macOS: Quickly Switch to App Using Keyboard Shortcut

Quickly switch to specific app on macOS, I'm not meaning using app switcher (that one triggered by "⌘ - tab") which may require looping the app list.

I'll show you a technique, by which you can quick-switch to specific app by only one shortcut, even if that app hasn't launched yet, and no app switcher shown. This is powered by open-source software tools, you'll find it's easier if you have some command-line skills.

Prerequisite

• Follow https://brew.sh to install "brew" if you have never done that before
• Install "skhd" by the guide on https://github.com/koekeishiya/skhd, and make sure the "skhd" service running on your system

Craft some shell scripts

Creat a file using below content, and save it as "activate-app.sh", place under the same directory where you store "skhdrc", I assume your directory is "~/.config/skhd".

#!/usr/bin/env sh

/usr/bin/env osascript <<SCRIPT
-------------------------------------
tell application "$1"
  activate
  if (count windows) is 0 then
    do shell script "open -a '$1'"
  end if
end tell
-------------------------------------
SCRIPT

Open "Terminal.app" or other terminal simulator you favorite, make our new shine script executable:

chmod +x ~/.config/skhd/activate-app.sh

The last step, is write your own shortcuts, open "~/.config/skhd/skhdrc", add some lines like:

cmd - return : $HOME/.config/skhd/activate-app.sh iTerm
alt - return : $HOME/.config/skhd/activate-app.sh "Google Chrome"

The only points for attention, make app name quoted if it contains spaces.

Now, restart "skhd" by "brew services restart skhd", you can press "⌘ - return" to switch to "iTerm", without any glitches.