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Items & Widgets

The Launcher ships with a catalogue of built-in sections ("items"). Some are simple rows that run a command; others are widgets - rich surfaces that expand the Launcher window into a full interactive view (clipboard, calendar, Apple TV remote, file browser, speech dictation, …).

Every section can be enabled, disabled, reordered, renamed, grouped into folders, and - per row - pinned, re-ranked, given aliases, or hidden. The Launcher settings sheet (menu button in the top-left) and the per-item popover (⌘P) control all of it.

Finder Context​

When Finder is the frontmost app, the Launcher shows the current Finder selection (or the frontmost folder) as a top row. ↩ opens it; Tab opens an Open With… sublist so you can pick a specific app.

Apps​

Recent, running, and installed apps, ordered by recency. Tab or → on a running app lists its open windows with live thumbnails and on-screen highlight previews. Window rows expose tiling commands (left/right/top/bottom half, maximize) via ⌘P.

The app index covers /Applications, /System/Applications, /System/Library/CoreServices, macOS cryptex roots, and ~/Applications.

Per-row commands include Quit (⌘Q), Force Quit (⌘⌥Q), and Show in Finder (⌘R) for app rows.

Clipboard Manager (Widget)​

A full-featured clipboard manager surface. The main results list shows a single Clipboard row; pressing ↩ expands the Launcher into a two-pane view (sidebar scopes, list, preview).

  • Previews for text, rich text, images, PDFs, videos, office documents, and URL previews.
  • Edit text entries inline (⌘S to save).
  • Apply text transformers, including any custom JavaScript transformers you've configured.
  • Annotate images with the built-in markup tool before pasting.
  • Favorite snippets so they're kept forever, independent of the history limit.
  • Quick paste without opening the surface: ⌘1 / ⌘2 / ⌘3 paste the three most recent entries directly from the main results list.

Entries are shared with the classic BTT Clipboard Manager. Everything stays on the Mac - nothing is synced to any cloud service.

Calendar (Widget)​

A calendar surface backed by EventKit - the same calendars and reminder lists you see in Apple's Calendar and Reminders apps. Month / week / day views, inline event detail, and inline composers for new events and reminders.

  • ⌘N creates a new event.
  • ⌘⇧N creates a new reminder.

Calendar and reminders access is requested the first time you open the surface.

Speech Dictation (Widget)​

Live voice-to-text powered by Apple's speech recognition. Review, edit, copy (⌘C), or paste (↩) the transcript into the previously focused app. ⌘R restarts recording. Leaving the surface (Esc) stops recording.

Requires microphone and speech-recognition permission.

Apple TV Remote (Widget)​

A full on-screen remote - directional pad, menu / back, home, play/pause, skip, volume, sleep, and Siri where supported - rendered as a rich surface. Keyboard-drivable too: arrow keys act as the d-pad, ↩ selects, Esc closes the surface. First use pairs with a PIN, matching the physical-remote pairing flow.

Indexed file-name search. To keep normal queries flat and fast, file search is opt-in per query:

  • Type a leading space, then the filename - e.g. report.pdf.
  • Or type the configured keyword (default: file), a space, and the query - e.g. file report.

In the settings sheet you can add keywords, configure scope folders that are searched first, set a result-count limit, and enable a broader Spotlight fallback when the scope returns nothing.

Per-row commands: Quick Look (Space), Reveal in Finder (⌘R), Open Containing Folder (⌘⌥R), Copy Path (⌘⇧C).

File Browser (Widget)​

A Finder-like rich surface. Arrow keys navigate, ↩ opens, ← / Backspace goes up, Space previews, typing filters the current folder. Dragging files onto the Launcher's search bar pins them to the drawer shelf - a quick-access bar of files that appears below the search field and persists across Launcher restarts.

BetterTouchTool Actions​

The entire BTT predefined-action catalogue, searchable by name. Type an action name directly (e.g. paste custom text, volume up), or open the BetterTouchTool Actions row to drill through the hierarchy.

Use this for ad-hoc execution. For actions with custom parameters (specific text, a specific shortcut, scripts), create a named trigger in BTT and expose it via Configured Triggers instead.

Configured Triggers​

Any BTT trigger with Show in Launcher enabled appears as a searchable item. This turns BetterTouchTool into a command palette for your own automations.

Each entry has a title, subtitle, icon, and optional aliases. Running one runs the full trigger pipeline - conditions, variables, scripts, everything. A single trigger can also expose multiple distinct Launcher entries with different names, icons, and sort order.

Launcher Plugins​

Third-party plugins can contribute their own rows, commands, and rich surfaces. Install a .bttlauncherplugin bundle the same way as any other BTT plugin; installed plugins appear under Settings → Plugins.

Individual plugin rows can be hidden via ⌘P → Hide From Launcher, and the whole Launcher Plugins section can be toggled off. See building launcher plugins for the developer side.

AI Chat Conversations​

Recent h@llo.AI conversations. ↩ jumps back into one. The maximum number of conversations shown is configurable in the settings sheet.

Always-Available Items​

These don't live in their own section - they show up inline whenever the query matches:

  • Math - type an expression (e.g. 37*19+4); the result appears at the top and ↩ copies it.
  • URL - type a URL (e.g. github.com/foo/bar) and press ↩ to open it in your default browser.
  • Floating Menu embeds - floating menus with a Launcher embedding mode appear inline in results.

Groups (Folders)​

Sections can be collected into folders that appear as a single browsable entry when the search field is empty. While you're searching, results stay flat so matches never hide inside a folder. Groups can be renamed, assigned an SF Symbol icon, reordered, and given their own keyboard shortcut. Default groups: Widgets, Commands, AI, Apps.

Multiple Launcher Instances​

Every Launcher has a stable ID. Two instances with different IDs keep independent window positions, pinned items, aliases, priorities, hidden-state overrides, and query memory - so you can run, say, a general-purpose Launcher alongside a "work" Launcher or a "media" Launcher that auto-opens the Apple TV remote. Set BTTActionLauncherID on the Show Launcher / Toggle Launcher action to target a specific instance.