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Comment by gardaani | Hacker News Reader

Mac Quick Actions and Automator can be used for the simplest cases. I've build several file processing Quick Actions, which I can run by pressing buttons in Finder.

https://support.apple.com/guide/automator/use-quick-action-w...

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macOS Quick Actions (formerly called Services) are great, but I've always found them very cumbersome to use due to being relegated to the submenu. And having no icons, and a severe lack of customization and control over their order.

I recently released an indie Mac app to bring your Applications and Scripts to the top of the Finder right-click menu, customized exactly how you like.

https://servicestation.menu/

It's on the Mac App Store and uses the modern Finder Extension API, so safe to install and no Finder haxies.

One of the major features Service Station advertises is "Open Terminal by right-clicking the Finder!", but isn't this functionality already available in macOS via System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > Services > checking "New Terminal at Folder" under "Files and Folders"?

A feature that might make Service Station even more useful would be adding "New Text File" and "Rich Text Document" options, similar to the app "New File Menu"[0].

This is the second time today[1] I've seen a closed source project hosted at GitHub[2]; I had mistakenly assumed GitHub was for open source projects (like SourceForge).

[0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/new-file-menu/id1064959555?mt=...

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23020258

[2] https://github.com/knurling/ServiceStation/

Service Station pulls services out of the submenu and directly into the top level context menu, using a Finder extension.

Ah - thank you for explaining that. I have so few services enabled that “New Terminal at Folder” is in the top level of my context menu.

"New Terminal at Folder" does work if you right-click a folder... but NOT if you right-click the background of a Folder you already have open. That's the primary way I want to open Terminal.

But more importantly it's the UX difference between these two images:

https://imgur.com/a/pt3yQ2q

You can definitely already launch applications and scripts in macOS via "Open With" or the "Services" submenus.

Service Station moves them to the top of your right-click menu, gives them icons, and lets you completely customize the menu including targeting menus to show for only very specific selected file types.

> But more importantly it's the UX difference between these two images: https://imgur.com/a/pt3yQ2q

Thanks for explaining the difference. I have so few services enabled that “New Terminal at Folder” is in the top level of my context menu[0], hence my misunderstanding.

[0] https://imgur.com/ZrHVSPA

Built in "New File" functionality is definitely on the to-do list, and a very popular request from Windows users.

Running a support/issues website on GitHub without hosting the code is perhaps slightly weird, but it has been working well for me. GitHub does not mandate any licensing requirement.

Wow, this is awesome, and surprisingly easy to use.

I'd been looking for a simple way to run command like uptime or to get battery info not in the menu item without launching a terminal. Thank you.

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