--- title: I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS... description: An extended personal review covers Raycast, a keyboard-driven app launcher originally built for macOS that recently arrived on Windows near the end of 2025.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS Spotlight, then discovered Raycast does it better | daily.dev og:description: An extended personal review covers Raycast, a keyboard-driven app launcher originally built for macOS that recently arrived on Windows near the end of 2025.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/giGcmsMvN.png og:image:alt: I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS Spotlight, then discovered Raycast does it better og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS Spotlight, then discovered Raycast does it better **[XDA Developers](https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary An extended personal review covers Raycast, a keyboard-driven app launcher originally built for macOS that recently arrived on Windows near the end of 2025. The author compares it favorably to macOS Spotlight and Windows' native search, highlighting fast file indexing, app launching via keyboard shortcut, clipboard history, text-expansion snippets, quick links, and extensions like a Spotify integration. The piece notes Windows extension support still lags behind macOS since the port is new, and that Raycast has a learning curve requiring users to memorize shortcuts and configure workflows. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### Is Raycast available on Windows now, not just macOS? Yes, Raycast expanded from macOS to Windows near the end of 2025. The Windows version supports app launching, fast file search and indexing, clipboard history, text-expansion snippets, and quick links, though its extension library is smaller than the mature macOS extension ecosystem since the port is newer. _Developers weighing cross-platform productivity tools can track how Raycast's Windows support matures on daily.dev._ ### What is a hyperkey and why would I use one in a launcher like Raycast? A hyperkey is a single key mapped to act like all four modifier keys at once (Shift, Control, Alt, and the Windows key on Windows). Raycast supports hyperkey functionality, which cuts down the number of keystrokes needed for shortcuts and rarely conflicts with other keybindings on the system. _Anyone tuning their keyboard-driven workflow can compare launcher shortcut features like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Raycast showed me what Command Palette should have been all along](https://daily.dev/posts/raycast-showed-me-what-command-palette-should-have-been-all-along-xil92k8bx) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [I've been using Tahoe since July and…](https://daily.dev/posts/i-ve-been-using-tahoe-since-july-and--6ewxeriwd) · Justin Searls · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#windows](https://daily.dev/tags/windows), [#mac](https://daily.dev/tags/mac) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS Spotlight, then discovered Raycast does it better","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn"},"datePublished":"2026-08-31T21:34:08.064Z","dateModified":"2026-08-31T22:43:15.140Z","description":"An extended personal review covers Raycast, a keyboard-driven app launcher originally built for macOS that recently arrived on Windows near the end of 2025....","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/cf9adac839d5938537432093e10f4b8d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/cf9adac839d5938537432093e10f4b8d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"XDA Developers","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"XDA Developers","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--kCg6yyAP--/f_auto,q_auto/v1774964407/logos/xda-developers?_a=BAMAMiWQ0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"productivity,windows,mac","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"XDA Developers","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/xda-developers"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"I spent years waiting for Windows to match macOS Spotlight, then discovered Raycast does it better"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/i-spent-years-waiting-for-windows-to-match-macos-spotlight-then-discovered-raycast-does-it-better-gigcmsmvn#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Is Raycast available on Windows now, not just macOS?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Yes, Raycast expanded from macOS to Windows near the end of 2025. 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