Occam

The simplest way to launch apps on macOS.

One shortcut. Instant results. No bloat.

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Why Occam?

• Fast -- Scans ~200 apps in ~50ms. No background indexing, no persistent processes chewing CPU.
• Private -- Zero network calls. Zero telemetry. Your data stays on your Mac.
• Tiny -- ~800 lines of Swift. No frameworks, no dependencies, no Electron.
• Smart -- Fuzzy matching with recency sorting. Your most-used apps surface first.

Install

brew tap mpalczew/occam
brew install --cask occam

Other options

Download from GitHub Releases

1. Download the latest Occam-x.x.x-universal.zip from Releases
2. Unzip and drag Occam.app to your Applications folder
3. Launch Occam

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/mpalczew/occam.git
cd occam
make build
cp -r .build/Occam.app /Applications/

Requires Xcode Command Line Tools (xcode-select --install).

Usage

Press Cmd+Space to open Occam. Start typing to search.

Key	Action
Cmd+Space	Toggle search panel
Type	Fuzzy search apps and settings
Up/Down	Navigate results
Enter	Launch selected
Cmd+1-9	Launch by position
Esc	Dismiss
Cmd+Q	Quit Occam

On first launch, Occam will offer to disable Spotlight's Cmd+Space shortcut (or you can switch to Option+Space).

What it searches

• All .app bundles under /Applications and /System/Applications (recursive)
• 25 System Settings panes (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Display, Sound, Keyboard, and more)
• Built-in commands: "Quit Occam", "Restart Occam"

Results are sorted by most recently launched when the search field is empty.

Architecture & Technical Details

How it works

• No dock icon -- Runs as a background agent (LSUIElement = true)
• Borderless floating panel -- NSPanel with vibrancy blur, appears near the top of screen
• Fuzzy matching -- Scores consecutive character runs, word-start matches, and prefix matches
• Recency sorting -- Launch history stored in UserDefaults
• Global hotkey -- Carbon RegisterEventHotKey (the only reliable API for global shortcuts on macOS)
• Login item -- Offered on first launch via SMAppService

No mdfind, no NSMetadataQuery, no background indexing. Fresh FileManager scan each time you open the panel (~50ms for ~200 apps).

Project structure

Sources/Occam/
  main.swift          # NSApplication entry point
  AppDelegate.swift   # Panel management, hotkey registration, launch logic
  SearchPanel.swift   # Borderless floating NSPanel
  SearchView.swift    # SwiftUI search UI (text field + results list)
  SearchState.swift   # Observable state, recency sorting, built-in commands
  AppDiscovery.swift  # Recursive FileManager scan of /Applications
  FuzzyMatcher.swift  # Subsequence scoring algorithm
  SystemSettings.swift # System Settings pane URLs
  HotkeyConfig.swift  # Cmd+Space / Option+Space config
  RecentApps.swift    # Launch history in UserDefaults
  LaunchItem.swift    # Data model

Zero external dependencies. Hybrid AppKit + SwiftUI. ~800 lines total.

Uninstall

1. Quit Occam (Cmd+Q or type "quit" in the search panel)
2. Delete Occam.app from Applications
3. Remove login item: System Settings > General > Login Items > remove Occam

Requirements

• macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
• Apple Silicon or Intel Mac

License

MIT