Devlog #5

Told you Spotlight was next. ctrl + K now pulls a command palette up over the desktop, and a set of global shortcuts came along for the ride.

What I built

Spotlight is one input that searches apps, themes, and wallpapers at the same time. The matching isn’t substring — it’s subsequence. Your letters just have to show up in order, so prj lands on Projects and mdn finds “Theme — midnight”. Type less, get more. That’s the whole pitch.

It also isn’t a window. It’s an overlay sitting above the desktop, so it skips the window manager entirely — no z-index fights, no traffic lights, just a backdrop you click away from. Arrow keys move, Enter runs, Esc bails. Boringly predictable, which is exactly what a launcher should be.

Same session added global hotkeys through a small useHotkeys hook: ctrl + K for Spotlight, ctrl + W closes the front window, ctrl + M minimizes it, ctrl + , opens Settings, and ctrl + ` cycles through windows. One listener registered on mount, handlers kept in a ref so nothing goes stale.

The shortcut minefield

Picking key combos for a web app is mostly a game of “what am I not allowed to touch”. ctrl + Tab and ctrl + N belong to the browser, period. That’s how window cycling ended up on the backtick — looks odd, but it sits right above Tab, so your finger barely moves. Accidentally ergonomic.

Where PrismaOS stands

• ctrl + K palette: fuzzy search over apps, themes, wallpapers
• Global hotkeys: close, minimize, Settings, window cycling
• Spotlight is an overlay, not a window — the window manager never sees it

Next up

A virtual filesystem. One tree shared by a Finder-style Files app and the terminal, so cd-ing around and clicking through folders show you the exact same places.