Yesterday a tiny Mac app showed up in my feed, and step 2 of the setup is where it gets interesting. It’s called PromptBar, and it lives in your menu bar instead of some notes file you can never find again. The author, a software developer posting as u/petrrohac on Reddit, built it because he runs the same handful of prompts every single day at work.
That’s the pitch. Here’s the twist: the app itself is dead simple, just edit a prompt and copy it. But the comments under the post tell the real story. Several readers pointed out that static prompts break down fast, because real work involves variables. Names, file paths, project details, all the stuff that changes every time you paste. The tool’s biggest strength, speed, is also its current limit. That gap is worth understanding before you build your own prompt shelf around it.
What’s new
PromptBar is free on the App Store, macOS only, and the author says it collects zero analytics. That last part is rare enough on its own to mention.
Three prompts from the author’s own daily rotation show exactly what it’s built for:
Create pull request
Code quality & readability review (reduce AI bloat, comments, useless tests)
Language simplification, give me the result in a human-readable form (short, focused, plain language)
Each one sits one click away in the menu bar, ready to copy straight into ChatGPT, Claude, or wherever you paste prompts throughout the day. No window to hunt for. No tab to reopen after a restart.
Compared to a notes app or a Raycast snippet folder, the pitch here is narrower on purpose. It’s not a prompt library with folders and tags. It’s a shortlist of the prompts you actually use daily, sitting exactly where your cursor already lives.
The twist
One commenter, u/Own-Case-9587, explained why the menu bar spot works so well. It beats a notes file buried three folders deep. It beats a clunky window that sits open all day and clutters your screen. Then came the real question: does it support any kind of token or variable?
Another user, u/my_new_accoun1, said it outright. Real prompts that do things are almost never static. u/Emotional-Row-5750 agreed, and stacked on a second request: a custom keyboard shortcut for quick save, not whatever default is baked in.
So the app that shipped yesterday is genuinely useful today, and the crowd already mapped out version two in the comments section. That’s the twist. A build ships simple on purpose, and the audience finds the next lever within hours.
How to build your own prompt shelf
Here’s the mini-workflow I’d run switching over from a scattered notes file:
- 📥 Install PromptBar from the App Store and pin it to your menu bar.
- ✍️ Pull your 5 most-used prompts out of whatever graveyard they currently live in: Notes, Slack DMs to yourself, an old Google Doc.
- 🗂️ Save each one under a short, scannable name so you recognize it at a glance under deadline pressure.
- 🔁 For prompts that need custom details each run, leave a clear placeholder like [PROJECT NAME] until real templating ships.
- Copy, paste, done. No more scrolling through old chat threads hunting for that one phrasing that worked last month.
Pro tips
- Start with your review prompts, not your creative ones. The code quality and language simplification examples above are the kind you run ten times a day without thinking, so pin those first.
- Keep placeholders in brackets and in caps inside your saved prompts, like [CLIENT NAME]. It’s a free workaround for the missing variable system, and your eyes catch it instantly before you hit send.
- If you work on a team, share your top 3 prompts as a doc before anyone installs anything. Everyone converging on the same PR-review phrasing saves more time than any single app does.
- Watch the Reddit thread for a few weeks. Requests for templating and custom shortcuts are exactly the kind of feedback that shapes a version 2, and early requesters usually get heard first.
One limitation worth flagging: this is v1, built by one developer, so don’t expect team sync or cloud backup yet. Keep a backup copy of your best prompts somewhere else until that changes.
If you’re juggling the same five prompts across ten browser tabs, this is worth five minutes of your day today. Go check out the thread, see what the community is asking for next, and grab the app if the menu bar spot clicks for you. 🚀
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Does PromptBar support variables or dynamic placeholders?
Not yet, the app currently stores static prompts. However, multiple users have pointed out that real-world prompts often need dynamic content like selected text, filenames, or context. This is a feature worth suggesting to the developer if you find yourself editing the same prompt repeatedly across different files or projects.
Q: Can I customize keyboard shortcuts?
The current version uses fixed keyboard shortcuts. Users have asked for the ability to remap these to fit their workflow better. If custom shortcuts would make a difference for how you work, it’s worth suggesting to the developer as a feature request.
Q: Why use a menu bar app instead of a notes file or document?
Menu bar apps stay hidden until you need them, so they don’t clutter your workspace like an always-open window or buried notes file. You get instant one-click access to your prompts, much faster for the copy-paste cycle developers do throughout the day.
PromptBar – a tiny menu bar app to edit and copy your daily prompts
by u/petrrohac in PromptEngineering