Bucky

The no-frills/robust approach to macOS Launchers.

Build

make bundle

The app bundle is created at build/Bucky.app.

Run

open build/Bucky.app

Distribution

For a local distributable archive, run the package script. It starts from a clean rebuild, packages only the .app bundle, and writes a zip plus SHA-256 checksum under dist/.

./package.sh

The generated archive uses this naming pattern:

dist/Bucky-<semantic-version>-macos-<architecture>.zip

To test the archive from Terminal:

ZIP_PATH="$(ls -t dist/Bucky-*.zip | head -n 1)"
mkdir -p /tmp/bucky-distribution-test
ditto -x -k "$ZIP_PATH" /tmp/bucky-distribution-test
open /tmp/bucky-distribution-test/Bucky.app

To install it manually from Terminal after unzipping:

ZIP_PATH="$(ls -t dist/Bucky-*.zip | head -n 1)"
ditto -x -k "$ZIP_PATH" /tmp
mv /tmp/Bucky.app /Applications/Bucky.app
open /Applications/Bucky.app

This zip is a local unsigned build artifact. For broad distribution outside your own machine, sign and notarize the app before sharing it.

Behavior

Use Option+Space to open or hide the floating launcher by default. Type to filter parsed app names, use the up and down arrows to move through the list, use Command+Up and Command+Down to jump to the top or bottom, and press Return to launch the selected app.

Use Command+/ while the launcher is open to switch between app search and tools mode. In tools mode, arithmetic text such as 1 or 2 + 3 is evaluated inline without opening Calculator, and dictionary lookups use fuzzy spelling and completion matches. Press Return on a calculation result to copy it, or on a dictionary result to open Dictionary at the matching word. Tools mode includes a clear-history button; pin is available from either mode, can be toggled with Command+P while Bucky is focused, and keeps the window above other apps until unpinned.

Bucky now uses the SwiftUI-native Liquid Glass launcher with a glass window surface, per-row glass effects, glass buttons, and animated state transitions. macOS 26 is required; the previous AppKit launcher has been removed.

The launcher reindexes app locations in the background every time it opens. While the launcher is open, Command+R also reindexes and refreshes the currently displayed results using the current search text. Command+Comma opens Settings.

The menu bar item provides Open, Reindex, Settings, and Quit actions. Bucky scans .app bundles under /Applications, /System/Applications, and ~/Applications.

Explicitly included apps are also indexed. The default inclusion is:

/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app

Settings

Settings are stored as JSON at:

~/Library/Application Support/Bucky/settings.json

Settings currently include the global hotkey, launch-on-startup preference, and animation timing preference.

Calculation history is stored as JSON at:

~/Library/Application Support/Bucky/calculations.json

Inclusions

Included app paths are stored as JSON at:

~/Library/Application Support/Bucky/inclusions.json

The file format is:

{
  "includedPaths": [
    "/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app"
  ]
}

Use Settings to add apps through the macOS file picker or remove included apps from the list.

Exclusions

Each result has a hide button. Exclusions are stored as JSON at:

~/Library/Application Support/Bucky/exclusions.json

The file format is:

{
  "excludedPaths": [
    "/Applications/Example.app"
  ]
}

Edit that file manually and press Command+R in Bucky to reload it, or remove hidden apps from Settings.