Getting started

Install Dabbit, grant one permission, pick your first color.

Install

  1. Download the DMG, open it, drag Dabbit into Applications.
  2. Open Dabbit. It lives in the menu bar, with the four-petal mark, and opens its library window the first time.
  3. Everything works for 5 days without a license; after that Dabbit pauses until it has a key. Buying one later doesn’t change anything you made. See License.

Dabbit needs an Apple silicon Mac (M1 or later) running macOS 14 Sonoma or later. There is no Intel build.

The first pick

Press ⌥⌘C anywhere, or click the menu bar mark and choose Pick. A magnifier follows the cursor; click on the pixel you want.

The menu bar dropdown after a pick: the color and its name, the history strip, Copy as, and the picker, library, settings and quit controls

The first time, macOS asks for Screen Recording access. That’s what lets the magnifier read pixels under the cursor. Allow it, then quit and reopen Dabbit; macOS only applies this permission to a fresh launch. If Dabbit isn’t listed under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Screen Recording, click + and add it from Applications. If you’d rather not grant it, choose Use Apple’s sampler (in the alert, or later in Settings → Picker): it’s the system eyedropper, no permission needed, but no loupe, zoom, or aperture either.

After the click, the color is:

  • copied to the clipboard in your default format (Hex, to start), and
  • added to Recent picks in the library, with the app it came from.

Change the shortcut in Settings → Shortcuts.

Where things are

  • Menu bar mark: pick, the last few picks, copy as any format, open the dock or library.
  • Library window (⌘-click the mark, or Open Library): recent picks, your palettes, and the two generators.
  • Color Dock: an optional floating strip of swatches that stays on top while you work. Off by default; ⌥⌘D toggles it.
  • Settings (⌘,): shortcuts, picker behaviour, formats, dock, color management, backups, license.

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