This Free Tool Can Assign a Keyboard Shortcut to Almost Anything on Your Mac

The Leader Key is a popular concept in coding, and it essentially works like a hotkey. In old-school text editor VIM, a leader key is a shortcut starter, a first button to begin a special command. For example, it's similar to how you might enter the "#" key on your TV remote before pressing a code, to enter a hidden menu. Now, The Leader Key Mac app brings the same concept to your entire Mac.

You press a predefined shortcut, and then a single key afterward to quickly execute a mapped action. In practice, this means you might press the Globe key and the Right Command key, then S to quickly open the Safari browser. It's 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 many keyboard launchers, like Raycast, or even Spotlight Search. But Leader Key is fast. Lightning fast. In the span of two key presses, your app is open, boom. And it's not just limited to apps. You can use it to open URLs (works with any apps that expose URLs to third-party apps) and trigger commands or scripts. It essentially makes everything on your Mac just a few keystrokes away.

The app is free and open source. It takes a bit of time to set things up in a way you like, but it's worth it.

How to create custom keyboard shortcuts using Leader Key

Once Leader Key is installed and enabled, you'll find it in the menu bar. Click on its menu bar icon (it looks like a square with a dot in the middle) and choose the Preferences icon. Here, choose a button combination to be your shortcut starter (or leader key) and enable the app at login.

Next, start by creating some actions. Ideally, you'll be using Leader Key to launch a lot of different apps, so assigning the "S" key for both Slack and Safari won't work. This is where Groups can help. First, click on Add Group and assign that group a key. For example, I'll create a group for Browsers and assign it "B".

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

In your new group, click Add Action. Then, assign that action a key.

For example, I'll use "F" to open Firefox. Next, choose Application from the drop-down menu. Then click the Choose button, and from Finder, select the app you want to map and click Open.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, repeat this process to add more actions in the group (like adding all the browsers that you switch between), or to create global actions. You can also use it to directly open Folders as well (a quick way to open project folders that you use often).

Once you are done customizing, click the Save to File button to save all your customizations. Now, you'll be able to open your assigned apps or folders by quickly pressing your leader key, then your group key, then your action key in succession. If an action isn't assigned to a group, it's even simpler— just press your leader key and the action key.

Supercharge Leader Key with Raycast Deep Links

As mentioned above, Leader Key isn't limited to applications. You can assign it to open URLs and commands, linking directly to a part of an app. As long as an app exposes a URL scheme, you can paste it in as an action (make sure to select URL) as the action. This works for many apps, but Raycast makes the process really easy using its Deep Links feature.

If you have your Raycast extensions and actions set already, you can copy the deep link for any action with ease.

For example, I'm going to create a shortcut to access the Cobalt for Raycast extension for downloading media online.

Open Raycast and search for the action or extension you want to assign a shortcut to. Press Command + K to view all actions, and then use the Shift + Command + C keyboard shortcut to copy the Deep Link.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Then, go to Leader Key Preferences, create a new action, and choose URL action from the dropdown. Paste in the Deep Link URL.

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Now, you can access that particular action inside Raycast with just a single key press.

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