Kapsicum for Software Developers
Your tools have search. But not across each other.
You have fzf for your shell, VS Code search for your project, Slack search for threads. Kapsicum doesn't replace any of them. It's the layer between. One search, every tool, full context.
Sound familiar?
Solutions span multiple toolsYou solved a problem across Stack Overflow, terminal, your IDE, and Slack. Each has search. None of them search each other.
Decisions made verbally, never documentedThe team chose Postgres over DynamoDB for specific reasons: latency, query patterns, cost. Those reasons were discussed in a meeting. Nobody wrote them down. Six months later: "I think it was about latency?"
Institutional context doesn't survive turnoverYour codebase has decisions baked in that made sense at the time. The reasoning lives in old Slack threads, past PR reviews, and conversations from before half the team joined. "Why is it like this?" Usually, nobody knows.
How Kapsicum Helps
Text CaptureCaptures text from any app at the macOS level. No extensions, no plugins, no shell wrappers. Works alongside fzf, atuin, and whatever else you use, adding the cross-tool layer they can't.
Universal SearchOne query, results from terminal, IDE, browser, Slack, and email. Filter with app:terminal or date ranges. Fuzzy matching. Sub-second.
AI ChatPaste a meeting transcript and extract the technical decisions. Summarize a sprawling Slack thread. Draft a design doc from scattered notes.
Real Workflows
Retracing a debugging sessionLast month you debugged a production issue across logs, terminal, Slack, and a PR. The fix is in git. The reasoning isn't. Search any keyword and see the complete trail: what you tried, in what order, and why.
Finding a decision's rationale"Why did we use WebSockets instead of SSE?" The decision was made in a meeting, refined in Slack, never formally documented. Search "websocket SSE" and find the original conversation: who said what, when, and why.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is this different from fzf, atuin, or shell history?
It's not competing with them. Use both. fzf and atuin are excellent for terminal history. Kapsicum is the cross-tool layer they can't be: browser, IDE, Slack, email, and meeting transcripts, all captured alongside terminal output and searchable in one query. Different problem.
Will Kapsicum capture passwords, SSH keys, or secrets?
No. Secure text fields (password prompts, SSH key passphrases, token inputs) are detected and skipped automatically. You can also exclude specific apps entirely from capture.
Does it require VS Code extensions, browser plugins, or shell wrappers?
No. Capture happens at the macOS system level. Any app with a text cursor is captured automatically. Your dotfiles, configs, and tools stay untouched.
Can I search terminal, IDE, browser, and Slack simultaneously?
One search. All of them. Filter with app:terminal or app:vscode to narrow. Date ranges scope to a specific sprint or debugging session. Results as you type.
