The first thing a lot of Mac utilities do is ask you to open System Settings and grant Accessibility access. It is a reasonable ask for apps that need to watch every keystroke system-wide or control other applications - but it is also the first moment of friction, and the first moment of trust you are asking someone to extend before they have used your app at all.
An old API, on purpose
HyperKey registers its global hotkey through the Carbon Event Manager rather than a newer, higher-permission API. Carbon hotkey registration does not require Accessibility access, Screen Recording, or Full Disk Access - it is a narrower tool than the alternatives, and that narrowness is exactly what makes the zero-permission launch possible.
It would have been easier, in some ways, to reach for a more modern, more capable API and ask for the permission that comes with it. Capability is not free, though - every permission dialog is a chance for someone to say no, or worse, to say yes without fully understanding what they agreed to.
The rest of the app follows the same rule
App search runs from an in-memory index built at launch. File search hands the query to macOS's own Spotlight index instead of building a parallel one. Neither needs elevated access, because neither reaches past what a completely ordinary app is already allowed to do.
The most trustworthy permission dialog is the one that never has to appear.
The 64KB pipe bug that made file search feel broken
File search worked perfectly in testing and then quietly hung on real machines. The cause was a subprocess pipe filling up faster than anyone expected.
Why we used Spotlight instead of building our own file index
Building a custom file index sounds like the "real" way to do fast file search. It is also a second copy of your filesystem to keep correct, forever.
How I decide which app to build next
With one person and no investors, every app has to earn its place. Here is the filter an idea has to pass before it becomes a Flowstate app.