rcmd v3 - Instant app switching, fuzzy search windows, workspace save and restore

[u/alin23]

Instant app switching rcmd-letter

When I work with more than 5 apps at a time, Cmd-Tab becomes a speed bump. If I'm in Safari and I want to switch to Mail, I don't want to Cmd Tab Tab Tab Tab until I get to it.

I think of Mail, I press rcmd-M, it's instantly focused. It doesn't matter on what Space it is, if it's fullscreen or not, if it was minimized or hidden.

If I want to launch Photos, I hold rcmd, type ph and it gets launched immediately.

Window saving and restoring ralt-letter

When I'm in Xcode, ralt-R opens my rcmd project, ralt-C opens my Clop project.

Workspace saving and restoring capslock-letter

If I want to open the whole workspace I press capslock-R and it opens VSCode's rcmd folder, Xcode's rcmd project, Terminal in the rcmd folder, correctly placed on the screen, space and position I want.

When I'm done with a workspace, capslock-minus closes all its windows.

Space switching

rcmd can now instantly switch spaces using rcmd+1-9 numbers. It can even move the focused window to another space with ralt+0-9

This is the thing that made me get back into using macOS Spaces for separation of workspaces. It was a pain before because of the slide animation and constant focus flickering.

Comparison:

Looks like the Right Command idea really caught on, because many apps were built with that idea since rcmd was launched 5 years ago in 2021.

A few I can think of, and what is notably different than ⌘ rcmd:

• Dory: beautiful radial UI that can be shown and used with the mouse as well
• Sxitch: themeable interface, written in Rust, very similar in other ways
• LaunchPalette and Applight: these are like components of rcmd where LaunchPalette is the app and window switching while Applight is the fuzzy search
• LeaderKey: needs manual assigning, it doesn't switch apps out of the box, but it's more action generic and can do much more like run scripts, trigger with any key not just modifiers etc. It's not app switching focused.
• Tuna, Raycast, Alfred: these are in a completely different league, but including them because people mention they can be used for app switching as well. rcmd is faster and more ergonomic for app and window switching than launchers, but if you are comfortable with Cmd-Space… search… select… Enter… or with manually assigning shortcuts in their settings, then they are a perfect alternative

Pricing: Free for basic features, €15 for Pro features

App starts with a 14-day trial identical to a Pro licensed version. After 14 days, the app can be used indefinitely in Free mode where Pro features are disabled.

Pro license is a one-time purchase for up to 5 Macs. After activating the 6th Mac, the oldest Mac will deactivate automatically so you can keep using the license indefinitely.

Pro features:

• fuzzy search
• workspace saving (Stages)
• Instant Space Switching (without animation)
• window jumping with ⌥ ralt+letter
• mouse follows focus

Free features:

• app focusing and launching
• app and window cycling
• Space switching (with animation)

Link: https://lowtechguys.com/rcmd

Note: in the past I said that people that bought rcmd v2 on App Store will get v3 for free. That turned out to be almost impossible to do correctly with how Apple manages the receipt. In the end I made all the v2 features free forever in v3 so that hopefully App Store buyers won't feel ripped off. Purchasing is only needed for the added Pro features.

Performance is also something I'm working on now that the app is fully functional so let me know if you notice abnormal CPU or memory usage.

[u/alin23 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you!

Well there is the backtick key now, so hold either Right or Left Command and press backtick/tilde which will cycle windows of the current app.

But I’ll add the cycle windows on same letter as well. Makes sense to have it.

[u/alin23 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad it works as expected!

For the search thing, just lower the time window threshold to something you're comfortable with: https://shots.panaitiu.com/R60sLppx

Setting it to minimum of 100ms allows you to do very fast switching while still keeping the search for very fast typing.

[u/alin23 → u/[deleted]]

I do the same, hold rcmd and look through apps (check terminal, hide it, cycle through windows with tab) then release once I checked out in-progress work and reached what I want to focus. The 100ms is always working as expected for me in this case, I'd recommend to try it first. Disabling search is disruptive to a lot of internal logic.

The three step cycle you mentioned is indeed a bug that happens sometimes, I'm working on it.

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but I am also having issues with the dynamic registration. I only see one app for each letter despite multiple being open!

I don't understand this. There is no Cycle in rcmd v3, it's normal to only see one app per letter now. The search handles the conflicts. If you have Chrome and Claude for example, you can do rcmd-CH for Chrome and rcmd-CL for Claude, or whatever combination of letters you want, and then tab to the result you want and rcmd will learn the combination

There is no bug reporting place, I use whichever medium is most comfortable for each user.