App Search

A tiny, fast, native macOS application launcher for people who only want Command-Space to find and open an app.

What it does

• Opens globally with Command-Space.
• Filters entirely in memory on every keystroke—no debounce and no Spotlight index.
• Matches word prefixes only: ala finds Alacritty, chr finds Google Chrome, and goo chr finds Google Chrome. There is no fuzzy or substring matching.
• Puts already-running apps first.
• Selects the first result automatically.
• Supports Up/Down, Return, Escape, mouse clicks, and scrolling.
• Scans /Applications, /System/Applications, /System/Library/CoreServices/Applications, and ~/Applications directly.
• Requires no Accessibility permission and collects no data.

Requirements

• macOS 13 or newer
• Xcode Command Line Tools with Swift 5.9 or newer

Install the command-line tools if needed:

xcode-select --install

Install

git clone https://github.com/artursapek/appsearch.git
cd appsearch
./install.sh

The installer builds and ad-hoc signs the native app, installs it at ~/Applications/App Search.app, and creates a user LaunchAgent so it starts at login.

Important: Spotlight changes

To give App Search exclusive ownership of Command-Space, the installer:

1. Saves the current Spotlight shortcut and LaunchAgent state for uninstall.
2. Disables Apple's known Command-Space shortcut entries (64 and 160).
3. Disables the user-level com.apple.Spotlight LaunchAgent.
4. Suspends an already-running Spotlight UI process until logout or restart.

It does not disable SIP, require sudo, delete the Spotlight index, or change unrelated keyboard shortcuts. A logout or restart after first install is recommended because SIP prevents removing an already-loaded Apple LaunchAgent from the current session.

Use

Press Command-Space, type a word prefix, then press Return. Up and Down change the selected result; Escape closes the launcher.

Uninstall

./uninstall.sh

The uninstaller removes App Search and restores the Spotlight shortcut and LaunchAgent states saved during the first install.

Development

make test     # run unit and performance tests
make build    # debug executable
make app      # release .app bundle in .build/
make install  # build and install locally

The project is a dependency-free Swift Package using AppKit and Carbon.

License

MIT