Macro Monkey Tutorial

Getting Started

System Requirements

macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
Accessibility Permission - Allows the app to simulate mouse clicks and keyboard input
Input Monitoring Permission - Allows the app to record your mouse and keyboard actions

First Launch - Permissions Setup

When you first open Macro Monkey, you'll be guided through granting the necessary permissions:

Welcome Screen

Overview of what permissions are needed and why

Accessibility Permission

Click "Open System Settings" → Find Macro Monkey in the list → Toggle it ON → Return to the app (it auto-detects when granted)

Input Monitoring Permission

Click "Open System Settings" → Find Macro Monkey in the list → Toggle it ON → Return to the app

Ready to Go!

Both permissions granted, start creating!

Important: You may need to restart Macro Monkey after granting permissions for them to take full effect.

Main Interface Layout

Sidebar (Left)

List of all your recipes organized by category

Detail View (Right)

Shows the selected recipe's actions and settings

Toolbar (Top)

Recording, playback, and new recipe buttons

Menu Bar Icon

Quick access to recent recipes and recording

Understanding Recipes

A Recipe is a saved automation sequence containing:

• Name: A descriptive title for your automation
• Category: Organizational grouping (e.g., "Work", "Gaming", "General")
• Actions: The list of steps to perform (clicks, typing, waits, etc.)
• App Target (Optional): Specific app to run the automation in
• Playback Settings: Speed multiplier and loop count

Recipe Structure Example

Recipe
├── Name: "Open Daily Report"
├── Category: "Work"
├── App Target: Safari (optional)
├── Playback Speed: 1.0x
├── Loop Count: 1
└── Actions:
    ├── 1. Click at (500, 300)
    ├── 2. Wait 0.5 seconds
    ├── 3. Type Text "daily report"
    ├── 4. Press Key: Enter
    └── 5. Wait 1.0 second

Creating Recipes

There are two ways to create recipes in Macro Monkey:

1 Recording (Automatic Capture)

Recording is the easiest way to create a recipe. Macro Monkey captures your actual mouse and keyboard actions.

How to Record:

1
Start Recording
- Click the red Record button in the toolbar, OR
- Use the hotkey: ⌘⇧R (Command+Shift+R), OR
- Click "Start Recording" from the menu bar icon
2
Perform Your Actions
Click where you need to click, type what you need to type. The app captures everything in real-time.
3
Stop Recording
- Click the Stop button in the recording banner, OR
- Use the hotkey: ⌘⇧S (Command+Shift+S), OR
- Press Escape key
4
Review & Save
A new recipe is created with your recorded actions. Give it a meaningful name and optionally organize into a category.

Recording Tips

• Double-clicks are detected: Rapid successive clicks become DoubleClick actions
• Mouse movement: By default, only clicks are captured (movement recording is optional in Preferences)
• Keyboard shortcuts: Modifier keys + regular keys are captured together
• Timing preserved: Delays between your actions are captured as Wait actions

2 Manual Creation (Building from Scratch)

For precise control, build recipes action-by-action.

How to Create Manually:

1
Create New Recipe
Click the + button in the toolbar, OR use File → New Recipe
2
Enter Details
Give your recipe a descriptive name and choose or create a category
3
Enter Edit Mode
Click the Edit button in the toolbar
4
Add Actions
Click Add Action button and select the action type from the dropdown
5
Configure Each Action
Click on any action to open the Action Editor. Set the parameters and use the Pick button for coordinate-based actions.
6
Save Recipe
Click Save in the toolbar to save all changes

Editing Recipes

Entering Edit Mode

Select a recipe from the sidebar
Click the Edit button in the toolbar
The recipe detail view switches to edit mode

Editing Actions

To modify an existing action:

Click on the action row in the list
The Action Editor modal opens
Modify the parameters as needed
Click Save to apply changes

Adding New Actions

In edit mode, click Add Action
Select the action type from dropdown
Action is added to the end of the list
Click on it to configure parameters

Deleting Actions

In edit mode, find the action to delete
Click the trash icon on the action row
The action is immediately removed

Using the Coordinate Picker

For actions that need screen coordinates (Click, Move Mouse, Drag):

Click on the action to open the editor
Click the Pick button next to the coordinate fields
A small coordinate display appears at the top of your screen
Click anywhere on your screen to capture that position
The X and Y coordinates auto-fill
Press Escape to cancel picking without selecting

Save

Click Save in toolbar to save all changes

Cancel

Click Cancel to discard all changes and revert

Action Types Reference

Macro Monkey supports 9 action types. Each action has specific parameters you can configure.

Parameter	Type	Default
X	Number	0
Y	Number	0
Button	Left / Right / Middle	Left
Coordinate Type	Absolute / Relative	Absolute

Use Cases: Clicking buttons, selecting menu items, clicking links

Parameter	Type	Default
X	Number	0
Y	Number	0
Coordinate Type	Absolute / Relative	Absolute

Use Cases: Opening files/folders, selecting words in text, launching apps from desktop

Parameter	Type	Default
X	Number	0
Y	Number	0
Coordinate Type	Absolute / Relative	Absolute

Use Cases: Opening context menus, copy/paste via menu, accessing additional options

Parameter	Type	Default
Text	String	(empty)
Type Speed	Instant / Fast / Normal / Slow	Normal

Speed Options:

Instant: All text appears immediately (fastest)
Fast: Quick typing with minimal delay
Normal: Human-like typing speed
Slow: Deliberate, slow typing

Use Cases: Filling forms, entering search queries, writing email content, entering credentials

Parameter	Type	Default
Key Code	Number	0
Modifiers	⌘ Command, ⌥ Option, ⌃ Control, ⇧ Shift	(none)

Common Key Codes:

Return/Enter: 36

Tab: 48

Space: 49

Delete: 51

Escape: 53

Arrow Up: 126

Arrow Down: 125

Arrow Left: 123

Arrow Right: 124

A: 0, C: 8, V: 9, X: 7, Z: 6, S: 1

Use Cases: Keyboard shortcuts (⌘C copy, ⌘V paste), pressing Enter, navigation with arrow keys

Parameter	Type	Default
Duration	Number (seconds, 0.1 to 60+)	1.0

Tips:

• Start with longer waits and reduce if automation is stable
• Web pages often need 1-3 second waits after navigation
• Dialog boxes may need 0.5-1 second waits to appear

Use Cases: Waiting for pages to load, giving apps time to respond, creating realistic timing

Parameter	Type	Default
X	Number	0
Y	Number	0
Smooth	Boolean	true
Coordinate Type	Absolute / Relative	Absolute

Use Cases: Hovering to reveal tooltips, positioning before clicking, triggering hover effects

Parameter	Type	Default
Start X	Number	0
Start Y	Number	0
End X	Number	0
End Y	Number	0
Duration	Number (seconds)	0.5
Coordinate Type	Absolute / Relative	Absolute

Use Cases: Dragging files, moving windows, selecting text, drawing, slider adjustments

Parameter	Type	Default
Delta X	Number	0
Delta Y	Number	0
X (optional)	Number	(current position)
Y (optional)	Number	(current position)

Scroll Direction:

• Delta Y positive: Scroll UP (content moves down)
• Delta Y negative: Scroll DOWN (content moves up)
• Delta X positive: Scroll RIGHT
• Delta X negative: Scroll LEFT

Use Cases: Scrolling web pages, scrolling lists, horizontal scrolling in spreadsheets

App Targeting

App Targeting allows you to specify which application a recipe should run in. When you play a recipe with an app target:

Macro Monkey brings the target app to the foreground
Then executes all the actions
Your clicks and keystrokes go to the correct application

Setting an App Target

1. Open a recipe in edit mode
2. In Settings, find "Target App"
3. Click "Any App" (or current target)
4. Select the desired application from the picker
5. Click to confirm

App Target Picker Shows

• App icon
• App name
• Active indicator (green dot for frontmost app)
• Search bar to filter apps

Tips for App Targeting

• Target app must be running when you play the recipe
• If the target app isn't running, playback will fail
• App targeting works best with coordinate-based actions
• Test your recipe after setting a target to ensure coordinates align

Playback Settings

Speed Multiplier

Controls how fast the recipe plays back.

0.25x 0.5x 1.0x 1.5x 2.0x 4.0x

Loop Count

How many times to repeat the recipe.

• 1: Run once
• 2-10: Run multiple times
• Custom: Enter any number

Emergency Stop

Press Escape at any time during playback to immediately stop.

Playback Controls

During playback, a banner appears with:

Progress bar: Shows completion percentage

Current action: What's executing now

Pause button: Temporarily pause execution

Stop button: Cancel playback entirely

Example Recipes

Example 1: Daily Website Check

Goal: Open browser, navigate to a website, log in

Recipe: "Morning Website Login" • Category: Work • App Target: Safari

1. Click at (100, 50)        → Click URL bar
2. Wait 0.3 seconds
3. Type Text: "https://example.com/login"
4. Press Key: Return
5. Wait 2.0 seconds          → Wait for page load
6. Click at (400, 300)       → Click username field
7. Type Text: "myusername"
8. Press Key: Tab            → Move to password field
9. Type Text: "mypassword"
10. Click at (400, 450)      → Click login button

Example 2: Copy-Paste Workflow

Goal: Copy text from one app, paste into another

Recipe: "Copy to Notes" • Category: Productivity

1. Press Key: A, Modifiers: [Command]     → Select All
2. Press Key: C, Modifiers: [Command]     → Copy
3. Wait 0.5 seconds
4. Press Key: Tab, Modifiers: [Command]   → Switch apps
5. Wait 0.3 seconds
6. Press Key: V, Modifiers: [Command]     → Paste

Example 3: Form Filling

Goal: Fill out a multi-field form

Recipe: "Fill Contact Form" • Category: Work • App Target: Chrome

1. Click at (300, 200)       → Name field
2. Type Text: "John Doe", Speed: Normal
3. Press Key: Tab
4. Type Text: "[email protected]"
5. Press Key: Tab
6. Type Text: "555-123-4567"
7. Press Key: Tab
8. Type Text: "Hello, I would like to inquire about..."
9. Wait 0.5 seconds
10. Click at (300, 500)      → Submit button

Example 4: Screenshot Workflow

Goal: Take screenshot and save

Recipe: "Quick Screenshot" • Category: Utilities

1. Press Key: 3, Modifiers: [Command, Shift]  → Screenshot
2. Wait 1.0 second                             → Wait for save

Frequently Asked Questions

Screen coordinates can shift if:

• Display resolution changed
• External monitor added/removed
• App window moved since recording

Solution: Use the coordinate picker to update coordinates, or re-record the recipe.

Yes, Macro Monkey works with Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and any browser. Just set the browser as your app target.

Common causes:

• Timing issues: Add longer Wait actions
• Different app states: Ensure app is in expected state
• Speed too fast: Reduce playback speed

Recipes are stored locally on your Mac. Nothing is sent to external servers. The app requires Accessibility permissions to function, which is standard for automation tools.

Yes! Use File → Export Recipe to save as a .mmrecipe file that can be imported on another Mac.