How I use the Hyper key on my Mac
How I use Caps Lock and Raycast to switch between apps and run commands I use often.
The Hyper key gives you a new set of keyboard shortcuts.
On a Mac, Hyper means pressing Control (⌃), Option (⌥), Shift (⇧), and Command (⌘) at the same time: ⌃⌥⇧⌘. Very few apps use all four together, so the shortcuts usually don’t clash with anything else. I map them to Caps Lock (⇪), a key I wasn’t using anyway.
That’s the technical part. I mostly use it to jump between apps.
My shortcuts
Here are a few from my setup. I press Caps Lock (⇪) with one more key, and Raycast sees the full ⌃⌥⇧⌘ combination.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
Hyper-1 (⌃⌥⇧⌘1) |
Take a screenshot |
Hyper-V (⌃⌥⇧⌘V) |
Open Raycast Clipboard History |
Hyper-R (⌃⌥⇧⌘R) |
Reminders |
Hyper-B (⌃⌥⇧⌘B) |
Browser |
Hyper-O (⌃⌥⇧⌘O) |
Obsidian |
Hyper-W (⌃⌥⇧⌘W) |
|
Hyper-T (⌃⌥⇧⌘T) |
Ghostty |
Hyper-N (⌃⌥⇧⌘N) |
Notes |
Hyper-C (⌃⌥⇧⌘C) |
ChatGPT |
Raycast itself opens with Option-Space (⌥Space), and I still use that all the time. It’s useful when I want to search for something, browse commands, or open an app I don’t use often enough to give it a shortcut.
I use Hyper when I already know where I want to go. I don’t have to open Raycast, type the app’s name, or cycle through Command-Tab (⌘Tab). The shortcut works wherever I am.
Pressing an app shortcut launches it or brings it to the front. Press it again and the app hides.
After a while, I don’t think about the shortcut anymore. My fingers know where the app is. It sounds like a small thing, and it is, but I switch apps all day.
I’ve mentioned the Hyper key a few times at work and usually had to explain what it was. I’d been using it for long enough that I assumed it was more common. That’s partly why I wanted to write this down.
Setting it up
I first set this up with Karabiner-Elements. Now I use Raycast, since it’s already where I keep the shortcuts.
Raycast can turn Caps Lock into Hyper directly. Its manual shows where to switch it on and what a quick press of Caps Lock can do. In Raycast, Hyper shortcuts appear with a ✦.
If you don’t use Raycast and don’t want to install it just for this, Hyperkey is a free app that does this one job. You can then assign Hyper shortcuts in the apps you already use.
If you want to try it, start with two or three apps you switch to all day. The browser, chat, and notes are usually enough to see whether it sticks.