In this guide
Two halves of the same problem
Keyboard-driven computing on macOS has two components that people usually adopt separately. A launcher — Alfred, Raycast, or Spotlight if you are minimal — answers *which application*. A window manager answers *where it goes*. Adopting only one leaves an obvious gap: you summon an app instantly and then spend four seconds dragging it into place.
Closing that gap is what makes the combination feel qualitatively different rather than incrementally faster. Launch, snap, type. Rectangle handles the second step in one keystroke, and after a week the sequence stops being three decisions and becomes one gesture.
Choosing a launcher
| Alfred | Raycast | Spotlight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core launching | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom workflows | Powerpack | Built in + store | No |
| Clipboard history | Powerpack | Built in | No |
| Window commands | Via workflow | Built in | No |
| Cost | Free / paid tier | Free / paid tier | Included |
Raycast includes basic window commands of its own, which raises a reasonable question: why run a dedicated window manager alongside it? Two reasons. Dedicated tools handle edge cases better — thirds, sixths, cycling, multi-display movement — and keeping window control in one predictable place avoids the confusion of two systems with overlapping shortcuts. Most people who try both end up assigning window duties exclusively to Rectangle app for Mac and leaving the launcher to launching.
If you do run both, disable the launcher's built-in window commands. Two tools competing for the same key combination produce intermittent, hard-to-diagnose failures that look like the window manager is broken.
A shortcut scheme that does not collide
The reason default window shortcuts use Control-Option is that almost nothing else does. Command-based combinations collide constantly with application shortcuts; Control-Option is comparatively empty territory across the whole system.
Keep the mental model shallow. Direction keys for halves, letter keys for thirds and quarters, Return for maximise, Delete for restore. Six combinations cover the overwhelming majority of daily use, and six is a number people actually retain.
Composed workflows
With a launcher's workflow system you can chain the two tools. A single hotkey can open a terminal, a browser at your local development URL and an editor, then fire the window shortcuts to place all three. Whether this is worth building depends entirely on how repetitive your working setup is — for people who open the same three-window arrangement every morning, it is a real saving.
- Development — editor left half, terminal upper right, browser lower right.
- Review — diff left half, staging preview right half.
- Writing — draft centred, everything else behind it.
- Support — ticket queue left third, knowledge base centre, chat right third.
The general principle: automate arrangement, not content. Scripts that also open specific files tend to break as projects change, whereas scripts that only place windows keep working for years.
When to stop optimising
There is a point where tuning the system becomes the work. A reasonable stopping rule is that any automation should save more time in a month than it took to build. Learning six window shortcuts clears that bar comfortably in the first week. A twelve-step workflow with conditional display detection often never does.
Start with the free Rectangle window manager and a launcher you already use. Add automation only where you notice yourself repeating the same sequence several times a day — that repetition is the signal, and it is a far more reliable guide than a list of features.
Rectangle is free and open source
Halves, thirds, quarters and sixths from the keyboard, on any Mac. No trial, no account.
Download Rectangle for Mac →Frequently asked questions
Do I need both Alfred and Raycast?
No. They occupy the same niche; pick one. Running both mainly produces shortcut conflicts.
Will a window manager conflict with a launcher?
Only if both claim the same key combination. Control-Option combinations for windows and Option-Space for the launcher coexist cleanly.
Is this overkill for a casual user?
The launcher pays for itself immediately for anyone. The window shortcuts pay off once you regularly have three or more windows open.