The hotkey
One key combination opens moo from anywhere. Here's how it's chosen and how to change it.
The default
moo tries these combinations in order and takes the first one that's free:
- ⌘ Space
- ⌥ Space
- ⌃ ⌥ Space
- ⌘ ⇧ Space
A combination macOS already uses is skipped, because macOS would accept it and then never deliver the keypress. These include Spotlight on ⌘ Space, switching input sources on ⌃ Space, and Finder search on ⌘ ⌥ Space.
Tip To give moo ⌘ Space, turn off Spotlight's shortcut in System Settings › Keyboard › Keyboard Shortcuts › Spotlight, then set the hotkey below.
Change it
Open Settings (⌘ , in the launcher) and choose Launcher Hotkey. Press the new keys, then Return. The change takes effect immediately and is saved as "launcher" in shortcuts.json.
Swapped modifier keys
If you swapped modifiers in System Settings › Keyboard › Modifier Keys (Command and Control, say), moo uses the keys macOS sees, like every other app. Set the hotkey by pressing it in Settings, and what you press is what you get.
It doesn't open
Another app probably owns the combination. Pick a different one in Settings, or set MOO_HOTKEY (see Environment variables). Chrome's "Ask Gemini" bar uses ⌥ Space too, so moo opens and immediately loses focus.