This Free Tool Can Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to Almost Anything on Your Mac
The Leader Key is a popular concept in programming and essentially works like a hotkey. In the old VIM text editor, the leader key is a run shortcut, the first button to launch a special command. For example, this is similar to how you can enter the “#” key on your TV remote before pressing the code to enter a hidden menu. Now The Leader Key Mac app brings the same concept to your entire Mac.
You press a predefined key combination and then a single key to quickly perform a designated action. In practice, this means you can press the globe and right-click Command followed by S to quickly open the Safari browser. These are similar to the default keyboard shortcuts you’re probably already used to, but much more customizable and versatile.
Of course, you can do the same thing using a variety of keyboard launchers like Raycast or even Spotlight Search. But Leader Key is fast. Lightning fast. With just two keystrokes, your app will open, boom. And it’s not just limited to apps. You can use it to open URLs (works with any application that exposes URLs to third party applications) and run commands or scripts. Essentially, everything on your Mac is just a few keystrokes away.
The application is free and open source. It takes a little time to set everything up the way you like it, but it’s worth it.
How to Create Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts Using Leader Key
After installing and activating Leader Key, you will find it in the menu bar. Click on the icon in the menu bar (it looks like a square with a dot in the middle) and select the Settings icon. Here, select the button combination that will be used for the quick launch (or master key) and enable the application when you log in.
Next, start by creating some actions. Ideally, you’ll use the Leader Key to launch a lot of different apps, so assigning the “S” key to both Slack and Safari won’t work. Groups can help with this. First, click “Add Group” and assign a key to that group. For example, I’ll create a group called “Browsers” and assign it “B”.
In the new group, click Add Action . Then assign a key to this action.
For example, I will use “F” to open Firefox. Then select “Application” from the drop-down menu. Then click the Select button, in Finder, select the app you want to match, and click Open .
Now repeat this process to add additional actions to the group (for example, adding all the browsers you switch between ) or create global actions. You can also use it to open folders directly (a quick way to open project folders that you use frequently).
After completing the settings, click the “Save to File” button to save all settings. You can now open apps or folders assigned to you by quickly pressing the Leader key, then the Group key, and then the Action key. If the action isn’t assigned to a group, it’s even easier—just press the leader key and the action key.
Supercharge Leader Key with Raycast Deep Links
As mentioned above, Leader Key is not limited to applications. You can assign it to open URLs and commands that directly link to part of the application. If your app provides a URL scheme, you can paste it as an action (remember to select URL) as an action. This works for many applications, but Raycast makes the process much easier by using the Deep Links feature .
If you already have Raycast extensions and actions installed, you can easily copy the deep link for any action.
For example, I’m going to create a shortcut to access the Cobalt for Raycast extension for downloading online media.
Open Raycast and find the action or extension you want to assign a shortcut to. Press Command + K to see all the actions, and then use the keyboard shortcut Shift + Command + C to copy the deep link.
Then go to Leader Key Settings, create a new action and select the URL action from the drop-down list. Paste the deep link URL.
Now you can access this specific action inside Raycast with just one keystroke.