nikgrbn/finder-menu

Right-click menu for macOS Finder: New File, Open Terminal Here, Copy Path, Go to Parent Folder

Summary

Finder Menu is an open-source macOS Finder extension in Swift that adds right-click options Finder is missing: creating a new file, opening a terminal in the current folder, opening the folder in an installed editor, copying its path, and jumping to the parent folder. It ships as source plus a Homebrew tap, builds locally, and is MIT-licensed.

What it is useful for

The extension targets macOS engineers who want quick, context-aware actions on the current folder from the right-click menu. Documented items let you:

• Create a new file with any extension (for example notes.md or main.py); the file is created in the clicked folder and selected, and existing files are not overwritten.
• Open a terminal in the current folder, with support for iTerm2, Ghostty, Warp, WezTerm, kitty, Alacritty, or the default Terminal.
• Open the folder in an installed editor such as VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, Zed, Sublime Text, JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, or Xcode, plus an "Other App" picker.
• Copy the current folder's path, or the paths of selected items.
• Move up to the parent folder even when Finder's Back button is disabled, including windows opened with open ..

The README describes it as roughly 590 lines of Swift and 150 lines of shell scripts, with no networking code, and the Finder Sync extension is sandboxed.

How engineers can use it

The README documents two install paths. With Homebrew:

brew install nikgrbn/tap/finder-menu
finder-menu enable

To update: brew update && brew upgrade finder-menu and finder-menu enable again. From source:

git clone https://github.com/nikgrbn/finder-menu.git
cd finder-menu
./install.sh

Both flows build locally, install ~/Applications/Finder Menu.app, and turn the extension on. There is no app to launch; Finder loads the extension. The first time you use "Go to Parent Folder", macOS prompts for permission to control Finder.

Settings can be opened from Spotlight, the Applications folder, or finder-menu settings. The terminal can also be set from the command line, e.g. finder-menu terminal Ghostty or finder-menu terminal auto.

Documented limitations: the Finder extension is sandboxed, so it only reads the clicked folder and selected items; the build is signed locally rather than notarized by Apple, so macOS re-prompts for permission after each reinstall; if menu items do not appear, the README recommends holding ⌥, right-clicking Finder in the Dock, choosing Relaunch, and checking System Settings → General → Login Items & Extensions. Uninstall is finder-menu disable then brew uninstall finder-menu, or ./uninstall.sh from a source install.