Using the palette
Summoning it, the keys that move you around, how ranking picks the first row, and the questions it answers inline.
Summon it
- ⌘Space: the default hotkey, registered in-process by the daemon so it opens instantly.
- Fn/Globe: a lone tap opens the emoji and symbols grid. Fn combinations
keep working; this reuses Pounce's Accessibility grant and only replaces
Globe's stock action while armed. (On by default inside haus;
"mode:emoji": { "hotkey": "fn" }elsewhere.) - Change either in config: the
hotkeyblock takes akeyandmodifiers.
Not opening at all? Install covers the ⌘Space collision with Spotlight, which fails silently.
Navigating
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Type | Fuzzy-search in real time |
↑ / ↓ | Move the selection |
Return | Run the default action |
⇧Return | Insert a newline; the query field is multi-line |
⌘Return | The modifier action (often "Reveal in Finder" for apps) |
⌥Return / ⌃Return | Alternate actions, when shown |
Esc | Dismiss |
The action bar at the bottom always shows which modifiers do what for the selected row.
How ranking works
Three signals decide the order, so the thing you want is usually already on top:
- Fuzzy match quality: consecutive runs, word-boundary hits, and titles counting double subtitles.
- Frecency: frequency × recency, on a 72-hour half-life.
- A freshly-installed boost for anything installed in the last week, halving every two days.
An app you'd rather never see can be hidden or sunk with apps.hideBundleIds /
apps.demoteBundleIds, and any row can take a search shorthand; see
per-item settings.
Quick answers
Some queries are answered in the palette instead of being fuzzy-matched
against apps and commands. The answer pins to the top as its own row, and
Return copies it (no trigger prefix needed):
| Type | Get |
|---|---|
2*847, 2^10, sqrt(9) | Arithmetic |
100 + 10%, 20% of 150 | Percentages |
72 f in c, 1 pound in kg, 1 gib in mib | Unit conversion |
100 usd in eur, $100 in eur | Currency conversion |
14:00 utc in pst, 2pm utc in tokyo | Time-zone conversion |
A query no engine can parse just falls through to normal results, and anything
without a digit skips the engines entirely: safari stays a search.
Currency uses the European Central Bank's daily reference rates, cached locally
so it keeps answering offline. It is one of only two things that touch the
network (the other is the hourly release check), and
quickAnswers.currency in config turns it
off.
The built-in modes
The palette is not the only window Pounce draws. Each of these is an item you can run from the palette, bind to a key of its own, or launch from a script:
| Mode | What it is |
|---|---|
mode:clipboard | Clipboard history, two-pane, searchable, with optional auto-paste |
mode:emoji | Emoji and plain-text symbols in one grid: command → ⌘, not equal → ≠ |
mode:filesearch | Files and folders by name, over Spotlight's index |
mode:screenshots | A browser for the shots you've taken |
mode:camera | A live camera peek |
pounce run mode:clipboard opens one directly; "mode:clipboard": { "hotkey": "cmd+shift+v" } in config gives
it a key. The cheatsheet overlay (pounce --cheatsheet) is the sixth window,
and takes its content from ~/.config/pounce/cheatsheet.json.