Cleat Launcher
How Cleat finds apps, files and commands on a Mac, how frecency decides what comes first, and how aliases and per item hotkeys skip the search entirely.
The root of the palette searches five things at once: applications, files from the Spotlight index, Cleat’s own tools, your script commands, and window positions.
Ranking
Matching is fuzzy. xco finds Xcode, sfr finds Safari, vsc finds Visual Studio Code. Letters at the start of words and consecutive runs score higher than scattered ones.
On top of that comes frecency: how often and how recently you opened each result. The first time you type x you may get several things. After you open Xcode from it twice, Xcode is the first row for x from then on. Usage counts live in a local SQLite file and never leave the Mac.
Apps come before files, and files come before window positions unless the query is long enough to be clearly about a window.
Files
File results come from the same index Spotlight uses, so they appear without Cleat scanning anything. Folders, documents and projects show with their parent folder as the subtitle. Press ⌘ Y for Quick Look, ⌘ ⏎ to reveal in Finder, or ⌘ K for the full actions menu.
Aliases
Type sf and Safari opens, if you told Cleat so. Select any row, press ⌘ K, choose Set Alias and type a short word. Aliases always win over fuzzy matches. They are listed in Settings › Hotkeys.
Recents
With an empty field, the palette shows the tools you reach for most. There is no separate recents list to manage.
Keys in the list
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ | Move the selection |
| ⌘ 1 … ⌘ 9 | Pick a row directly |
| ⏎ | Open or run |
| ⌘ ⏎ | Secondary action, usually reveal in Finder or copy |
| ⌘ K | Actions for the selected row |
| ⌘ Y | Quick Look |
| Esc | Clear, then close |