0.1.0

macOS 26 and later · Build 1

Floe is a launcher for macOS. It runs Raycast extensions unmodified and opens things in the apps you already use. This is the first release, and it is early.

After you install:

1. Press ⌃⌥Space to open the search. Settings > General changes the hotkey.
2. Open the Extension Store from the search to install extensions.
3. Look at Settings > Privacy. Files, browser tabs, Shortcuts, Fast file search and currency rates are off until you turn them on.
4. If something looks wrong, open an issue.

New

Search

• One hotkey opens the search. It finds applications, extension commands, script commands, quicklinks and System Settings panes, ranked by how often and how recently you use each.
• Web apps, Finder and the apps in macOS's CoreServices folder are found too, such as Archive Utility. Two apps with the same name each get their own row.
• Scattered letters match, and the letters that matched show in a stronger weight.
• Aliases, hotkeys and favorites. Give an application or a command an alias or a hotkey. Emoji, Clipboard History, File Search, Search Menu Bar Items, Search Menu Items, Floating Note and the system commands take an alias and a hotkey too, in Settings > Commands. Favorites stay at the top.
• Scopes narrow a search to one place: files invoice, menu wifi, tabs invoice.
• A web address or a path typed in full leads the results. github.com/thaw-app opens in the browser. ~/Downloads is the folder itself, with the file actions. A file:// address opens its file or folder too.
• keywords or ? lists every word the search answers to, each with an example and what it does: remind call mom tomorrow at 5pm, timer 10 minutes tea. Type more to narrow the list. Return puts the keyword in the search for you to finish. What is switched off is left out.

Results and actions

• An Actions menu (⌘K) on applications and files: hide, quit, restart, force quit, show in Finder, open with, copy, move to Trash.
• Hide from Search takes an application or a command out of the search. Settings > Commands lists what is hidden and brings it back.
• The Up arrow brings back earlier searches: the last 50 that opened something. Settings > Privacy turns this off and forgets them.
• Optional search sources. Files and open browser tabs (Safari, Dia, Helium) add up to three rows to a search. Both are off until you turn them on in Privacy.
• Floe --pick lends the search panel to a script. It reads lines on standard input and prints the one you choose. A tab splits a line into a title and what is shown beside it.

Shell commands

• Type > and a command to run it. Return runs it in the background and shows the first line of output. Your shell aliases work. Settings > Commands changes the prefix to $ or !, or turns this off.
• Other ways to run it. ⌘Return opens it in your terminal, ⌥Return shows everything it printed, and ⇧Return runs it in the Finder folder in front.
• Suggestions while you type: earlier commands from your shell history, programs, paths, application names after open -a and hosts after ssh. Tab finishes the selected one.
• A command works without the prefix when it starts with a program on your Mac and has a flag, a path or a pipe in it. It is offered under the other results.
• Save a command under a name and the search finds it afterwards. man and a program's name opens its manual.
• Script commands. Scripts written for Raycast, put in Floe's Scripts folder, are in the search and take up to three arguments.

Checkpoints

• pause and a name saves what you were doing: the files and folders selected in Finder, the tabs of the browser window in front, and a note after a colon. pause website redesign: fix the nav next.
• Search for the name to resume it. Text and code files open in the editor you chose in Settings, other files in their own apps, folders in Finder and the tabs in your browser. Floe shows your note.
• Floe says what is missing when a file has moved or gone, and lists it. What is still there opens.
• Pausing again under the same name replaces the checkpoint with what is open now.

Receipts

• Floe keeps a receipt of what it changed: commands it ran, files it moved to the Trash, processes it quit and extensions it removed. Type receipts to see them.
• Return puts a file back from the Trash to where it was. If something newer is there now, Floe leaves both alone and says so.
• A command or a quit process cannot be undone, and the receipt says that. Settings > Privacy turns receipts off and forgets them.
• Notes and checkpoints leave receipts too. A note written to your folder goes to the Trash from its receipt if you have not changed it, and a checkpoint's receipt deletes it. A line added to the day's note cannot be undone.

Reminders and events

• remind and a sentence adds a reminder to Apple Reminders. remind call mom tomorrow at 5pm is due tomorrow at five, and the row shows the date before you press Return. Without a date in it, the reminder has none.
• Its receipt deletes it again. macOS asks once whether Floe may use Reminders.
• End the sentence with a list's name to put it there. remind call mom tomorrow at 5pm in Work, or list Work. The row shows the list.
• event and a sentence adds an event to Apple Calendar. event lunch with Ana Thursday noon lasts an hour from Thursday at twelve, and a day with no time makes an all-day event. Its receipt deletes it again.

Timers, people and controls

• timer 10 minutes starts a countdown. timer 25m, timer 1h 30m and timer 5 min tea work too, and a notification with a sound says when it ends. timers lists the ones running, and Return stops one. Timers end when Floe quits.
• contact ana finds people in your Contacts by name, with a phone number or an email address beside each. Return opens the card, and the Actions menu calls, starts FaceTime, writes a message or an email, or copies the number or the address. macOS asks once whether Floe may read Contacts.
• mail and message open a draft. mail toni@example.com the build is ready opens a new email to Toni in your mail app, and message +15551234567 running late a new message in Messages. Without an address or a number first, the draft has no recipient. Nothing is sent until you send it.
• Play/Pause, Next Track, Previous Track and Now Playing control Spotify or Music, whichever is open. Search for pause, skip, previous or what's playing. Now Playing shows the track and its artist. macOS asks once whether Floe may control the app.
• Toggle Focus, focus 1 hour and focus off run a Shortcut you name in Settings > Commands. macOS gives apps no switch for Focus, so the Shortcut sets it: Floe hands it the minutes, or the word off or toggle. Until you name one, the row says so and Return opens Shortcuts.

Processes and ports

• kill and a name lists the running processes that match, with the memory each one holds. Return asks one to quit. Force Quit asks first.
• port and a number lists what is listening there.

Extensions

• Raycast extensions run unmodified inside the app, including the ones Raycast already installed.
• An Extension Store page browses, installs and updates extensions. By @OwenCope in #6, with its look reworked by @unsecretised in #16.
• An extension's page in the store shows its screenshots, its categories, how many commands it has and whether it needs setup before it runs. Each command is listed with how it runs and the arguments it takes. Click a screenshot to see it larger.
• Lists, grids, details, forms, preferences and arguments work, and so do toasts, confirmation dialogs, and background and interval commands. Grids draw as tiles, and the arrow keys move through them. Passwords go in the Keychain.
• You add menu bar commands by hand, from the search or from Settings. None starts on its own at launch. A fresh install offers to add ready menu bar commands that are not already enabled. Commands needing preferences show setup guidance instead.
• When a command throws, crashes or hangs, Floe shows the log and lets you run it again.
• An extension that holds more than 1 GB of memory is stopped. Floe says so, and how much it held.
• A command can start another, with launchCommand or with a raycast://extensions/… link the extension opens. A link passes its arguments along.
• Extension actions include Open With, Quick Look, Create Snippet, Create Quicklink and Pick Date.
• Extensions read the browser tab in front in Safari, Dia, Helium, Chrome, Brave, Edge and Vivaldi, with no browser extension to install.
• An extension with a Swift helper takes a few minutes the first time, while Floe builds the helper. Extensions with Rust helpers do not run on macOS, as in Raycast.
• Extensions that read your clipboard history read Floe's.
• Raycast API compatibility lists what works as in Raycast, what works with a difference and what does not yet. In a test of 1,850 store extensions, 6,035 of their 6,052 commands built.
• An extension you are writing runs again when you save it. While one of its commands is open, a save under src or assets, or of package.json, runs the command again with the same arguments. A change that fails to build or load leaves the last working view up, with a toast that says why.

Extension settings and sign-in

• Turn off an extension, or one of its commands, on its page in Settings. Floe leaves what is off out of the search, and a hotkey, the menu bar or Shortcuts will not run it.
• Each extension's page has one line per command, with its alias, hotkey and switch. Y...