Launching Apps & Workflows

Switching between apps usually means reaching for the Dock, opening Spotlight, or hunting through windows. KeyPath lets you skip all of that — press a key combination and your app, URL, or folder opens instantly. No mouse, no searching, no waiting.

What you can launch

Target Example What happens
App Safari, Terminal, Messages Opens the app (or brings it to front if already running)
URL github.com, google.com Opens in your default browser
Folder ~/Documents, ~/Desktop Opens in Finder
Script backup.sh, deploy.py Runs the script (with safety protections)

Setting up your first launcher

The fastest way to start launching apps from your keyboard:

  1. Open KeyPath — the keyboard overlay appears on screen
  2. Click the gear icon on the overlay to open the inspector panel
  3. Switch to the Launchers tab (bolt icon)
  4. Click Add Shortcut and choose what to bind:
    • Pick an app from the app picker
    • Paste a URL
    • Browse to a folder
  5. Click a key on the keyboard overlay to assign it
  6. Done — hold Caps Lock (Hyper) + press that key to launch

Screenshot Screenshot — Overlay header bar with inspector controls:

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  ·:·:·:·:·:·:·  (drag texture)     ● Base  ☰  👁       │
  │                                     ↑       ↑  ↑       │
  │                              layer pill  drawer  hide   │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Screenshot Screenshot — Inspector panel toolbar (tap the gear to toggle settings tabs):

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │                                                         │
  │     [ Custom Rules ]  [ Key Mapper ]  [ ⚡Launchers ]   │
  │                                        ^^^^^^^^^^^      │
  │                          ⚙ ← gear toggles settings      │
  │                                                         │
  │     [ Keymap ]  [ Layout ]  [ Keycaps ]  [ Sounds ]     │
  │       (hidden until gear is tapped)                     │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Screenshot Screenshot — Launchers tab with shortcut list:

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Launchers                                              │
  │                                                         │
  │  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐    │
  │  │  🧭  [ S ]  Safari                              │    │
  │  │  💻  [ T ]  Terminal                             │    │
  │  │  💬  [ M ]  Messages                             │    │
  │  │  📁  [ F ]  Finder                               │    │
  │  │  🌐  [ 1 ]  github.com                           │    │
  │  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘    │
  │                                                         │
  │  [ + Add Shortcut ]                [ ··· ]              │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

When you assign a launcher, the overlay keyboard shows app icons on bound keys:

  ┌───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┐
  │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │
  ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
  │ 📅│ 🧭│ 💻│ 📁│   │   │   │ 💬│   │   │
  │Cal│Saf│Trm│Fnd│   │   │   │Msg│   │   │
  ├───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┤
  │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │   │
  └───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┴───┘
  Bound keys show their app icon on the overlay

The launcher drawer

Click the drawer button (☰) on the overlay header to open the launcher drawer. It shows all your bindings at a glance, organized by type.

Screenshot Screenshot — Launcher drawer (slides out from overlay):

  ┌──────────────────────────┐
  │  Launchers            12 │ ← total count
  │                          │
  │  APPS                  5 │
  │  ┌──────────────────────┐│
  │  │ 🧭 [ S ] Safari     ││
  │  │ 💻 [ T ] Terminal    ││
  │  │ 💬 [ M ] Messages    ││
  │  │ 📝 [ V ] VS Code     ││
  │  │ 📅 [ C ] Calendar    ││
  │  └──────────────────────┘│
  │                          │
  │  WEBSITES              3 │
  │  ┌──────────────────────┐│
  │  │ 🌐 [ 1 ] github.com ││
  │  │ 🌐 [ 2 ] google.com ││
  │  │ 🌐 [ 3 ] dashboard  ││
  │  └──────────────────────┘│
  │                          │
  │  FOLDERS               2 │
  │  ┌──────────────────────┐│
  │  │ 📁 [ D ] Documents   ││
  │  │ 📁 [ K ] Desktop     ││
  │  └──────────────────────┘│
  │                          │
  │  [ + Add ]     [ ··· ]   │
  └──────────────────────────┘

Each row shows the key badge, the app/URL icon, and the target name. Click any row to highlight the corresponding key on the overlay. Right-click for edit and delete options.

Choosing an activation mode

KeyPath offers two ways to trigger your launcher bindings. You can change this in the Launchers tab settings.

Screenshot Screenshot — Activation mode picker (in Launchers tab settings):

  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  Activation                                 │
  │                                             │
  │  ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │
  │  │   Hold    │ │   Tap     │ │  Leader   │ │
  │  │  (Hyper)  │ │  Toggle   │ │    → L    │ │
  │  └───────────┘ └───────────┘ └───────────┘ │
  │   ^^^^^^^^^^                                │
  │   selected                                  │
  └─────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Hold to activate (default)

Hold Caps Lock (Hyper) and press a letter. The launcher layer is active only while you hold the key — release and you’re back to normal typing.

  Hold Caps Lock ──→ press S ──→ Safari opens
                     press T ──→ Terminal opens
  Release Caps Lock ──→ back to normal

Tap to toggle

Tap Caps Lock once to enter launcher mode. All your launcher keys light up on the overlay. Press a letter to launch, and you automatically return to normal mode.

Leader sequence

Tap the leader key, then type L to activate the launcher layer. This keeps Caps Lock free for other uses.

To change modes: Open the inspector panel, go to the Launchers tab, and click the settings button (☰) to access the activation mode picker.

Smart suggestions

KeyPath can suggest apps and websites to bind based on what you actually use:

  • Browser history — Suggests your most-visited websites as URL bindings
  • Recent apps — Shows apps you use frequently but haven’t bound yet

Open the inspector panel and click Suggestions to see personalized recommendations. One click to add any suggestion as a binding.

Pre-built starter sets

Don’t want to configure from scratch? KeyPath includes pre-built launcher collections:

  • Quick Launcher — Popular apps pre-assigned to mnemonic keys (S = Safari, T = Terminal, etc.)
  • URL Shortcuts — Common websites on the number row

Enable these in the Rules tab to get started immediately, then customize from there.

Tips

  1. Use mnemonic keys — S for Safari, T for Terminal, M for Messages. You’ll build muscle memory fast.
  2. Put URLs on the number row — 1 for GitHub, 2 for Google, 3 for your dashboard. Letters for apps, numbers for sites.
  3. Test before committing — Click the Test button next to any binding to verify it works.
  4. Check the overlay — When you hold Caps Lock, bound keys show their app icons on the overlay. Unbound keys stay normal.

Troubleshooting

App not launching

  1. Make sure KeyPath is running (green status indicator in the menu bar)
  2. Verify the binding in the Launchers panel — click Test to check
  3. If the app name doesn’t resolve, try the full path (e.g., /Applications/Safari.app)
  4. Check File → View Logs for error messages

Bindings not saving

  1. Make sure the Caps Lock remap rule is enabled (it provides the Hyper key that activates the launcher layer)
  2. Check that you’ve clicked Save after making changes

External resources