Raycast

Raycast is the command layer for my Mac.

I was an Alfred Powerpack user for years before switching. It handled clipboard history, snippets, and a handful of small workflows well. But I kept a growing list of automations I wanted to build, and every time I sat down to implement them, it felt like a project. The workflows I wanted to create were either too complicated or clunky to build, and I don't like feeling constrained by the tools I rely on.

Raycast made custom automations easier to create. Its extension ecosystem is community-driven, and better aligned with how I use my Mac. Over time, there was no reason to keep Alfred open.

The goal with every tool I use is the same: reduce the friction between intention and action. Anything I do repeatedly should become a shortcut, a command, or a workflow. Raycast is where most of that happens.

Shortcuts

My setup is built around reducing tiny repeated actions. Some shortcuts control system settings, others trigger workflows I use while writing, creating, or cleaning up my Mac. The fewer times I have to reach for my trackpad, the better. I use the shortcuts below because I reach for them multiple times a day. The lower the friction, the more I actually use them.

I also use Quick Links for anything that needs a keyword rather than a key combination to carry out an action.

• start → open daily journal
• yt → search YouTube
• gh → search GitHub
• vpn → toggle Tailscale on/off
• lorem → generate lorem ipsum

Extensions

With extensions, I don't need to open an app to complete a task. The ones I use most are the ones that remove a context switch I was making dozens of times a day.

• Notion: Search pages and open them directly from the command bar. I use this more than I open the Notion app.
• Cursor: Jump straight into a recent project without navigating Finder or a recent files list.
• Arc: Manage tabs, close spaces, and navigate between spaces without touching the mouse.
• Kill Process: When something is hanging, I don't want to open Activity Monitor.
• Spotify: Play, pause, skip, and search without switching windows.

These are helpful for anything I don't do often enough to memorise a shortcut for, but do often enough that the friction of opening an app adds up.

Workflows

This is where Raycast is most useful.

Simple workflows open a page, clean up text, compress an image, or quit everything. The more useful ones set up an entire environment in a single step.

A deep work mode is the clearest example. Before I had it, starting a focused session meant opening apps one by one, remembering to turn on Do Not Disturb, finding the right playlist, closing Mail — and by the time I'd done all of it, the intention to focus had already been undermined by distraction. Now one alias does all of it: opens my task for the day, launches a focus playlist, hides Mail, enables Do Not Disturb, and surfaces the apps I need based on my calendar. The context is ready before I've had a chance to get distracted.

This is also where AI commands earn their place; improving notes, generating summaries, asking follow-up questions, and turning scattered thoughts into something structured. Tasks that used to mean switching to a separate chat window now happen inside the same flow, from the command bar with a few words or a shortcut.

The goal is to make repeated contexts easier to enter. Every workflow is an answer to something I was rebuilding manually too many times. Instead of reconstructing the environment each time, I trigger it and start working.

Here are a few examples of workflows I use daily:

Every time I find myself doing something repeatedly, I can simplify it through Raycast. Everything I access is faster, and everything I do takes less effort, when it's all a shortcut away.