Show HN: SutraKey – A radial menu to download any media and web PDFs on macOS

halcyon-past/SutraKey

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Hold Shift. Set media free.

SutraKey (also known as Sutra Key) is an invisible thread connecting any highlighted text or URL to instant local media. Zero latency. Zero telemetry. Straight to ~/Downloads.

Download for macOSUniversal

$brew install --cask halcyon-past/tap/sutrakey

⇧ Shift+ Select any URL in any app to summon the wheel

0% Idle CPU

Zero background drain

100% Native

Swift 6 Concurrency

Zero Telemetry

Never touches a cloud

QuickTime Native

H.264 / AAC MP4

Experience the wheel.

Hold Shift and select any link. The pie dial appears directly under your cursor. Interact below to feel the contiguous 72° wedge physics and live downloads.

MP4

MP3

SRT

IMG

PDF

Move mouse or hover over any slice to preview the media conversion pipeline

5 Engine Slices • 72° Each

Get the highlights.

Crafted to feel like an organic extension of macOS Sonoma and Sequoia.

A strict bitwise evaluation monitors global events. If Command, Option, Control, or CapsLock is held alongside Shift, SutraKey immediately steps aside. Your muscular shortcuts remain pristine.

Ephemeral Presence02

Invisible until needed.

Consumes 0% CPU when idle with zero Dock presence. The menu bar icon appears strictly while an active task is running, updates live percentage, and vanishes after completion.

Pure Local Destination03

Direct to ~/Downloads.

Every video, audio track, subtitle, and PDF is saved straight to your native macOS Downloads directory. Zero cloud intermediaries, zero paywalls, zero telemetry.

Native Architecture04

QuickTime-native H.264.

Engineered with Swift 6 strict concurrency and custom FFmpeg H.264/AAC post-processing. Downloaded media opens seamlessly in QuickTime, Finder QuickLook, and iOS Photos with zero codec errors.

Five formats. Pure quality.

Five specialized media engines. Built directly into a single zero-latency pie menu.

Video (MP4)Audio (MP3)Subtitles (SRT)Gallery / ImagesClean PDF

Video (MP4)

Universal 4K & 1080p MP4.

Merged with native H.264 video and AAC audio for flawless playback in QuickTime and Apple Photos.

yt-dlp --format-sort vcodec:h264,res,acodec:m4a --merge-output-format mp4

Pipeline Specifications

Video CodecH.264 (avc1) / 4K / 1080p / 60fps

Audio CodecAAC (m4a) Stereo 48kHz

ContainerStandard MP4 with +faststart

CompatibilitymacOS QuickLook, iOS, AirDrop, Final Cut

Instant setup. Zero hassle.

Available via Homebrew or direct Universal DMG. 100% free, forever open source.

Recommended

Homebrew Cask

Automatic updates and seamless dependency management via Homebrew tap.

Direct DMG

Universal Disk Image

Standalone DMG bundle with embedded yt-dlp and ffmpeg binaries.

Download SutraKey.dmg

Open Source

Swift 6 SPM Source

Compile directly from source with zero external closed-source dependencies.