screen, F8 or F12. Pause and Scroll Lock stop playback.
• Same settings. The same keys, values and defaults as tinytask.ini.
• Same Compile. Turn a recording into a standalone app that plays it and quits, like TinyTask's .exe.
• Same quirks. Even the odd ones are kept, because muscle memory depends on them. COMPATIBILITY.md lists them all.

The only changes are the ones a Mac needs: Option instead of Alt, F13/F14/F15 for the keys Mac keyboards lack, .app instead of .exe, and a native toolbar.

TinyMac Plus

Everything above, plus:

• Edit recordings. Change delays and positions, delete events, insert waits, trim the start or the end, speed up or slow down a part. No more re-recording a whole macro to fix one click.
• Scroll wheel. TinyTask never recorded the wheel. Plus records and replays it, trackpad scrolling included.
• Custom hotkeys. Any key combination for record and play, instead of the four fixed choices.
• Panic stop. Press Esc, or move the mouse, to stop a playback.
• Progress overlay. A small floating panel with the loop count, elapsed time and progress.
• Per-recording settings. Speed and loops are saved next to each .rec, and the loop count survives a restart.
• Screen scaling. Positions are scaled when you play a recording on a display of a different size. For a .rec made in TinyTask on Windows, Plus asks once for the resolution it was recorded on.
• Menu bar icon. Record, play and stop from the menu bar.
• Countdown. An optional 3-second countdown before recording starts.

Every extra can be switched off in Prefs › Plus Options. Files stay TinyTask files: the extra settings live in a small <name>.rec.tinymac file next to the recording, which TinyTask simply ignores.

Usage

Button	Action
Open	Load a .rec recording (O key).
Save	Save the current recording as .rec.
Rec	Start or stop recording. Default hotkey: Ctrl+Shift+Option+R.
Play	Play the recording. Default hotkey: Ctrl+Shift+Option+P. Press the hotkey again to stop. F15 (Pause) and F14 (Scroll Lock) also stop playback.
.app	Compile the recording into a standalone app. The app plays the recording with the current speed and loop count, then quits.
Prefs	Open the preferences menu (Return key).

The preferences menu contains:

• Playback speed: ½x, 1x, 2x, 100x or a custom value
• Continuous playback and the number of playback loops
• Record and play hotkeys: Ctrl+Shift+Option+R/P, Print Screen (F13), F8 or F12
• Always on top
• Captions
• Custom toolbar: a strip image with 7 sprites
• Website and About
• In TinyMac Plus: Edit Recording... and Plus Options

Settings live in ~/Library/Application Support/TinyMac/TinyMac.ini. The file uses the same [TinyTask] section and keys as the Windows tinytask.ini.

Build

The build needs macOS 13 or later and Xcode or the Command Line Tools (Swift 5.9+).

./build.sh     # dist/TinyMac.app and dist/TinyMacPlus.app, universal, signed ad hoc, plus release zips
swift test     # engine tests

The code is split so that the 1:1 promise holds by construction:

• Sources/TinyMacCore: the TinyTask engine, shared by both apps
• Sources/TinyMac: TinyMac, which is only the engine
• Sources/TinyMacPlus: the extras, which hook into the engine without changing it

Compatibility

COMPATIBILITY.md describes:

• the .rec file format
• the settings keys
• the behaviour TinyMac shares with TinyTask
• the differences on macOS
• what TinyMac Plus adds

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

TinyMac is an independent project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the author of TinyTask, and it contains none of TinyTask's code. TinyTask was discontinued by its author in 2020; the tinytask.net domain now belongs to a third party, so the links here point to the archived original site.