⌃Space
Search switching
⌃Space opens a search over every open window. Fuzzy and acronym-weighted, with a one-typo tolerance you can switch on, and it learns: pick a result that was not on top and next time the same query puts it there.
A window switcher for macOS
Type two characters.
Land on the window.
Panehop finds any open window by app name or title the moment you start typing, and puts a real per-window ⌘Tab back on your Mac. Fast enough that you stop noticing it — which is the point.
14-day trial, no account. macOS 14 or later, Apple silicon and Intel.
⌃Space searchFn + two letters⌘Tab per window
XcodePanehop — PanelController.swift
SafariLogin — Stripe
Slack#macapps — ACME LabsSpace 2
FinderDocuments
Terminalmake bench — zsh
MailRe: licence key — InboxSpace 2
FigmaPanehop marketing — HeroSpace 2
NotesRelease checklist 1.0
SafariSwift Testing — Apple DeveloperSpace 3
MusicMusicSpace 3
FantasticalAugust 2026
PreviewOnboarding-permissions.pngSpace 3
SafariManaged Payments — Stripe DocsSpace 4
Safaripanehop.com — PanehopSpace 4
Terminalpnpm build — zshSpace 5
XcodePanehop — TestsSpace 5
MessagesMessagesSpace 6
1Password1PasswordSpace 6
FreeformSidebar sketchesSpace 7
ClaudeClaudeSpace 8
Panehop20 windows · 8 Spaces↑↓ move · ⏎ to switch · type to search
Try it: type into the panel — fi, sl, or the first letters of two words.
What it does
Four ways to the window you mean.
Fnsl
Fast Search
Hold Fn, type one or two characters, release. The window you meant is in front before the panel has finished appearing — no Return, no mouse.
⌘Tab
Per-window ⌘Tab
The system switcher, but for windows: every window is its own item, in most-recently-used order. ⌘` lists just the current app's. Both chords are yours to remap.
The sidebar
An auto-hiding dock of your windows on the edge of every display: a thin strip of app icons that expands under the pointer into names and titles. One click focuses that window. Off by default — turn it on in Settings › Sidebar and pick the edge.
Fast Search
Hold Fn. Type. Let go.
Hold a modifier, type one or two characters, release — and you are looking at the window you meant. No panel to open first, no Return to press.
Fn+sl→ Slack
- 01
Hold the trigger
Fn by default. Caps Lock, either ⌘ or either ⌥ if you prefer — left and right are told apart.
- 02
Type the initials
Acronyms win for short queries, so sl finds Slack before Safari · Login. Two characters usually settle it.
- 03
Release to switch
The selected window gets keyboard focus — the window, not just the app — even on another Space or display.
Latency is the product
Budgets, not aspirations.
The window list and the panel are always warm. Pressing the hotkey does no lookups at all — it reorders an in-memory list and shows a panel that already exists. These are the numbers every release is measured against.
- < 50ms
- Hotkey to panel
- < 10ms
- Keystroke to results
- ~0%
- Idle CPU
- < 1s
- Cold launch
Maintained
Built to keep working.
macOS changes every year, and window switchers are the first thing it breaks. Panehop is built by a developer who runs each summer's macOS beta against it, ships fixes as updates you install in place, and answers support email himself. Every 1.x update is included in the price.
See how it comparesPermissions
Accessibility. Never Screen Recording.
Panehop lists windows by icon and title, so switching needs only the Accessibility permission — never Screen Recording. No thumbnails means no monthly re-authorisation nag and no capture of your screen. Fast Search's key capture asks for Input Monitoring, only when you use it. No analytics in the app; the update check is the one request it makes on its own.
Read the privacy policyPricing
One price. Every Mac you own.
A licence is a one-time purchase that covers every 1.x update. No subscription, no account — a key you paste in once.
- All your Macs — a licence is per person
- Every 1.x update included
- Search switching, Fast Search, per-window ⌘Tab and the sidebar
- Notarised universal build for Apple silicon and Intel
Your windows, two keystrokes away.
Download the trial, grant one permission, hold Fn. If it does not replace your ⌘Tab in a week, it costs nothing.