Redcast Aliases
Give any launcher entry a short name that comes first when you type it.
An alias is your own short name for a launcher entry. Type ps to get Photoshop, or sh to get the
shell script you run every morning.
Aliases work on any entry: apps, System Settings panes, commands, Quick Actions, quicklinks, snippets, system actions, window commands and layouts, and extension commands.
Setting one
Set aliases in Settings, in the alias field on the item's row. Every pane that lists launcher items has this field, including Applications, System Settings, System Actions, Commands, Quicklinks, Quick Actions and each feature's own command list. For extensions, the field is next to each command's shortcut in Settings → Extensions.
Each entry can have one alias. The field has a button to clear it.
In Redcast, ⌘K on a launcher entry also offers alias and shortcut editing. Settings → Shortcuts collects them across features.
How an alias ranks
- Typing the whole alias exactly always puts that entry first, no matter what you picked before or what else has that name.
- Typing the start of an alias ranks just above names that start the same way. Something you pick very often can still rank higher.
- A match in the middle of an alias ranks the same as the other names an app is known by.
- Scattered letters never match an alias.
pswon't match an alias ofPixelmator Studioby skipping letters, because that would make short aliases useless.
The first rule matters most. A two-letter alias is only worth setting if it always comes first.
In the list
An entry with an alias shows it as a small tag after its name, so you can see which entries you've named.
Backups and cleanup
Aliases are included in backups.
An alias is removed along with the thing it names. If you uninstall the app, delete the quicklink or remove the extension, its alias is deleted too, so it can't linger and match nothing.
Raycast exports include an alias for each command. The importer brings over the aliases for apps.
Alias + Space
Type a unique, exact, case-sensitive alias and press Space with the caret at the end to open its command or focus its argument field. App and System Settings aliases keep searching instead of jumping. Type a backslash before Space when you want a literal space. If two entries share the alias, Redcast stays in ordinary search instead of guessing. Use the Shortcuts conflict filter to find duplicates.