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Raycast

productivity

The launcher and productivity layer for Mac that replaced Spotlight for developers — extendable, scriptable, and genuinely fun to use.

productivity

About

Raycast is a Mac launcher that grew into a productivity platform. The core experience is fast app launching, window management, clipboard history, and a calculator — all under a single hotkey. On top of that, an extension store adds deep integrations: GitHub, Linear, Jira, Notion, Slack, Calendar, 1Password, Spotify, and hundreds more. The killer features are the extension API and the AI layer. Extensions are written in TypeScript/React and ship fast — many developers build internal team tools as Raycast extensions. The built-in AI (powered by your choice of provider) can run in any text field, summarize, translate, refactor code, and answer questions without leaving your workflow. Raycast is Mac-only and (in 2026) Windows is still in beta. For Mac users who spend their day in a keyboard-driven workflow, Raycast is the single most useful tool upgrade you can make in an afternoon.

Key Features

Fast launcher
Apps, files, snippets, scripts, and extensions — all under one hotkey, instantly.
Extension store
Thousands of community and official extensions for the tools you already use.
Window management
Snap windows to halves, quarters, and custom layouts without remembering shortcuts.
Quicklinks and snippets
Typed shortcuts that expand to URLs, text, or run scripts.
AI integration
Bring-your-own-key AI that runs in any text field — translate, refactor, summarize, explain.

Pros & Cons

✓ Pros

•Genuinely the fastest launcher on Mac
•Extension API is real — you can build your own in an afternoon
•AI features are useful because they run in-place, not in a separate app
•Window management is a built-in, not a paid add-on

✗ Cons

•Mac-only (Windows is in beta)
•Some extensions are abandoned or low quality
•The free tier's AI quota is limited; Pro is worth it if you use AI heavily

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