Three shortcuts, no scripting
Record ⌃⌥⌘R
A short countdown, then every click, drag, scroll and keystroke is captured with its timing. Press again to stop.
Replay ⌃⌥⌘P
Plays the last recording with the original pauses, or faster. Repeat a set number of times or until you stop it.
Stop ⌃⌥⌘X
Works from any app, including full-screen ones. Holding ⎋ for a second or clicking the menu bar icon stops too.
Lives in the menu bar. No Dock icon and no windows in your way; a small Library window manages your recordings, with repeats, speed and a shortcut for each one.
Built for replays that do not drift
Playback is scheduled against a clock rather than by sleeping between steps, so the fiftieth repeat lands where the first one did. Before each click the cursor is moved into place and allowed to settle. Recorded mouse paths are replayed as paths, so apps that react to hovering and dragging see real movement. Parrot Macro also brings the recorded app back to the front and puts its window where it was, and warns you first if your screens or keyboard layout have changed since you recorded.
What it asks for, and why
- Accessibility
- Needed to move the mouse and press keys during playback, and to put the recorded window back in place.
- Input Monitoring
- Needed to see your mouse and keyboard while recording. The app walks you through both permissions the first time it opens.
Your recordings stay on your Mac
Recordings are plain files in your Library folder, and keystrokes typed while recording are stored in them as text. Nothing is uploaded, there are no analytics, and the only network request Parrot Macro ever makes is to check for updates. Mark a recording as sensitive and it cannot be exported. Passwords typed into fields macOS protects with Secure Input are never seen by the app at all.
Questions
- Can it wait for a screen to load, or react to what is on screen?
- Not in this version. Record generous pauses, or add an extra pause before clicks in the recording's settings.
- Why did my keystrokes not record in a password field?
- macOS turns on Secure Input for password fields and some terminals. No app can see those keystrokes; Parrot Macro shows a warning while this is happening.
- Does it work on a different screen layout?
- Clicks use the recorded coordinates by default. Each recording can instead scale to the current screen size or play relative to where the cursor is when you start.