How to Use Raycast on Mac to Replace Spotlight and Gain Real Productivity
A complete guide to installing Raycast on your Mac, replacing Spotlight as your main launcher, and getting the most out of its extensions, snippets, and AI features. Steps verified on macOS Sequoia 15.1.
Spotlight does its job: it opens apps, searches for files, and does quick math. But if you spend eight hours a day in front of your Mac, it falls short. Raycast is a free launcher that takes over the same shortcut (⌘ + Space) and adds entire layers that Spotlight doesn’t touch: window management, snippets, clipboard management, integrations with GitHub, Linear, Notion, Jira, and an extension store with hundreds of utilities.
In this guide I’ll show you how to install it on macOS Sequoia 15.1, how to reassign the shortcut without breaking anything, which free features pay off from minute one, and whether Raycast Pro (with Raycast AI included) is worth the $8 a month. Estimated time: 15 minutes to get it up and running, a couple of days for it to become second nature.
What Raycast Is and Why Replace Spotlight
Raycast is an application launcher for Mac developed by Raycast Technologies Ltd. It was born in 2020 as an alternative to Alfred and Spotlight, and it plays in the same space: a bar you summon with a global shortcut, you type what you want, and it acts.
The difference lies in what it can do. Spotlight opens apps and files. Raycast opens apps and files, controls Spotify, moves windows, searches issues in Linear, creates tasks in Things, translates with DeepL, manages your clipboard with history, runs scripts, calculates exchange rates in real time and, if you pay, answers questions with GPT-4 or Claude without opening the browser.
Quick summary before getting into the installation:
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Developer | Raycast Technologies Ltd. |
| Current version | 1.84 (October 2026) |
| Minimum system | macOS 12 Monterey |
| Base price | Free |
| Raycast Pro | $8/month (billed annually) |
| Raycast AI | Included in Pro |
Prerequisites
Before installing:
- A Mac with macOS Monterey 12 or later. If you’re on Sonoma 14 or Sequoia 15.1, even better.
- Intel or Apple Silicon chip (M1, M2, M3, M4): there is a universal binary.
- Administrator permissions to grant accessibility access.
- A Raycast account (optional but recommended if you want to sync snippets and settings between Macs).
How to Install Raycast on Mac Step by Step
- Go to raycast.com and click "Download for Mac". A
.dmgfile of about 120 MB is downloaded. - Open the
.dmgand drag Raycast to theApplicationsfolder. - Launch it from Launchpad or by double-clicking. The first time, macOS will ask for confirmation because it’s an app downloaded from the internet. Accept.
- Raycast will ask for Accessibility permissions. Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility and turn on the switch next to Raycast.
- Optional: grant access to Contacts, Calendar, and Reminders if you want it to search them directly from the bar.
Within 30 seconds you have it up and running. Press ⌥ + Space (the default shortcut) and you’ll see the bar.
How to Reassign ⌘+Space from Spotlight to Raycast
If you’re coming from Spotlight, the ⌘ + Space shortcut is burned into your muscle memory. Reassigning it takes two minutes.
- Open System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts.
- Select Spotlight in the sidebar.
- Uncheck the "Show Spotlight search" box (or change its shortcut to something you don’t use, for example ⌃ + Space).
- Click Done.
- Open Raycast with its current shortcut (⌥ + Space), type "hotkey", and go into "Change Raycast Hotkey".
- Press ⌘ + Space and save.
No restart needed. From now on ⌘ + Space opens Raycast.
If you change your mind, revert: disable Raycast on the same shortcuts screen and re-enable the Spotlight one.
Free Features That Already Beat Spotlight
Without paying anything, these are the ones I use daily and that make a difference.
Window Management
Spotlight doesn’t move windows. Raycast does. Type "left half", "right half", "maximize", or "center" and the active window snaps into place. You can assign shortcuts: I have ⌃ + ⌥ + ← for the left half and ⌃ + ⌥ + → for the right half. It replaces Rectangle or Magnet without installing anything extra.
Clipboard History
It keeps a clipboard history with images and text. You summon it with the shortcut of your choice (⌘ + ⇧ + V is comfortable) and search for what you copied three hours ago. This alone is worth the installation.
Snippets
Predefined texts that expand when you type a trigger. Type ;mail and your full email address appears. ;iban and your IBAN comes out. It replaces TextExpander for basic use.
Calculator and Conversions
Raycast solves expressions (123*1.21), live currency conversions (50 usd to eur), units (5 miles to km), and time zones (14:00 madrid in tokyo). Spotlight does part of this, but slower and with less accuracy on currencies.
Quicklinks
Parameterized URLs. You create a "GitHub Issue" quicklink with https://github.com/miorg/mirepo/issues/{query} and typing "issue 1234" takes you straight to issue 1234. For anyone who lives in web tools, it changes your life.
Extension Store
More than 1,500 free extensions: Spotify, Apple Notes, Bitwarden, 1Password, Notion, Linear, Jira, GitHub, Google Translate, Brew, Docker. They’re installed from the bar itself by typing "store".
Raycast vs Spotlight vs Alfred
An honest comparison of the three big players on Mac:
| Feature | Spotlight | Raycast (free) | Alfred 5 (Powerpack) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free | £34 one-time license |
| Launch apps/files | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Window management | No | Yes (native) | Via workflows |
| Clipboard history | No | Yes | Yes (Powerpack) |
| Snippets | No | Yes | Yes (Powerpack) |
| Extension store | No | Yes (1,500+) | Community workflows |
| AI integration | No | Yes (Pro) | Not native |
| Sync between Macs | iCloud (limited) | Yes (account) | iCloud/Dropbox |
| Spanish-speaking community | Large | Medium | Small |
Spotlight wins on system integration (it searches Messages, Mail, and Photos without any setup). Raycast wins on daily productivity for those who use the Mac as a work tool. Alfred is a solid classic, but its interface and its store have fallen a step behind.
If you work with the keyboard and productivity accessories, you’ll probably also want to take a look at the recommended mechanical keyboards for Mac, because Raycast shines more when you never take your fingers off the keyboard.
Must-Have Extensions to Install on Day One
From the bar itself, type "store" and search for:
- Brew: manages Homebrew without the terminal. Install, uninstall, update.
- Kill Process: kills processes without opening Activity Monitor. Useful when an app freezes.
- Color Picker: an eyedropper for developers and designers.
- Google Translate or DeepL: translate without switching windows.
- GitHub: search repos, PRs, and issues from the bar.
- Spotify / Apple Music Controls: play, pause, skip without touching the app.
- Visual Studio Code – Recent Projects: opens recent projects directly. If you want to get more out of VS Code on Mac, check out how to set up Visual Studio Code on Mac for web development.
Raycast AI and Raycast Pro: Are They Worth It?
Raycast Pro costs $8 a month (billed annually, about $96/year) or $10/month on a monthly plan. It includes:
- Raycast AI: access to GPT-4, GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Llama, and other models from the bar. Quick questions, summaries, translations, code generation.
- AI Commands: custom commands like "improve this text", "summarize in 5 bullets", "translate to formal English".
- Cloud Sync: your snippets, quicklinks, settings, and extensions synced between Macs.
- Custom themes and Pro Chat with history.
Is it worth it? It depends.
- Yes if you already pay for ChatGPT Plus ($20) or Claude Pro ($20) and are thinking of replacing them. Raycast Pro gives you access to the same models for less, and you integrate them into your workflow without opening a tab.
- Yes if you work on two or three Macs and want real sync.
- No if you only want it as a launcher. The free version already beats Spotlight and basic Alfred.
Common Problems and How to Fix Them
Raycast doesn’t open with ⌘+Space. Spotlight is still capturing the shortcut. Check System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Spotlight and make sure the box is unchecked.
It can’t find apps installed outside /Applications. Go to Raycast → Settings → Advanced and add additional folders under "Application Directories" (for example ~/Applications or /Applications/Utilities).
It freezes while typing. It’s usually a poorly updated extension. In Settings → Extensions, disable the ones you don’t use and update the active ones.
It doesn’t sync between two Macs. Full sync (snippets, quicklinks, extensions) is exclusive to Pro. With the free account you only sync basic settings.
It uses a lot of RAM. Raycast at idle uses about 150-200 MB. If you see it climb above 500 MB, check your active extensions, especially those that poll external services (GitHub, Linear).
FAQ
Is Raycast safe? What data does it send?
Raycast does not send your search history to its servers in the free version. Third-party extensions may ask for specific permissions (service API keys), which you authorize one by one. The code is closed-source but audited, and the company publishes its privacy policy at raycast.com/privacy.
Can I use Raycast and Spotlight at the same time?
Yes. Assign them different shortcuts. Many people keep Spotlight on ⌃ + Space for searches in Mail or Messages (which Raycast doesn’t index as well) and Raycast on ⌘ + Space for everything else.
Does it work well on a Mac with an Intel chip?
Yes, Raycast is universal. On a 2019 Intel MacBook Pro it runs smoothly, although you’ll notice the difference compared to an M3 or M4 at launch and in heavy searches.
Is there a version for iPhone or iPad?
No. Raycast is exclusive to macOS. There is no direct equivalent on iPhone because of iOS limitations on system-level background apps.
Can I migrate my Alfred workflows to Raycast?
There is no official importer. Alfred workflows are in a proprietary format. The usual approach is to look for the equivalent extension in the Raycast Store, which usually exists, or to rebuild the workflow with your own script in Node or Shell.
