CueStart
Launcher, snippets, clipboard
Only for Mac
Free · In‑App Purchases
Mac
You know what you need. Not what it's called.
Spotlight searches names. CueStart searches what you noted down about an app. Write "invoice", "crop an image" or "chart" next to your apps — and find them again, even months later.
HOW IT WORKS
A shortcut of your choosing brings the search to the middle of the screen, whichever app happens to be in front. Type, pick, hit Return — the window disappears by itself. The search forgives small typos, and instead of typing you can dictate.
YOUR OWN KEYWORDS
For every app you write down, at your leisure, what you use it for. The search covers keywords and names at once. Launch an app for a search text and it comes first next time. If the search finds nothing, you assign what you typed to an app as a keyword right there.
COLLECTING WITHOUT THE GRIND
Read in all your apps at once or pick them one by one, Safari and the Finder included, plus search locations of your own. Whatever gets installed later, CueStart picks up on its own. Coloured dots show what is new and where keywords are missing; a click on them filters.
FAVORITES
Drag files and folders you need often from the Finder into the management window and give them keywords. A "/" in the search window brings them up, and if you like they also appear right below your apps.
APP GROUPS
One keyword launches several apps at once and opens favorites along with them — say “work” for Xcode, Safari and the project folder. Type “+” in the search window.
CALCULATING AND CURRENCIES
Put "=" in front and CueStart calculates: basic arithmetic, brackets, powers and percentages. "=120 € in DKK" uses the daily rates of the European Central Bank, around 30 currencies.
YOUR OWN WEB SEARCHES
Set up shortcuts for sites you search often. "?wp Hamburg" opens the Wikipedia search straight in your browser — no detour via the home page.
TEXT SNIPPETS
Put a ">" in front and CueStart searches your snippets instead of your apps. Return puts the text on the clipboard; placeholders for the date, the time and more are filled in on the way.
A CLIPBOARD THAT REMEMBERS
If you want it to, CueStart keeps what you copy — text and images alike. A "#" in the search window brings it all back, "##" just the pinned entries. ⌘-click selects several entries to copy them together. Pin the ones that matter and give them tags; texts can be edited afterwards. Password managers and content marked as confidential are left out. Recording is off to begin with and is turned on in the menu bar.
SWITCH INSTEAD OF RELAUNCH
A ":" in the search window, and every running app is there — the one you used last on top. Return brings the app forward.
WINDOW STRIP
All open windows as small previews along an edge of the screen — bottom, top, left or right. A click brings the app to the front.
EXCLUSIONS AND BACKUP
Apps you never want to launch go on an exclusion list. Keywords, favorites, groups, snippets, web searches and every setting go into one backup file; when reading it back you choose between replacing and merging.
TO YOUR TASTE
The search window comes with translucent material, with a fine grain in eight colours, in a solid colour or, from macOS 26 on, as Liquid Glass — plus three shapes from square to very rounded.
MADE FOR THE MAC
A real Mac app: no web view, no Electron. Light, dark or like the system, and if you like, no Dock icon at all — just the menu bar. No account, no tracking, no cloud. Only for currency conversion does CueStart fetch the daily rates — nothing of yours is sent.
LANGUAGES
Chinese (Simplified), Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Swedish, switchable while running. The detailed user guide is available in all twelve languages.
Try it free for seven days, then a one-time purchase. No subscription.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Thank you for using CueStart! This version brings three new things:
• Three more languages: CueStart now speaks Japanese, Korean and Italian as well — switchable while running, like all the others.
• Nothing found? Add the keyword right there: When the search comes up empty, CueStart offers to assign what you typed to an app as a keyword. Pick the app — the keyword is saved and the app starts right away.
• Pinned only: In the clipboard, two hashes instead of one show just the pinned entries — “##”. Typing on narrows them down as usual.
Enjoy!
The developer, Klaus Mack, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- Klaus Mack
- Size
- 3.9 MB
- Category
- Productivity
- Compatibility
Requires macOS 15.6 or later.
- Mac
Requires macOS 15.6 or later.
- Mac
- Languages
English and 11 more
- English, Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Swedish
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- In-App Purchases
Yes
- Full Version $9.99
- Copyright
- © Klaus Mack Software
