The *faster than your launcher* launcher

A riff on Raycast, @mxstbr's multi-key Karabiner setup, and Vim's <leader> key.

Watch the intro video on YouTube:

Yes, I only have that one thumbnail face.

Download

📦 Download latest version or

Homebrew

$ brew install leader-key

• Open the settings menu with the menu bar icon

• Choose your leader (Shortcut that will open the app)

  

• Add your shortcuts to the Config settings

1. Typing the name of the thing can be slow and give unpredictable results.
2. Global shortcuts have limited combinations.
3. Leader Key offers predictable, nested shortcuts -- like combos in a fighting game.

• leaderom → Launch Messages (open messages)
• leadermm → Mute audio (media mute)
• leaderwm → Maximize current window (window maximize)

Leader Key supports URL scheme automation for integration with tools like Alfred, Raycast, shell scripts, and more.

# Reload configuration from disk
open "leaderkey://config-reload"

# Show config.json in Finder
open "leaderkey://config-reveal"

# Show Leader Key window
open "leaderkey://activate"

# Hide Leader Key window
open "leaderkey://hide"

# Clear navigation state (return to root)
open "leaderkey://reset"

# Open settings window
open "leaderkey://settings"

# Show about dialog
open "leaderkey://about"

# Navigate through keys and execute actions
open "leaderkey://navigate?keys=a,b,c"

# Navigate without executing (preview mode)
open "leaderkey://navigate?keys=a,b,c&execute=false"

• Alfred/Raycast workflows: Trigger Leader Key shortcuts programmatically
• Shell scripts: Automate configuration reloads after editing config.json
• Keyboard maestro: Chain Leader Key actions with other automations
• External triggers: Open specific action sequences from other applications

Any key can be your leader key, but only modifiers will not work.

Examples:

• F12
• ⌘ + space
• ⌘⌥ + space
• ⌘⌥⌃⇧ + L (hyper key)

Advanced examples:

Using Karabiner you can do more fancy things like:

• right ⌘ + left ⌘ at once (bound to F12) my personal favorite
• caps lock (bound to hyper when held, F12 when pressed)

See @mikker's config in the wiki for akimbo cmds example.

Activate Leader Key, then cmd + ,.

You need to make sure your shell environment is correctly set up for non-interactive mode, and exports the PATH variable.

For zsh make sure you have your PATH variable exported in ~/.zshenv

For bash make sure you have your PATH variable exported in ~/.bash_profile

MIT