Redcast Quicklinks
Turn a URL, search, file or deeplink into a command, with values you fill in when you open it.
A quicklink is a saved destination that works like any other launcher entry. You can search for it, give it a shortcut, and have it ask for a value, like a search term.
Turn quicklinks on in Settings → Quicklinks. They're off by default.
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Enable quicklinks | Off |
| Show in launcher | On |
| Open in a new window | Off |
| Pass selected text as argument | Off |
| Confirm before deleting | On |
While the feature is off, there's no Quicklinks section, no quicklink commands, and nothing opens. Your shortcuts stay saved, so turning the feature back on restores all of them.
Making one
Click Add Quicklink in Settings, or run the Create Quicklink command, to open the editor.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name | What you search for |
| Link | Where it goes, with any placeholders |
| Open With | A specific app, or the default app |
| Icon | A symbol, or Automatic to match the kind of link |
| Pin to top | Keeps it above your other quicklinks |
| Show in root search | Lists it in the main search with your apps and commands |
The Insert… menu adds placeholders for you.
Destinations
Redcast works out what kind of link you entered from its format:
| You write | It becomes |
|---|---|
~/Notes, /Users/..., file://... | A file or folder |
https://..., http://... | A web page |
smb: afp: nfs: ftp: sftp: ftps: | A network location |
spotify://, slack://, shortcuts://, mailto: | A deeplink into an app |
github.com/user/repo | A web page, with https:// added |
Two formats get special handling: a single letter followed by a colon is treated as a Windows drive letter, and a name followed by a colon and only digits is treated as a host and port.
Placeholders
Quicklinks use the same placeholders as snippets:
https://google.com/search?q={argument}
https://github.com/search?q={argument name="Repository"}
https://translate.google.com/?text={selection}
https://chat.openai.com/?q={clipboard}
~/Notes/{date format="yyyy-MM-dd"}.md{cursor} and {snippet:…} are left as written in a link, because a URL has no cursor. Raycast's
{query} works as {argument}.
Encoding
Values inserted into a web link or deeplink are encoded automatically, so a search term with a
space or an & can't break the link. File paths are never encoded, so %20 in a path stays %20.
| raw turns encoding off. It also lets the value decide what kind of link it is: a
{clipboard | raw} containing file:///Users/me/notes.md opens a file instead of a web page. This
can be useful but also surprising, so you have to turn it on yourself.
Filling in values
When you select a quicklink that needs values, small fields appear in the search bar after what you typed. The quicklink's row stays visible the whole time.
- tab moves from the search field through each field and back.
- return opens the quicklink. If a required field is empty, it moves to that field instead.
- A field with
options=opens a menu of choices. - esc moves from a field back to the search field.
A field only turns red after you've visited it and left it empty. Fields you haven't reached yet aren't marked.
Values like {clipboard}, {selection} and {date} are read when the link opens. If you open a
quicklink with a shortcut while the palette is closed, {selection} reads from the app you were
using.
A shortcut for a quicklink that still needs values opens Search Quicklinks with that quicklink selected and its first empty field ready for typing.
When there is no selection
If a link uses {selection} and no text is selected, the quicklink doesn't open. Redcast shows
"Couldn’t get the selected text" instead. If Redcast doesn't have Accessibility permission, the
message asks you to allow it in System Settings.
Selected text from a shortcut
Turn on Pass selected text as argument to fill a quicklink's first argument with the text you selected, when you open it with its own shortcut. Select a word, press the shortcut, and the search opens. This works only when the first argument is one you type, not a list of options. If nothing is selected, or the quicklink needs more values, the usual fields appear.
As a fallback
A quicklink with an {argument} also appears under "Use … with" at the bottom of every search.
What you typed fills in its first argument. See Fallbacks.
Opening
Open With saves a specific app. If you later uninstall that app, Redcast shows a message with an Open with Default button instead of silently switching to another app.
Open in a new window asks the browser to open a new window. Chrome and Firefox respect it, but Safari ignores it. With the setting off, the link opens the way macOS normally opens links, which usually reuses a tab.
Redcast checks file and folder links before opening them, so if a folder was deleted, it tells you.
Search Quicklinks
Quicklinks have their own launcher section. Only the name is searchable, along with any alias you give it. The link itself isn't.
Pinned quicklinks come first, in the order you pinned them, followed by the rest sorted by name. Pinning only affects the order within the Quicklinks section; pinned quicklinks don't appear above your apps.
To change a quicklink from the launcher, select it and press ⌘E (Edit Quicklink).
The Search Quicklinks command opens a screen with the list on the left and details on the right: the link, the app it opens with, its shortcut and when you created it.
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Open Quicklink | return |
| Open With Default App | ⌘return |
| Copy Link | ⌃⌘C |
| Edit Quicklink | ⌘E |
| Duplicate Quicklink | ⌘D |
| Pin / Unpin Quicklink | ⌘. |
| Show in Finder | ⌘F |
| Delete Quicklink | ⌘delete |
Open With Default App only appears when the quicklink opens with a specific app, and Show in Finder only appears for files and folders.
Copy Link is available in the actions menu (⌘K or right-click) in both the
launcher and Search Quicklinks, or directly with ⌃⌘C.
It copies the saved destination without opening it. Placeholders
such as {argument} and {clipboard} stay as written, even when you've filled in values.
Three ways to hide a quicklink
From broadest to narrowest:
- Turning off Show in launcher in Settings removes all quicklinks and quicklink commands from search.
- Clearing the Enabled checkbox on a quicklink's row in Settings turns off that one quicklink but keeps its shortcut and settings.
- Turning off Show in root search keeps a quicklink out of the main search, but you can still open it from Search Quicklinks or with its shortcut. In the launcher, ⇧⌘H (Hide from Root Search) turns it off for the selected quicklink.
Editing a quicklink keeps its shortcut, favorite, visibility and learned ranking. Duplicating creates a new quicklink, so the copy doesn't get the original's shortcut.
Import and export
Import Quicklinks and Export Quicklinks use a simple JSON file you can edit by hand. A plain
list also works, and only name and link are required.
{
"version": 1,
"quicklinks": [
{
"name": "GitHub search",
"link": "https://github.com/search?q={argument name=\"Query\"}"
}
]
}A quicklink is skipped as a duplicate if its name or link matches one you already have, or one earlier in the same file. The summary shows how many were skipped.
You can also import quicklinks from a Raycast export.
Where they're stored
Quicklinks are stored in quicklinks.sqlite3 in Redcast's Application Support folder. If that file
can't be opened, Redcast reports the problem and never deletes the file, because your links
can't be rebuilt from anywhere else.
Tags
Add tags in the editor to group entries by project or purpose. Search matches tags as well as names; a query starting with # searches tags. In the dedicated search screen, ⌘P opens the tag filter, and All Tags clears it. Tags travel in the corresponding exports and full backup.