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5.  Grab Text

AI & MCPLive

# Grab Text

Read text off the screen, an image or a PDF, on your Mac with Apple Vision. Plain text only; nothing saved.

-   grab\_text

[Try free for 7 days](https://clacky.app/try/)

![Grab Text in Clacky](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-tools-light.webp)![Grab Text in Clacky](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-tools-dark.webp)

## What it is

grab\_text reads the words in an error dialog, a slide or a photo of a receipt and hands your AI plain text, not a picture.

It reads an area you drag over on screen, or a file: a PNG, JPEG, HEIC, TIFF or other image, or the first page of a PDF. Recognition runs on your Mac with Apple’s on-device Vision.

Nothing is saved, nothing goes on your clipboard, and nothing is uploaded.

## How to use it

1.  1
    
    Connect Clacky
    
    Turn on Settings → Connect AI tools, add Clacky to your AI app, and leave Grab Text on.
    
2.  2
    
    Ask about the screen
    
    Say “Read the error in this dialog and fix it.” Clacky asks you first, then you drag over the dialog.
    
3.  3
    
    Or point it at a file
    
    Say “What’s the total on ~/Desktop/receipt.jpg?” Clacky reads the image and returns its text. The file stays where it is.
    

## Tips

-   Your AI can pass a language hint (for example German first, then English). Without one, Clacky uses your Mac’s languages and detects the rest.

## Questions

Is it the same as Grab Text in Clacky?

It uses the same on-device reading. Here your AI asks for it and gets the text back.

Does it read whole PDFs?

Only the first page of a PDF.

Related features

-   ![](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-capture-light.webp)![](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-capture-dark.webp)
    
    [Screenshots and recordings](https://clacky.app/features/mcp-capture/)
    
    Your agent can check a UI with a screenshot or record a short demo. Clacky asks you before every screenshot unless you say otherwise.
    
-   ![](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-privacy-light.webp)![](https://clacky.app/features27/mcp-privacy-dark.webp)
    
    [Private by design](https://clacky.app/features/ai-privacy/)
    
    Everything stays on your Mac and only file paths come back. No tool reads keystrokes, typed text or your clipboard history.
    
-   ![](https://clacky.app/features27/grab-text-light.webp)![](https://clacky.app/features27/grab-text-dark.webp)
    
    [Grab Text](https://clacky.app/features/grab-text/)
    
    Press ⌥⇧⌘T and drag over any text: a video, a PDF, a photo. Your Mac reads it right there and it’s on your clipboard.
    
-   ![](https://clacky.app/features27/connect-ai-light.webp)![](https://clacky.app/features27/connect-ai-dark.webp)
    
    [Connect AI tools](https://clacky.app/features/connect-ai/)
    
    Turn on Settings → Connect AI tools and add Clacky to Claude, Claude Code, Cursor or Codex with one line. For Claude Code:
    

[Everything in AI & MCP →](https://clacky.app/features/#ai-mcp)

## Make something on your Mac today.

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