Backtick: Automatic Markdown Backticks

macOS utility • One-time purchase • Beta

If you write about code in chat, you’ve probably noticed how backtick formatting always shows up as an afterthought — something you fix after you send the message, or sometimes forget entirely. It’s not hard, but it pulls you out of the flow every time.

Backtick is a lightweight macOS menu bar app that ends that little annoyance. It automatically wraps code-like text in Markdown backticks with a single shortcut, so your messages look the way you meant them to without the extra thinking.

🛠 What Backtick Does

Select the text you want to format (or select nothing to format everything), press the shortcut (⌥⌘B by default), and Backtick automatically identifies and formats things like:

• functionNames
• variableNames
• --cli-flags
• /file/paths
• SCREAMING_CONSTANTS
• environment variables, versions, commands, and more

Because it works at the system level using macOS accessibility APIs, it functions in all the places you normally type text: Slack, Discord, Notion, browser fields, Notes, TextEdit, and more.

GitHub

Slack

📈 Works Well Right Away

Backtick handles the common patterns you use every day without any setup. Most code-like text gets formatted automatically and correctly the first time you use it.

If you want to tune it to your habits, Backtick includes simple customization:

• Always-format list — terms you always want wrapped
• Never-format list — terms you never want wrapped
• Toggle built-in tools on or off

But customization is optional. For most people, Backtick just works from day one.

🚀 Getting Started

1. Download Backtick.app and move to Applications folder
2. Grant Accessibility permissions (in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility)
3. Write normally
4. Press ⌥⌘B
5. Stop thinking about backticks

❓ FAQ

Internet required?
No — everything runs locally.

Already formatted text?
Backtick skips text that’s already wrapped.

Multi-line code blocks?
Detected and wrapped in triple backticks, with language hints where possible.

Is it perfect?
No. It’s a time-saver, not a mind reader — but it gets most things right out of the box.

System requirements?
macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or newer.

💰 Price

$5 — one-time purchase
No subscriptions. Future improvements included.

Perfect for anyone who talks about code — in chat, docs, issues, PR comments, or notes.