RcmdLite

RcmdLite is a lightweight, macOS-only keyboard app switcher. Assign a letter to an application, then press Right Option and that letter to launch it, focus it, or cycle through all of its windows.

Static assignments always win their letter. Running applications without a static assignment receive temporary shortcuts when their first letter is still available; those shortcuts disappear when the application quits.

RcmdLite is a menu-bar accessory. It does not appear in the Dock or Command-Tab switcher. Holding Right Option for 550 milliseconds displays a non-activating shortcut preview in the lower-right corner.

Screenshots

The settings window keeps permanent assignments pinned above temporary shortcuts for currently running applications.

After holding Right Option briefly, the shortcut preview appears without taking focus from the current application.

Requirements

• macOS 13 or newer
• Swift 6.2 and the macOS SDK (install Xcode or the Xcode Command Line Tools)
• Accessibility and Input Monitoring permission for the packaged application

Download

ARM-based Mac builds are available from GitHub Releases. Download the release ZIP, extract RcmdLite.app, and move it to /Applications.

Release builds are currently ad-hoc signed rather than Apple-notarized. On the first launch, macOS will block the app because it is from an unidentified developer. After attempting to open it, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security and choose Open Anyway.

Grant the downloaded app access under Privacy & Security → Accessibility and Input Monitoring, then restart it. Because releases do not yet use a stable Apple Developer ID signature, a future downloaded version may require those permissions to be granted again.

The project uses Swift Package Manager and does not require an Xcode project or third-party dependencies.

Build and test

Clone the repository and run the unit tests:

git clone https://github.com/jcampuza/rcmd-lite.git
cd rcmd-lite
swift test

For ordinary development, build a packaged debug application:

./scripts/build-debug.sh
open "$HOME/Applications/RcmdLite Debug.app"

The debug script uses Swift's unoptimized debug configuration and installs RcmdLite Debug.app under ~/Applications. You can also run swift build or swift run rcmd-lite, but the resulting executable does not provide the stable application bundle identity that macOS privacy permissions expect.

For an optimized local release build:

./scripts/build-release.sh
open "$HOME/Applications/RcmdLite.app"

The release script uses Swift's optimized release configuration, assembles a standard application bundle, copies the icon and metadata, removes extended attributes, and signs the result. Debug and release use separate bundle IDs and application paths, so macOS grants their permissions independently.

Build	Swift configuration	Application	Bundle identifier
Debug	debug	~/Applications/RcmdLite Debug.app	com.josephcampuzano.rcmd-lite.debug
Release	release	~/Applications/RcmdLite.app	com.josephcampuzano.rcmd-lite

Set RCMD_APP_PATH to install either build somewhere else. Set RCMD_SIGNING_IDENTITY to the exact name or SHA-1 hash of a specific identity shown by security find-identity -p codesigning -v.

Stable local signing

Rebuilding an ad-hoc-signed app can make macOS treat it as a new application, requiring Accessibility and Input Monitoring permission again. Create one persistent local identity before regular development:

./scripts/setup-dev-signing.sh
./scripts/signing-status.sh

After the setup script runs, trust RcmdLite Development for Code Signing in Keychain Access, then keep that certificate and its private key. The build scripts discover it automatically.

See Stable development signing for the complete setup, verification, backup, troubleshooting, and release-distribution notes. Never commit exported certificates, private keys, provisioning profiles, or Apple credentials.

Grant permissions

Launch the packaged app and use its permission buttons, or open System Settings and grant that exact app bundle access under:

• Privacy & Security > Accessibility
• Privacy & Security > Input Monitoring

Restart the app after changing Input Monitoring permission. Debug and release builds each need their own grants.

Agent-friendly testing

Inspect running applications and computed temporary assignments without changing focus:

swift run rcmd-devtool snapshot

The development tool also accepts one JSON request per line and exercises the same command dispatcher with a recording controller, without launching or focusing real applications:

echo '{"assignment":{"app":{"bundleIdentifier":"com.google.Chrome","name":"Chrome"},"key":"c","kind":"dynamic"},"running":true,"frontmost":false}' \
  | swift run rcmd-devtool

See Architecture for target boundaries and the planned packaged end-to-end test transport.

Creating a release

Push a semantic version tag to build and publish an ARM-only GitHub Release:

VERSION=0.1.1
git tag "v$VERSION"
git push origin "v$VERSION"

The release workflow validates the source, creates an ad-hoc-signed app bundle, checks its signature and version metadata, packages it with ditto, generates a SHA-256 checksum, and attaches both files to the GitHub Release.

Privacy

RcmdLite runs locally, does not include analytics or telemetry, and does not send application or shortcut data over the network. Assignments are stored in the current user's preferences.