Refuos

refuos - how you'd type "refuso" (typo) in a hurry. And that's exactly the problem it solves.

Real-time autocorrection for macOS, Linux and Windows. As you type, typos are fixed automatically in any application: Slack, browser, terminal, editor, anywhere.

How it works

Refuos uses Espanso, a free open-source text expander that intercepts what you type and replaces it instantly — no internet connection, no account required.

A Python generator reads words from the included dictionaries and automatically produces all plausible typo variants: adjacent-key transpositions, missing double letters, wrong accents, dropped characters. The output is a set of YAML files that Espanso loads and uses to correct text in real time.

Future-tense verbs and nouns ending in -ità are covered by explicit entries in the accent dictionary.

Examples

You type	Corrected to
acnhe	anche
comunqeu	comunque
perche	perche'
aggiungero	aggiungero'
cosnt	const
reutrn	return

10,500+ rules in total, zero latency, fully offline.

Packages

Three independent files. Install all of them or only the ones you need.

Package	File	Rules	What it fixes
Italiano	refuos-italiano.yml	~2,600	Everyday words: acnhe -> anche, comunqeu -> comunque
Accenti	refuos-accenti.yml	~4,800	Accents & futures: perche -> perche', aggiungero -> aggiungero'
Dev	refuos-dev.yml	~3,200	Tech terms: cosnt -> const, reutrn -> return

To remove a package, simply delete the corresponding .yml file from the Espanso folder.

Installation

1. Install Espanso from its website

2. Run:

   espanso install refuos-italiano
   espanso install refuos-accenti
   espanso install refuos-dev

3. Restart Espanso if it doesn't pick up the new rules automatically.

To install only specific packages, just run the corresponding command above.

Tip: Hub packages are updated manually and may lag behind the latest release. To install directly from GitHub (always up to date), use the --git flag:

espanso install refuos-italiano --git https://github.com/heavybeard/refuos --git-branch pkg/refuos-italiano --external
espanso install refuos-accenti --git https://github.com/heavybeard/refuos --git-branch pkg/refuos-accenti --external
espanso install refuos-dev --git https://github.com/heavybeard/refuos --git-branch pkg/refuos-dev --external

For alternative methods (ZIP download, one-liner scripts for macOS, Linux and Windows) see INSTALL.md.

Adding words

Words live in plain text files inside the dictionaries/ folder — one word per line:

File	What to put there
dictionaries/italiano.txt	Everyday Italian words
dictionaries/accenti.txt	Accented words, future-tense verbs, -ità nouns
dictionaries/dev.txt	Tech and code terms

For personal or stack-specific words that you don't want to submit upstream, use dictionaries/local/ — any .txt file placed there generates a private refuos-local-<name>.yml package that is gitignored and excluded from releases. See dictionaries/local/README.md for details.

To add a word, edit the right file and regenerate:

cd~/.refuos
echo"nuovaparola">> dictionaries/italiano.txt
python3 generate_espanso.py
espanso restart

Or open an issue — the maintainer will add it.

Updating

Re-run whichever installation method you used:

• Espanso Hub:espanso update (updates when a new Hub version is published)
• GitHub (--git): re-run the same espanso install ... --external commands (always gets the latest release)
• ZIP / individual files: download the new files from Releases and replace the old ones
• One-liner: re-run the same curl/PowerShell command

Requirements

To install:

• macOS, Linux or Windows
• Espanso (free, open-source)
• macOS one-liner: Homebrew
• Windows one-liner: winget (included in Windows 10/11)

To contribute or build from source:

• Python 3.9+
• Git

Contributing

Contributions of any size are welcome — from a single word to a whole new dictionary.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for how to get started. The short version:

1. Edit the right file in dictionaries/
2. Run python3 generate_espanso.py --check
3. Open a Pull Request

Roadmap

Ideas and planned improvements are tracked as GitHub Issues. Contributions towards any of them are especially welcome.

Some ideas under consideration:

• Additional language dictionaries (Spanish, French, ...)
• Domain-specific word lists (medical, legal, academic, ...)

Support

If you find Refuos useful, consider supporting its development:

License

MIT - Andrea Cognini