HyperKey

Instant keyboard app launcher for Mac

Press a hotkey, and a small dark panel appears ready to type into - search installed applications with fuzzy matching, or hit Space to switch into file search and find anything in your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, or other standard folders. Everything resolves locally: app data lives in memory, file search uses macOS's own Spotlight index, and nothing is ever sent anywhere except an optional check for app updates. It's built for people who already think in keyboard shortcuts and want their launcher to feel like an extension of the OS, not an app running on top of it.

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For macOS power users · Developers · Keyboard-first workflows

Zero permissions

Fully offline search

Instant hotkey launch

Features · 006

Everything it does, nothing it doesn't.

Small on purpose. Each feature earned its place by solving something real.

Instant app launch

Fuzzy-search every installed application from memory and open it in a keystroke.

File search mode

Hit Space to switch from apps to files, searching your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, and other standard folders via Spotlight.

Smart folder shortcuts

Well-known folders like Downloads resolve to the top instantly, ahead of same-named clutter buried elsewhere on disk.

Fully custom hotkey

Bind HyperKey to whatever key combination fits your muscle memory - it's yours to set.

Menu bar native

Lives in the menu bar with no Dock icon, so it never competes for space or attention.

Launch at login

Turn it on once and HyperKey is ready the moment you log in, via macOS's native Login Items.

Two modes, one keystroke

Press Space, and HyperKey switches from apps to files.

One hotkey opens a single panel that starts in app search. Hit Space to drop into file search, Backspace to go back - a visual mode indicator always shows which one you're in, so the panel never feels ambiguous.

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The folder that's always right

Downloads shouldn't be a fuzzy match.

Type "downloads" and you want your Downloads folder, not a stray folder named "downloads-old" three levels deep. HyperKey resolves well-known folders directly, ahead of a general Spotlight search, so the obvious answer is always the first result.

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Questions

The things people ask.

Yes. App search runs from an in-memory index and file search uses macOS's own Spotlight index, both entirely local. The only network call HyperKey ever makes is an optional check for app updates.

No. There's no analytics and no telemetry. The only outbound request is the optional update check.

None. HyperKey needs no Accessibility, Screen Recording, or Full Disk Access - it isn't sandboxed but doesn't ask for anything beyond what macOS grants any app by default.

Locally on your Mac. There's no account and no sync server.

Apple Silicon and Intel Macs running macOS 14.6 or later, as a single universal binary.

No. It's Developer ID signed and notarized, distributed directly rather than through the Mac App Store.

HyperKey is ready to download.

HyperKey is a hotkey-triggered command palette that opens instantly, finds any app or file as you type, and gets out of your way - no mouse, no cloud, no permissions required.

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