Switching apps by typing out letter hints? (like vim hop, or homerow)

[Oneechan69]

I would like a display of all my open dock apps in the middle with letter hints to type to switch to the corresponding app. To quickly switch between any apps in my dock without having to set hotkeys for each of them specifically. Hop.nvim & Homerow show hints, but homerow is slow to load them. Ideally something that looks like this:

 

[coolfactor]

Two options already exist for pure keyboard access:

• Cmd-Tab + Tab + Tab + Tab
• Cmd-Tab + Arrow Keys

Is your idea even quicker? I suppose you want to launch non-running apps, too?

Side Tip — you can do Cmd-Tab, and then Cmd-Q and it will quit the selected app without leaving your current app. Handy little feature.

 

[Oneechan69]

I want to switch to any open app with as few keystrokes as possible. A hotkey to open an app switcher > 2 letters to switch to a given app (the letters can be randomly assigned and not belong to the app name or title) > switch to the app without pressing enter. I don't wanna assign a bunch of hotkeys to specific apps that I don't use often.

 

[gregmac19]

I want to switch to any open app with as few keystrokes as possible. A hotkey to open an app switcher > 2 letters to switch to a given app (the letters can be randomly assigned and not belong to the app name or title) > switch to the app without pressing enter. I don't wanna assign a bunch of hotkeys to specific apps that I don't use often.

I don't use it myself, but Witch (https://manytricks.com/witch/) might be of interest to you.

You can use Keyboard Maestro to do what want to do, and the app is currently on sale for $18, down from $36. (https://unclutterapp.com/bundle/?coupon=DD-BLACKFRIDAY-2024&s=m3&co=but) I use Keyboard Maestro for lots of things, and it is a big time saver.

Edit: Now that I reread your post, I should note that I am not sure you can switch applications with Keyboard Maestro without hitting “Enter”.

Edit 2: If you use Keyboard Maestro’s (KM) built-in application switcher, then you can switch applications without hitting “Enter”. The KM application switcher greatly extends the standard Mac functionality described above by “coolfactor”. (Note: Originally, I was thinking of launching applications with KM using user defined macros activated by keystrokes. Although this is more in line with what the OP described, it would require hitting “Enter”, which he did not want to do.)

 

[Slartibart]

»Hey Siri, show me [name of running program]« allows for easy switching without moving a finger at all 🤓

 

[svenmany]

Seems pretty easy using LaunchBar.

LaunchBar Help

Under the Application Switching section.