Calculator

Sums, units, currencies, dates and time zones, answered as you type.

palv0.2.0Productivitybundled

Install in pal

Ships inside pal. Installing puts an editable copy ahead of the bundled one.

Calculator: 12 usd to try at the ECB's rate; the reverse conversion is the second row
12 usd to try at the ECB's rate; the reverse conversion is the second row
Calculator: A day count, with the weeks and months on the right
A day count, with the weeks and months on the right
Calculator: 10:00 UTC in Tokyo, the full date there as the second row
10:00 UTC in Tokyo, the full date there as the second row
Calculator: What a result can do: copy, paste into the app in front, copy without formatting
What a result can do: copy, paste into the app in front, copy without formatting
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What it does

Calculator

An input palette: what you type is answered on every keystroke. Three parsers take the query in turn, dates and time zones first, then currencies, then mathjs for arithmetic and units. The result is the row's title, the query as it was understood is the subtitle (12 USD to TRY), and a second row carries another form when there is one: the reverse conversion, a fraction, the hex and binary of an integer, the ISO date. A query that does not parse lists nothing, so nothing flashes while you type; with nothing typed the palette shows three hint rows.

The calculator is an input palette, so its rows are never at the root: open it first (its row, an alias, or a hotkey), then type.

What works

kind expression result
arithmetic 2+2, 2^10, 5!, sqrt 2, 10 mod 3, pi 4, 1,024, 120, 1.414213562, 1, 3.141592654
percent 15% of 240, 20% off 80, 240 + 15% 36, 64, 276
bases 0xff, 255 to hex, 255 in binary 255 (with a 0b11111111 row), 0xff, 0b11111111
fractions 1/3, 0.375 0.3333333333 with a 1/3 row, 0.375 with a 3/8 row
units 5 km to miles, 72 f to c, 12 gb to mb, 5 ft 3 in to cm 3.10686 miles, 22.2222 °C, 12,000 MB, 160.02 cm
currency 12 usd to try, €12 to $, 1k usd, usd try the amount in the target currency, at the ECB's rate of the day
home currency 12 usd, $12 to home_currency; the home currency itself goes to USD
dates today + 3 days, 3 weeks from now, 25 dec 2026 the date written out, in 3 days on the right, an ISO row
counts days until 2026-12-25, weeks between 2025-06-15 and 2026-01-01 100 days (with 14 weeks 2 days · 3 months 9 days), 28.6 weeks
time zones 10:00 utc to tokyo, 5pm ldn in sf, time in tokyo the time there, the zone on the right, next day when it crosses midnight
unix time unix 1700000000, unix, 2026-01-01 12:00 to unix the moment written out, the current unix time, 1767268800

Currencies are the 30 the ECB fixes (USD, EUR, GBP, TRY, JPY, CHF and the rest); symbols ($ € £ ₺ ¥ ₹), names (dollars, lira, quid) and ISO codes in any case are understood, to, in, as and → join the two sides, 1k and 2.5m are thousands and millions. Zones are IANA ids, utc+3 offsets, the common abbreviations and 120-odd city and country names; ist is Istanbul, India is india. Locale sets grouping and the decimal separator both ways: under tr or de, 1,5 + 2 is 3,5.

Keyboard

Every result row has the same actions; a hint row has none.

keys action
enter Copy result, as shown (583.68 TRY)
cmd+enter Paste result into the app that was in front
cmd+shift+c Copy without formatting: no grouping or symbols (583.68, 1000000)
cmd+shift+e Copy expression = result
cmd+i The detail pane: for a conversion, the rate, its inverse, both names, the date and the source

Setup

Nothing to install. Rates come from the ECB reference rates through https://api.frankfurter.dev/v1/latest (no key, one fix per working day), fetched on the first currency query, never before. The first query without a cache shows a Fetching exchange rates… row and the next keystroke has the numbers; the set is kept in the extension's storage with its date and refreshed in the background once it is a day old, so the calculator answers offline with the rates it has, their date on the row.

Paste result is a synthesised Cmd+V, which macOS only delivers from a process on the Accessibility list; without the permission pal shows the system prompt once and a toast saying what to grant. Copying needs nothing.

Settings, [extensions.calc]:

key type default what
precision number, 2 to 20 10 Significant digits in a result; integers are never rounded, units and rates show at most 6.
locale text en How numbers and dates are written and how a typed number is read (en: 1,234.5; tr, de: 1.234,5).
home_currency text empty What a bare amount (12 usd) converts to. Empty: the currency of the machine's time zone, then the locale's region, else USD.

What it does not do

  • Crypto (1 btc to usd): frankfurter carries none, so it lists nothing.
  • Currencies outside the ECB set (12 usd to aed): nothing, or a No rate row once the set is loaded.
  • A trailing operator or an open parenthesis (1 +, (1+2): nothing until the expression closes.
  • Variables between keystrokes: x = 5 shows 5, but a later x is undefined.
  • 10x3 without spaces (0x would be hex); write 10 x 3 or 10*3.
  • Half-hour offsets as utc+5:30; use the zone name (india).

Platforms

macOS and Linux, the same on both. Paste needs Accessibility on macOS and wtype or ydotool on Linux; everything else is in-process.

Palettes 1

  • Calccalcinput

    Type an expression; the result is the row.

    • ↵Copy the result
    • ⌘↵Paste the result

Actions

  • Copy resultThe result as shown.↵
  • Paste resultInto the app that was in front.⌘↵
  • Copy without formattingNo grouping or symbols: 583.68, 1000000.⌘⇧C
  • Copy expression = result⌘⇧E

Settings

Extension, [extensions.calc]

precision
10 number

Significant digits in a result; integers are never rounded, units and rates show at most 6.

locale
en text

How numbers and dates are written (en: 1,234.5; tr: 1.234,5; de: 1.234,5). Also how a typed number is read.

home_currency
empty text

What a bare amount (12 usd) converts to. Empty: the time zone's currency.

Defaults shown. Change them in pal's settings window or in the config file.