LeSwitcheur

Native macOS task switcher. Switch windows at the speed of thought.

Fuzzy search across every open window. App launcher, calculator, JavaScript REPL and instant access to AI assistants — all behind a single global hotkey. Written in Rust with GPUI (Zed's UI framework). ~8 MB. Zero friction.

leswitcheur.app · Download

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Behavior

Headless process. No Dock icon. A global hotkey (default Opt+Space) opens a centered panel with a search field and the list of open windows. Fuzzy filtering as you type. Enter activates the window, Escape hides the panel.

Hold Fn and two-finger scroll on the trackpad to walk back through your recent window history without touching the keyboard.

Prerequisites

• macOS 13+
• Full Xcode (not just the Command Line Tools) — GPUI compiles its Metal shaders at build time, which requires the metal tool shipped only with Xcode.app.
  • Install from the App Store, then: sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
• Stable Rust (via rustup)
• Optional: just (brew install just)

Installing a release build

Public builds are signed with a Developer ID certificate, notarised by Apple and stapled, so Gatekeeper accepts them on first launch — no right-click → Open dance required.

Required permission

On first launch, macOS prompts for Accessibility permission (needed to list and activate windows of other apps). Grant it in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility.

Build & run

The binary (switcheur) requires full Xcode (see above) because GPUI compiles its Metal shaders during the build. Without Xcode, only the library crates (switcheur-core, switcheur-platform, switcheur-ui) compile — useful for iterating on logic and unit tests.

# Check and test the pure-Rust part (no Xcode required):
cargo check -p switcheur-core -p switcheur-platform -p switcheur-ui
cargo test -p switcheur-core

# Binary + app (requires Xcode):
cargo run -p switcheur
cargo build --release -p switcheur
./bundle/bundle.sh                # produces dist/LeSwitcheur.app

With just:

just check
just test
just run
just dev      # watch + rebuild + restart with --open (requires cargo-watch)
just bundle

CLI flags

• --open: immediately open the panel at startup (as if the hotkey had been pressed). Handy in dev.

Test a production build from scratch

macOS:

./scripts/test-bundle.sh      # or: just test-bundle

Wipes saved settings + any stale bundle, rebuilds signed with the local self-signed identity (override via $CODESIGN_IDENTITY), prints the resulting signature, then launches the app.

Windows:

.\scripts\test-build.ps1              # build + launch (config preserved)
.\scripts\test-build.ps1 -Reset       # wipe config + cache + logs first
.\scripts\test-build.ps1 -Attach      # launch + tail log file
.\scripts\test-build.ps1 -Help        # full help

-Attach tails %LOCALAPPDATA%\fr.gmbl.LeSwitcheur\logs\switcheur.log because the release exe runs with windows_subsystem = "windows" (no console). For Win+R one-liners:

powershell -NoExit -File "C:\Users\Home\repos-my\LeSwitcheur\scripts\test-build.ps1" -Attach

Structure

crates/
  switcheur/           # bin + wiring
  switcheur-core/      # domain, fuzzy, config, state (pure Rust)
  switcheur-platform/  # macOS APIs (CGWindowList, AX, hotkey)
  switcheur-ui/        # GPUI views, actions, theming
bundle/
  Info.plist           # LSUIElement=true, NSAccessibilityUsageDescription
  bundle.sh            # assembles the .app

Configuration

TOML file loaded from ~/Library/Application Support/LeSwitcheur/config.toml. Created with defaults on first launch.

Releasing

just release          # patch bump (0.1.9 -> 0.1.10)
just release minor    # 0.1.9 -> 0.2.0
just release major    # 0.1.9 -> 1.0.0
just release 0.3.1    # explicit version
just release patch && gh run watch # watch result

Bumps the version in Cargo.toml + bundle/Info.plist, commits, tags vX.Y.Z, pushes. The tag push triggers .github/workflows/release.yml, which builds, signs with the Developer ID Application identity (hardened runtime + secure timestamp + bundle/entitlements.plist), submits the .app and the .dmg to Apple's notary service, staples both, and uploads the stapled .dmg to a GitHub Release. End users get a Gatekeeper-clean DMG with no right-click → Open dance.

Pass --no-push to commit + tag locally without pushing (handy when reviewing the bump).

Required repository secrets (one-time setup): CODESIGN_CERT_P12_BASE64, CODESIGN_CERT_PASSWORD, CODESIGN_IDENTITY, NOTARY_APPLE_ID, NOTARY_TEAM_ID, NOTARY_PASSWORD. See AGENTS.md for the values.

Beyond v0

• Window/app icons in the list
• Auto light/dark theme
• Graphical preferences pane
• Linux / Windows port