Cornerlight

Cornerlight is a small, index-free macOS application launcher. It reads application bundles directly from /Applications, /System/Applications, and ~/Applications, then presents that inventory through macOS’s native launcher interface.

Your apps, directly.

Website · Releases

Features

• No Spotlight metadata index, app database, polling, telemetry, or advertising.
• Background catalog refresh only when the application folders change.
• Native macOS search, keyboard navigation, animation, scrolling, and launch behavior.
• Configurable unassigned Hot Corner.
• Pinned, recent, and hidden applications.
• Optional Launch at Login and signed Sparkle updates.

Cornerlight is a personal macOS 26.6 project. It relies on private, version-specific system implementation details and may stop working after a macOS update.

Install

Download the latest signed and notarized DMG from Releases, move Cornerlight to Applications, and open it once.

The chosen corner must be set to None (—) in System Settings → Desktop & Dock → Hot Corners. Cornerlight Settings offers only currently unassigned corners.

macOS requests Input Monitoring because the native nonactivating launcher panel uses a mouse-only event tap to dismiss itself when you click elsewhere. Cornerlight does not monitor system-wide keystrokes.

Use

• Move the pointer into the configured corner.
• Type to filter applications.
• Press Return or click an application to open it.
• Right-click applications to pin, unpin, hide, or reveal them.
• Drag pinned applications within the top row to reorder them.
• Press Escape, click elsewhere, or re-enter the corner to dismiss.

Cornerlight is intended to replace the stock Spotlight Applications launcher. Running both launchers concurrently can produce conflicting macOS focus restoration.

Build

Building requires macOS 26.6 and Xcode 26.6.

./build.sh --allow-adhoc
./verify.sh

Ad-hoc builds may require privacy permission again after rebuilding. Published releases use a stable Developer ID signature.

Privacy

See PRIVACY.md for the data and network policy.

License

Cornerlight is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. Dependency and font notices are in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Support

Cornerlight is provided as-is, without support or warranty. Issues are disabled and pull requests are limited to existing repository collaborators. You may fork and adapt the project under GPL-3.0; modified distributions should use different branding.