An Intelligrit Labs Project
A blazing-fast macOS menu bar app for switching windows with fuzzy search. Built with Swift and SwiftUI for maximum performance.
- Menu Bar App - Always accessible, runs in the background
- Configurable Global Hotkey - Default: Option+Shift+Space (customizable in Settings)
- Lightning-Fast Fuzzy Matching - Search window titles and application names instantly
- Multi-Term Search - Space-separated terms for precise filtering
- Smart Prioritization - Exact and prefix matches ranked higher
- Event-Driven Updates - Window list updates automatically when apps launch/quit
- Keyboard Navigation - Arrow keys + Enter for quick switching
- Visual Feedback - App icons and highlighted selection
- Accessibility Support - Full VoiceOver support with screen reader announcements
- Zero Overhead - Background refresh only when popover is open
See QUICKSTART.md for end-user installation and usage instructions.
- macOS 14.0 (Sonoma) or later
- Swift 5.9+ (for building from source)
# Add the tap
brew tap intelligrit/ffwf
# Install FFWF
brew install --cask ffwf
# Launch from Spotlight or Applications folder
open /Applications/FFWF.app# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/intelligrit/ffwf.git
cd ffwf
# Build and install to /Applications
make install
# Launch from Spotlight or Applications folder
open /Applications/FFWF.app# Build release version
make app
# Manually copy to Applications
cp -r FFWF.app /Applications/Homebrew:
brew uninstall --cask ffwf
brew untap intelligrit/ffwfFrom source:
make uninstallOn first run, macOS will prompt for:
- Accessibility - Required to focus and raise windows (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility)
- Screen Recording - May be needed for window enumeration on some macOS versions
Grant these permissions when prompted, then restart the app.
- Launch - FFWF appears as a magnifying glass icon in your menu bar
- Activate - Click the icon or press your configured hotkey (default: Option+Shift+Space)
- Search - Type to fuzzy filter windows by title or app name
- Navigate - Use ↑/↓ arrow keys to select
- Switch - Press Enter to activate the selected window
- Cancel - Press Escape to hide without switching
- Right-click the menu bar icon
- Select "Settings..."
- Click the hotkey field and press your desired key combination
- Changes apply immediately
- Fuzzy matching: Type any characters in order (e.g., "chme" matches "Chrome")
- Multi-term search: Use spaces to search multiple terms (e.g., "safari readme" matches "README.md - Safari")
- Prefix boost: Terms matching the start of words rank higher
- Exact match: Exact matches appear first
FFWF/
├── Sources/FFWF/
│ ├── FFWFApp.swift # Main app, menu bar, hotkey registration
│ ├── ContentView.swift # Popover UI, search, keyboard navigation
│ ├── WindowManager.swift # Window enumeration, NSWorkspace observers
│ ├── WindowInfo.swift # Window data model
│ ├── FuzzyMatcher.swift # Fuzzy search algorithm with scoring
│ ├── HotkeyRecorder.swift # Hotkey capture component
│ └── SettingsView.swift # Settings UI with persistence
├── Makefile # Build automation
├── Package.swift # Swift package manifest
└── README.md
# Build debug version
make build
# Build release version
make build-release
# Build app bundle
make app
# Build and code sign
make app-signed
# Run in debug mode
make runFuzzyMatcher
- Sublime Text-inspired fuzzy matching algorithm
- Scores matches based on: consecutive characters, word boundaries, camelCase, position
- Concurrent processing for large window lists (50+ windows)
- Returns
nilfor non-matches to enable efficient filtering
WindowManager
- Uses AX API (
AXUIElement) to enumerate windows per application - NSWorkspace observers for app launch/quit/activate events
- 0.5s background refresh while popover is visible
- Parallel processing with
DispatchQueue.concurrentPerform - Caches app icons for performance
ContentView
- Real-time fuzzy filtering on every keystroke
ScrollViewReaderfor smooth auto-scrolling to selection@FocusStateensures search field stays focused- Progressive loading: shows first 10 results, "Show more" button for remainder
- VoiceOver announcements for accessibility
HotkeyRecorder
- Interactive keyboard shortcut capture
- Requires at least one modifier key
- Supports all modifiers: ⌃ (Control), ⌥ (Option), ⇧ (Shift), ⌘ (Command)
- Pretty display format with symbols
SettingsView
- UserDefaults persistence for hotkey preference
- NotificationCenter for live hotkey updates
- Dynamic re-registration without app restart
- Pre-lowercased Strings - Window titles/names lowercased once during enumeration
- Concurrent Enumeration - Processes applications in parallel
- Early Returns - Fuzzy matcher bails on non-matches immediately
- Icon Caching - App icons fetched once per app, not per window
- Event-Driven Updates - NSWorkspace observers instead of constant polling
- Efficient Diffing - SwiftUI List uses stable IDs for minimal re-renders
make help # Show available targets
make build # Build debug version
make build-release # Build release version
make run # Run in debug mode
make app # Build macOS app bundle
make app-signed # Build and code sign app bundle
make install # Install to /Applications
make uninstall # Remove from /Applications
make clean # Clean build artifacts
make xcode # Generate Xcode projectContributions welcome! Please:
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch
- Make your changes
- Test thoroughly
- Submit a pull request
- Browser tab enumeration (requires browser extensions)
- MRU (Most Recently Used) sorting option
- Window preview thumbnails on hover
- Custom app icon
- Blacklist/whitelist for specific apps
- Multiple hotkey profiles
- Export/import settings
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.
FFWF is developed by Intelligrit Labs, the R&D arm of Intelligrit LLC. We build tools for ourselves and release them for everyone. Intelligrit delivers AI-driven IT modernization for federal agencies.
Built with Swift and SwiftUI. Fuzzy matching algorithm inspired by Sublime Text's Goto Anything feature.
© 2025 Intelligrit, LLC