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wtf is look?

kunkka19xx/look — explained in plain English

Analysis updated 2026-05-18

136SwiftAudience · generalComplexity · 2/5Setup · easy

TL;DR

A fast, local-first, keyboard-only app launcher for macOS, Windows, and Linux that replaces Spotlight or Raycast.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((look launcher))
    What it does
      Open apps and files
      Inline calculator
      Kill process by port
      Clipboard search
    Platforms
      macOS
      Windows
      Linux
    Why it is different
      Local first
      No telemetry
      No account
      Fast search
    Use cases
      Replace Spotlight
      Replace Raycast
      Quick file access
    Audience
      Vibe coders
      Power users

Code map

Detail Auto

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filefunction / class

Why would anyone build with this?

REASON 1

Open apps, files, and folders instantly without leaving the keyboard.

REASON 2

Do quick inline math like percentages or square roots without opening a calculator app.

REASON 3

Kill a stuck process by its port number in a couple of keystrokes.

REASON 4

Search your clipboard history to find something you copied earlier.

What's in the stack?

SwiftRustSQLite

How it stacks up

kunkka19xx/lookomarshahine/homeclawapple/foundation-models-utilities
Stars136120117
LanguageSwiftSwiftSwift
Setup difficultyeasyeasyeasy
Complexity2/52/5
Audiencegeneraldeveloperdeveloper

Figures from each repo's GitHub metadata at analysis time.

How do you spin it up?

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
The README does not state a license.

Wtf does this do

Look is a keyboard first launcher for macOS, Windows, and Linux that lets you open apps, files, folders, clipboard history, and quick commands without touching the mouse. It works as a lightweight alternative to Spotlight on Mac or Raycast, and it runs entirely on your own machine. Once installed, you press a hotkey such as Cmd+Space on Mac or Alt+Space on Windows and Linux, type what you want, and press Enter. Beyond opening apps and files, Look can do inline math like square roots and percentages, kill a running process by its port number with a confirmation step, search your clipboard history for something you copied earlier, translate or look up a word, and run scoped searches by regex, file path, or file kind. Everything runs locally. Search candidates are indexed in a local file on your computer, and the only times Look reaches the internet are when you explicitly ask it to, such as running a web search or a translation lookup. There is no account to create and no telemetry being collected. The project is built to be fast and small. Typical searches complete in under a millisecond on a few thousand indexed items, and it ships as a single native app rather than a heavier framework like Electron, so there is no background daemon eating resources. It comes with sensible presets for common apps out of the box, and you can add more through a configuration file if you want to customize it further. Installation differs by platform: Homebrew on macOS, package managers or an install script on Linux distributions including Arch, Ubuntu, and NixOS, and a PowerShell one-liner on Windows. The developer notes they are building this project together with AI agents.

Yoink these prompts

Prompt 1
Help me install the Look launcher on macOS using Homebrew and bind it to Cmd+Space.
Prompt 2
Show me the Look shortcut for killing a process running on a specific port.
Prompt 3
Walk me through configuring Look aliases in ~/.look.config for my most used apps.
Prompt 4
Explain how to set up Look to autostart on a standalone window manager like i3 or Hyprland.

Frequently asked questions

wtf is look?

A fast, local-first, keyboard-only app launcher for macOS, Windows, and Linux that replaces Spotlight or Raycast.

What language is look written in?

Mainly Swift. The stack also includes Swift, Rust, SQLite.

What license does look use?

The README does not state a license.

How hard is look to set up?

Setup difficulty is rated easy, with roughly 5min to a first successful run.

Who is look for?

Mainly general.

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