Open-source TextExpander alternatives

Espanso is a text expander, a program that detects when you type a specific keyword and replaces it with something else. That can save typing by expanding common sentences, provide system-wide code snippets, run custom scripts, insert emojis and act as a personal autocorrect. It is written in Rust and released under the GPL-3.0 license.

It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, with experimental Wayland support, and works with almost any program. Features include image and date expansion, shell commands, regex triggers, app-specific configurations and forms, along with a built-in search bar. Configuration is file-based using YAML, and a package manager installs shared packages from the espanso hub.

The project is privacy-first, working entirely locally with no tracking. It was created by Federico Terzi and is now maintained by a team of volunteers, supported by donations, with code signing for the Windows binaries provided by SignPath.io. Community help is available through Discord, a subreddit, the documentation and the issue tracker.

AutoKey is a desktop automation utility for Linux and X11. It lets users define abbreviations that expand into text, assign hotkeys to actions and write Python scripts that control the keyboard and perform other desktop tasks, which saves time on repetitive typing and routine operations.

The documentation describes an introduction and glossary, how settings are organized and moved to a new computer, common actions such as adding abbreviations, and an API reference that includes a keyboard interface with different send modes. The application is written in Python and offers both Qt and GTK front ends, according to the repository topics. The project seeks contributors, as the help-wanted topic suggests.

AutoKey is licensed under GPL-3.0 and runs locally on your own machine, with no cloud component. It suits Linux users on X11 who want something similar to text expanders and scripting tools available on other platforms.