Why are you NOT using Raycast?
About 4 months ago, I asked for beginner tips on Raycast so that I could start trying it out. I'd heard some people talk about how helpful it was, but just downloading it, I didn't really know where to start or how to get the most out of it.
Well, 4 months later, it is an integral part of my workflow now. I'd actually say it's one of the most impactful apps I use (the other being @Aqua Voice) in terms of really improving my overall work. I use it now for so many things every day, and I've gotten it set up to be incredibly fast and efficient for what I need. I think I would feel very slow and disorganized going back to not using it.
So now, I'm curious to know why others haven't started using it yet. I can't think of a role where it wouldn't be helpful. What's holding you back from trying it out?
Replies
What are the top 3 things you use it for @jakecrump ?
Product Hunt
@sentry_co
Notes - I have this on a keyboard command and use it every day throughout the day to stay organized.
Quicklinks - I could use bookmarks, but I just find this to be faster and easier. I have a lot of different pages I regularly have to use throughout the day and this makes it really quick and convenient.
Quick AI questions - If I just have some quick questions/tasks, I find myself using Raycast instead of actually going to Claude.
Raycast
Timely!
Momento 3
@chrismessina And this of course 😉
Product Hunt
@chrismessina Absolutely! Very excited to watch this today!
Lazy
I'm really loving using Raycast too, and couldn't think about using my Mac without it!
Super curious, how are you finding yourself using it most?
I still mostly use it for launching apps, file search and Quicklinks for speeding up Support work, but very aware there's more commands and AI features I should tinker with, to make even more use of it more 🤩
Product Hunt
@calum I'm an extremely heavy notes user. That helps me organize my days and weeks. I also use the Quicklinks and snippets a bunch. There's still more I could be using in terms of AI as well, but one of my main cases is using the AI summary for web pages. That's a big help. I've started using their focus mode a bit more, and I like it.
Purposeful Poop
yeah i feel uninformed, but what should i be 'automating'?
from looking at activity, i spend the majority of my time in an IDE and a browser, with some misc time spent on imessage and hackernews / ph.
Product Hunt
@catt_marroll For me, it's less about automating stuff as much as it's about getting to the stuff I need quickly. The notes feature in particular is something I'd recommend to everyone. There are obviously a bunch of notes options, but theirs just works really well and stays on top of everything else on the screen so I can keep track of stuff through the day and in meetings.
Outside of that, using Quicklinks, opening apps, searching files, and stuff like clipboard just all add up to speeding things up for me throughout the day. Typically, if I find myself typing or doing something repeatedly throughout the day, I look at Raycast and figure out a way to make it a keyboard shortcut or some kind of quick select option.
Well, I AM using it, a lot!
I uninstalled Raycast twice and third time was a charm and now it is one of the most important parts of my workflow.
Absolutely a must-have in my opinion. Does all the stuff or me including but not limited to:
clipboard management
window management (I use Rectangle as well but for a lot of quicker layout settings, Raycast is better! Only missing part is the 'snap zones' missing in Raycast, as far as I can see)
uninstalling apps quickly
force-quitting an app when needed
creating Bear notes
and various other extensions! Just love it
currency conversion and tons of amazing calculator features
Quicklinks set up to search various things quickly and working with URL-schemes for the Mac apps that support it.
Oh, and Confetti option is amazing too when you want to celebrate after a successful task! 🎉
Let me share my personal experience: I installed Raycast on my computer, but it never convinced me to become a paid user. As a non-developer, here are the main reasons why Raycast hasn't won me over:
While it's powerful and offers many plugins, the learning curve is steep. I have to memorize a lot of commands and features, but honestly, it's hard to remember them all.
I couldn't identify a clear core value in Raycast. It seems to do a bit of everything, but nothing feels truly specialized or outstanding.
I haven't found a compelling reason to pay for it. Honestly, the Raycast team is great, and they've made so many useful features available for free that the free version already meets my needs. I considered upgrading to Pro, but in the end, I just couldn't find a strong enough reason to do so.
Product Hunt
@hi_caicai I agree that the learning curve is steep. It took me a bit to finally start using it because of that. I also think it's very overwhelming if you just look at the giant list of actions it can do. I think for me, it's more that it slowly started replacing a lot of other apps I was using so that I now just have the one app. And I've slowly built out my keyboard shortcuts overtime. I definitely don't think it's something you download and immediately get a huge productivity boost from.
In terms of Pro, I ended up going Pro for notes and the limited AI features. I haven't fully upgraded to the complete AI level, but I use notes a ton. And it's very handy to use the built-in AI features.
I'd recommend checking out my older thread as it has a lot of really good tips for things Raycast can do well which helped me get over the initial learning curve and start getting some actual use cases for it going.
@jakecrump For me, I feel that having to put in so much effort to learn and use it probably means I’m not the target audience. I prefer single-purpose, simple solutions. Sometimes I get confused—Raycast claims to be all about efficiency, but in my work and life, I can actually solve these needs in other ways. Especially now that macOS is enhancing Spotlight’s features, I’m honestly a bit concerned about Raycast’s future.
Honestly, I keep hearing about it but haven't taken the time to set it up. Feels like a learning curve I haven't prioritized.
Momento 3
I guess a lot of people don't spend enough time to discover and explore all of its functionality. If you don't switch from Spotlight straightaway you'll forget about it, or not engage with it frequently enough to explore.
I love @Raycast and encourage anyone who isn't using it to give it a go. Was previously a paid @Alfred powerpack user and never thought I'd switch, but made the jump for similar reasons as @chrismessina. First install I didn't get on with it and reverted back to Alfred, but then tried it again many moons later and was converted.
Some of my highlighted use cases...
Quicklinks — Not just fast website bookmarks, but searching using dynamic arguments, and global keyboard shortcuts to commonly used folders and apps (Alt+E for email (Spark), Alt+B for browser (Arc), etc).
Snippets — Use for responding to emails with frequently asked questions, support docs, links etc, and autocompleting things such as VAT number, company number, email addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Emoji — Replaced the default apple symbol selector (Cmd+Ctrl+Space) with Raycast's far superior emoji/symbol selector. Type any word or phrase and it will suggest the best emoji(s) to use to communicate that.
Clipboard History — self explanatory, can't live without this!
Calculator / Conversion — Capable of calculating and converting just about anything!
Window management — Organising windows and launching 'workspaces' of windows across multiple apps.
AI — Super quick way of interacting with a variety of models and supercharging some of the extensions with AI.
I recently built an extension that uses natural language to turn an explanation of a bug into a well structured GitHub issue with appropriately assigned labels, people, description etc.
Despite the recent news that Apple have powered up Spotlight, I don't see me leaving Raycast.