Blog
Notes from the launcher
Product updates, deep dives into keyboard-first workflows, and the occasional rant about Spotlight. Written by the CmdSpace team.
macOS Tahoe 26 Spotlight vs CmdSpace: what the new command palette gets right and wrong
For the first time in roughly a decade, Spotlight feels like Apple actually opened it up and rewrote it. macOS Tahoe 26 ships a real command-palette UI — tabs for Apps, Files, Actions, and Clipboard reachable via Cmd+1, Cmd+2, Cmd+3, Cmd+4…
Spotlight vs Finder search on macOS: when to use which (and when neither works)
Most macOS users think of Spotlight and Finder search as the same thing wearing two different hats. They are not. They share a backend — both lean on the mds daemon and the on-disk metadata index — but the way each surfaces results is genu…
Open-source macOS launchers compared: Ueli, Kando, and the rest
"Open source macOS launcher" is a small but real category in 2026. Most of the major launchers — Raycast, Alfred, LaunchBar, CmdSpace — are closed-source. If your threat model or your principles require open-source software in your hotkey…
Local LLM on a Mac vs cloud-powered launcher AI: a 2026 reality check
Two years ago, "AI in a launcher" meant a Raycast button that called OpenAI. Today it means: a panel that streams Claude or GPT-4-class output, a chat-with-your-files mode, voice dictation, image editing, a few dozen extension-specific AI…
CmdSpace vs Spotlight: side-by-side after Tahoe 26
Spotlight is the macOS launcher most users default to because it ships with the OS. It is also the macOS launcher most power users have spent the last two years complaining about. After Sequoia's indexing regressions (Notebookcheck coverag…
CmdSpace vs Raycast in 2026: one is local-only, the other went AI-focused
Raycast and CmdSpace are both modern macOS launchers, both keyboard-first, both deeply customizable. From a screenshot on the App Store you could swap them and not immediately notice. After a week of daily use you will absolutely notice. T…
CmdSpace vs Alfred: a 2026 comparison from someone who used Alfred for 10 years
I bought my first Alfred Powerpack license in 2014, when the Mega Supporter tier was £35 and the workflow system was the most exciting thing on the platform. I used Alfred daily through five jobs, three major macOS releases, and roughly fo…